Valerie Boyd appointed to DeKalb Public Library Board of Trustees

Acclaimed author, scholar and journalist Valerie Boyd is the newest member of the DeKalb County Public Library Board of Trustees. The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners approved Boyd’s appointment as a Library Trustee at its November meeting.

Boyd is the author of Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, considered the definitive biography of Hurston. The book was a winner of the Southern Book Award and was recognized as a Notable Book by the American Library Association. Currently, Ms. Boyd is editing Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: the Journals of Alice Walker, scheduled for publication in 2018. The collection of personal journals by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Walker spans more than 50 years.

Boyd, who was honored by Gov. Nathan Deal in October with the Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities, says she is eager to serve the community in her new role.

“Libraries have meant so much to me over the course of my life. As an inquisitive child growing up in a working-class family in Atlanta, I saw the public library as a magical place where I had free access to amazing books that opened up new worlds to me,” Boyd said. “It was at the public library that I first encountered writers like James Baldwin and Alice Walker—writers whose work is still so important to me today. And now, as an author who often writes from the archives, I still consider the library a magical, vibrant place. I look forward to serving on the Board of Trustees to give back just a fraction of the goodness I’ve received from libraries over the decades and to do my part to keep our DeKalb libraries vibrant and relevant in these challenging times.”

Chair Sara Fountain said Boyd is an excellent addition to the Library Board because of her “broad knowledge and appreciation of literature, her extensive reporting and journalism background, her close ties with the arts and culture scene in Metro Atlanta, her teaching expertise and deep appreciation of libraries.”