On March 19, 2025 Westfield State College hosted the second annual Dora D. Robinson Speaker Collection, welcoming award-winning creator Victoria Christopher Murray to campus to talk to a crowd of scholars, school, employees, and neighborhood members wanting to study from the acclaimed author.
Victoria Christopher Murray is a New York Instances and USA As we speak bestselling creator of greater than 30 novels, together with The Private
Librarian, The First Women, and Harlem Rhapsody written with co-author Marie Benedict. A number of of her novels have additionally made their solution to the display screen as Lifetime Channel motion pictures. She has been acknowledged with the Phyllis Wheatley Trailblazer Award, the Delta Sigma Theta Osceola Award for Excellence within the Arts, Go on Woman E-book Membership Writer of the Yr, eleven African American Literary Awards and 5 NAACP Picture Award nominations. In 2016, she received the Picture Award for Excellent Literature for her social commentary novel, Stand Your Floor. The Private Librarian was a Good Morning America E-book Membership choice and named a Finest E-book of the Yr by NPR. The First Women was Goal’s 2023 E-book of the Yr.
Host Wesley Days Jr. of Western Mass Information served as host as Christopher Murray and President Linda Thompson got here collectively for a dialog that explored themes of resilience, inspiration, and the challenges girls, notably girls of colour, face in management {and professional} areas. The occasion additionally delivered to the stage Elizabeth Dineen, CEO of the YWCA of Western Massachusetts, Kimberly Williams, Vice President of Administration and Transformation for the City League of Springfield, and Dena Cooper, President of The Springfield Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Included, to supply reflections on the legacy of Dora Robinson.
In President Thompson’s opening remarks, she discovered inspiration from Christopher Murray’s historic fiction that pulls consideration to the untold tales of girls who’ve made great impression on our world. She shared the story of 1897 Westfield Regular Faculty graduate Susan Payton who moved to Harlem in 1913 to be her brother’s bookkeeper. Her brother, Philip Payton, Jr., was referred to as “The Father of Black Harlem” as a result of he acquired properties in the neighborhood and rented them to Black residents at a time when many landlords refused to take action. Susan would go on to turn out to be an lively philanthropist and chief in native church buildings and social organizations and even revealed in W.E.B. DuBois’s pioneering youngsters’s journal, The Brownies’ E-book, which options prominently in Harlem Rhapsody, Christopher Murray’s most up-to-date novel.
The dialog between Christopher Murray and Thompson highlighted girls like Susan Payton whose story isn’t well-known and mentioned how the creator identifies these girls, researches their lives and experiences, and creates fictional narratives to each entertain and educate. She famous that, “A historical past untold is a historical past that may be erased” and so any work that captures these tales is doing a service not simply to the previous however for the longer term.
“Historical past might not repeat itself but it surely does rhyme. What we will study from the previous is to not make the identical errors. Historic fiction makes historical past extra accessible for everybody.”
She argued that though she might not know what occurred in personal conversations between her characters, she does thorough analysis on the topics and spends a substantial amount of time with their private letters. “I by no means lie. I by no means create fiction of somebody’s character – what they might’ve believed or who they proved themselves to be by their acts which can be effectively documented.”
Viewers members additionally had a chance to ask their very own questions which ranged from looking for recommendation on changing into writers to the right way to uncover extra tales of girls who’ve been forgotten over time.
Earlier within the day, Christopher Murray visited a inventive writing class the place she took questions from pupil writers. She famous the significance of permitting individuals to ask authors questions on not solely their works but additionally the right way to break into publishing and the enterprise facet of writing. She referred to her personal life story in her ideas on the significance of participating with younger writers. “If I had an creator to speak to once I was younger I wouldn’t have waited till I used to be 42 to write down my first novel. I took a protracted highway to writing so I’m hoping to offer others a brief minimize.”
The night concluded with a e-book signing and a toast to Dora Robinson the place all had been inspired to honor the legacy of
Robinson and girls like her by doing extra to uplift girls in our communities who give a lot of themselves for others.
The Dora D. Robinson Speaker Collection was based by Westfield State College President Linda Thompson to honor Robinson’s contributions to the Western Massachusetts neighborhood, shaping it right into a extra simply and equitable place the place all can thrive in a supportive and welcoming setting.
This 12 months’s sponsors included the YWCA of Western Massachusetts, the Higher Springfield Chapter of The Hyperlinks, Included, the Springfield Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Included, the Public Well being Institute of Western Massachusetts, and Liberty Financial institution.
