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published and becoming the first woman of African descent to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, a third novel remained unpublished during her lifetime.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.