About the Author
A’Lelia Bundles is the author of five books, including her most recent, Joy Goddess, a biography of her great-grandmother, A’Lelia Walker, and how she helped shape the Harlem Renaissance as an arts patron and convener. Her book, On Her Own Ground, is a New York Times Notable Book about Madam C. J. Walker, Bundles’ entrepreneurial great-great-grandmother, who was the inspiration for a 2020 fictional Netflix series starring Octavia Spencer. She is the founder of the Madam Walker Family Archives, the largest private collection of Walker photographs, memorabilia, and ephemera.
Bundles was a network television producer for thirty years, first at NBC News where she was a producer for news and magazine programs, and then at ABC News where she was a World News Tonight producer, a Washington, DC deputy bureau chief, and director of talent development. Her work has been published widely and reflects her interests in history, journalism, political activism, social justice, the arts, and historic preservation. She is a member of several boards, including the March On! Festival, the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, the National Archives Foundation, and Columbia Global Reports.
As a speaker, Bundles has appeared at universities, corporations, and book festivals. Her interviews have aired on ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NBC, NPR, PBS, and BBC. Bundles speaks about the women in her family, their impact on American business, philanthropy and the arts, the barriers they faced and overcame, and the lessons that can be learned from their lives. She has served as an advisor for numerous documentaries, museum exhibitions, biographies, scholarly papers and history texts.
Raves and Reviews
Praise for Joy Goddess
Scintillating…Bundles depicts A’Lelia Walker with admiration for her ‘diva worthy flamboyance’ and, thanks to the familial connection, unmatched intimacy.”
—Publishers Weekly starred review
A vibrant, deeply researched biography…A’Lelia’s radiant personality and impresario instincts—at the center of a vast, artistic social world where she flourished as a fashion trendsetter and international traveler—are brought to vivid and unforgettable life.”
—Columbia Magazine
Raucously immersive… An intimate portrait of Black opulence in the early 20th century.”
—Oprah Daily
Joy Goddess is a remarkable biography. A’Lelia Bundles brings A’Lelia Walker’s story to life with such grace, clarity, and beauty. By shedding new light on Walker’s extraordinary life, Joy Goddess enriches our understanding of the complexities of race, gender, and class during the Harlem Renaissance.”
—Dr. Keisha N. Blain, co-editor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Four Hundred Souls
This is a story of Black wealth and talent, and the universals of love, legacy, death, taxes, inadequacy, resilience, and hair…The movie script practically writes itself!
—Diane McWhorter, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution
A sumptuous feast. . . Joy Goddess glitters with drama, intrigue, and spectacular detail…In this sparkling tragedy, the Black elites and celebrity artists of the 1920s emerge as fully human–talented, imaginative, and flawed.”
—Tiya Miles, National Book Award winner for All That She Carried
A’Lelia Bundles takes us on an exhilarating journey into the Afrostocracy of the Harlem Renaissance.
—Blair Underwood, Actor, Producer, Storyteller
Praise for On Her Own Ground
“A fascinating book about a fascinating woman….A wonderful story of an entrepreneur, but also a story about a dedicated African-American woman who was committed to giving her time and money to her community.”
—USA Today
The life of Madam C. J. Walker is one of the great success stories of American history. . . . [This is] the first full-blown biography of an amazing woman.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Well-paced and well-written . . . as much social history as biography, filled with the detail and texture of culture and politics.”
—The New York Times
In the Media
“At the Harlem Renaissance’s Most Lavish Parties, Glamor was a Tool of Resistance”
“To Tell The Honest Truth: Why Black Women’s Stories Remain Essential”
“New book spotlights Madam C.J. Walker’s daughter A’Lelia, who forged her own path”
“A’Lelia Bundles Claims Family History and Black Cultural Legacies With New Book ‘Joy Goddess’”
“Relative of first self-made female Black millionaire in US on Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday”
“Hollywood Has a Responsibility to Get Black Stories Right (Guest Column)”
