Zora Neale Hurston, Through Family Eyes

By Liane Hansen

Published November 13, 2004 at 11:00 PM CST

Harlem Renaissance fixture Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, is the subject of a new biography by her niece. Speak, So You Can Speak Again includes a CD of family photos and audio recordings. Lucy Ann Hurston tells NPR's Liane Hansen about her aunt's literary legacy.

Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.