DEAR ZORA
Meet Rae
Affectionately known as "The Zora Girl," Rae Chesny is the Director of the forthcoming Zora Neale Hurston Summit presented by the Zora Neale Hurston Trust. Accomplished author of Zora’s Garden, Rae is also a Johns Hopkins University Literary Consultant who splits her time researching, writing about, and presenting the literary great. During the 33rd Annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, she served as the keynote speaker for the Zora Neale Hurston: The Storyteller and Her Town series. Rae is a 2021 Baldwin House Urban Writer in Residence and currently serves as the ZNH Trust’s resident scholar while hosting their new It’s All About Zora! series.
The Zora Neale Hurston Scholar is equally passionate about empowering children to tell their stories. In 2017, Rae created the Junior Storyteller Program to mentor historically underrepresented children through programming that gives them the opportunity to become published authors. Rae’s poem “When Zora Rises” is the opening piece for The Fire Inside Anthology, Vol. 2 released in 2022. She’s also been featured in The Grio, Black Enterprise, American Black Journal, Michigan Chronicle, and several radio shows.
Learn more about Rae via www.raechesny.com.
A Message From Rae
“Letters were Zora's main way of corresponding, which made me wonder if I could connect with her through space and time by doing the same. I did. Since writing my first letter to Zora in 2018, I’ve built a deep connection with her that has changed every area of my life in the most magical ways. I’m now creating a space to share that magic. To people who already love Zora or are perhaps curious about her, and are seeking a creative community of kin-spirits.
I’m excited to share my knowledge of Zora, my personal journey, and the gift of my letter-writing practice with this Dear Zora community. We’ll learn, we’ll write, and, in doing so, we’ll deepen our connection the Genius of the South that we all adore, as well as ourselves and each other. Bring your Zora Neale Hurston questions and your pen as we embark on this weekly sacred journey of honoring Zora."