A Bohemian Love Affair: Floyd Dell and Edna St. Vincent Millay

One hundred years ago, Floyd Dell, bohemian author and editor of the radical Masses magazine, began a passionate affair with a newcomer to Greenwich Village — then-unknown “girl poet,” Edna St. Vincent Millay. In the years that followed, both Dell and Millay became symbols of early 20th-century feminism, rebellion, and literary freedom. A century later, while poring over her grandfather Floyd’s papers at Chicago’s Newberry Library, Jerri Dell discovered hundreds of handwritten letters (and an unpublished memoir) detailing Dell’s love affair with Millay. Finding him as outlandish, entertaining, and insightful as he was when she knew him fifty years before, Jerri brings her grandfather and his poet lover back to life within the pages of this book. In this multimedia presentation, Jerri will illuminate the turbulent Greenwich Village life of these two major figures, with Floyd and Edna’s own words. Historic materials, like the couple’s original letters, will also be on display.