Based on contemporary accounts, Nella Larsen (née Walker), was a promising writer of fiction in the late 1920s. Unfortunately, despite having two critically acclaimed novels published and becoming the first woman of African descent to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, a third novel remained unpublished during her lifetime. Unable to support herself as a writer, Larsen worked mostly as a nurse and died alone of a heart attack in her downtown New York City apartment in 1964 at age 72. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, a renewed interest developed in her work. Her second novel, "Passing" (1929), was reissued in 2001. A film adaptation of Passing (2021) by Rebecca Hall (starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga) was released in 2021 to wide critical acclaim.

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