Victoria Christopher Murray, Co-Author of The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies, to Speak at 2025 Love of Literacy Luncheon
With More Than 3 Million Books in Print, Murray is One of the Country’s Top African American Contemporary Authors
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla., Jan. 30, 2025 – New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Victoria Christopher Murray will share her unlikely path to becoming an author of more than 30 novels at the 34th Annual Love of Literacy Luncheon. The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County will host the fundraiser on April 10, 2025, at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts to benefit local literacy programs.
Best known for The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies, both co-written with Marie Benedict, Victoria spent a decade in Corporate America and then opened a successful financial services agency for Aegon, USA before pursuing her lifelong dream of writing. She published her first novel in 2000 and has never looked back. Five of her Seven Deadly Sins novels became Lifetime movies, and The Personal Librarian has been optioned by Al Roker Entertainment to become a miniseries.
In addition to being a New York Times bestseller, The Personal Librarian was a Good Morning America Book Club selection and named a “Best Book of the Year” by NPR. The First Ladies was Target’s 2023 Book of the Year. Victoria is also the recipient of the Phyllis Wheatley Trailblazer Award, Go On Girl Book Club Author of the Year, 11 African American literacy awards, and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature for her social commentary novel, Stand Your Ground.
“We’re pleased to have Victoria Christopher Murray join us as our guest speaker for this year’s celebration of literacy,” said Kristin Calder, CEO of the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County. “Victoria’s well-known historical fiction novels are compelling and popular, and we are eager to read her newest novel, Harlem Rhapsody, being released in February. We know our community will be intrigued by Victoria’s own story, as well as the strong women featured in her novels.”
Individual tickets to the luncheon, co-chaired by Telsula C. Morgan and Lindsay Reinhart, are $200. A table of 10 with preferred seating is $2,000. Sponsorship and program recognition opportunities are detailed here. Thank you to Presenting Sponsor Bank of America and the following supporters to date:
Platinum Sponsor: Brenda Medore
Diamond Sponsor: Nan Johnson and Robin Muir, Kosinkski Family Foundation & Robinson Family Fund
Gold Sponsors: Simone Bonutti, Barbara and Len Gray, First Horizon Foundation, Gentle Medicine Associates, Inc., GL Homes, Greenberg Traurig, Karen Rogers, Lewis Longman & Walker, P.A., Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley PA, The Palm Beach Post LocaliQ
Silver Sponsors: Akerman, LLP, Cozen O’Connor, P.A., Stephanie Kahlert, Lisa LaFrance, Lynn University, Nason Yeager Gerson Harris & Fumero, P.A., Stephanie Pew, U.S. Bank, Bernadette O’Grady/WPTV 5
For more information about luncheon tickets, sponsorship opportunities and program recognitions, please contact Dawn Larkin at 561-767-3370 or Communications@LiteracyPBC.org. To learn more about the Coalition’s literacy programs and volunteer opportunities, please visit www.LiteracyPBC.org.
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About the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County
A recipient of the coveted 4-star Charity Navigator rating for 15 consecutive years, the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County works to improve the quality of life in our community by promoting and achieving literacy. In Palm Beach County, more than half of all third graders are not reading on grade level and 22% of adults aged 16 and older lack basic literacy skills and can’t fill out a job application or read a bus schedule. Through extensive outreach and collaboration with a network of community partners, the Literacy Coalition strives to ensure that individuals who need to improve their literacy skills receive the help they need. By providing services to 55,716 adults, children, and families each year, the Literacy Coalition’s goal is for every child and every adult in Palm Beach County to be able to read.
