Kristen Green, bestselling author and journalist, named Newsmaker of the Year by Virginia Professional Communicators

RICHMOND, Va. — Kristen Green, author and journalist, has been named Virginia Professional Communicators’ 2023 Newsmaker of the Year, one of the organization’s top honors.

The annual VPC Newsmaker Award is given to a nominee who has made significant news in the past year or throughout their career.

Green, the New York Times bestselling author and former Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter, published her latest book, “The Devil’s Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South’s Most Notorious Slave Jail,” in April 2022.

Since then, the story of Mary Lumpkin, a formerly enslaved woman who was instrumental in the education of free Black men after the Civil War, has received the additional attention it always deserved. The school Mary Lumpkin played a role in founding in a notorious Richmond slave jail where she had been enslaved eventually became one of the nation’s first historically Black colleges, now known as Virginia Union University.

“Kristen’s book illuminates what life was like for the thousands of enslaved Black women whose names have been lost to history,” said Cathy Jett, who nominated Green for the award. “It restores Mary Lumpkin to her proper place as a resilient woman who helped transform a place of horror into a place of learning for her people.”

“I am incredibly honored to receive this award from Virginia Professional Communicators,” said Green. “I am deeply appreciative that my reporting and writing of important Virginia history was deemed worthy of this recognition.”

Green’s work received news coverage in national and cultural media outlets and is informing a new generation of learners and leaders. Media outlets that covered Kristen’s story included CBS, the Smithsonian magazine, The Washington Post, and multiple Richmond and Virginia publications.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press, who interviewed Green, reported, “Individuals and narratives from the past,” such as Mary Lumpkin, “offer us guidance toward creating a better America and a better world today.”

For seven years, Green searched court papers, old newspapers, census records, marriage documents and death records. She visited the places where Mary lived and the town in Ohio where she was buried. Mary’s story had largely been forgotten and even some of her descendants didn’t know about her, but now her story is available to all.

Green is also the author of The New York Times bestseller “Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County,” which received the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Nonfiction and the People’s Choice Award. She has worked as a journalist for two decades for newspapers including the Boston Globe and the San Diego Union-Tribune. She holds a master’s in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and lives in Richmond.

VPC’s Newsmaker Award nominees are judged by a committee based on newsworthiness, public service, personal sacrifice, risk-taking, and/or inspiration to others. Only VPC members may nominate candidates for Newsmaker.

Previous Newsmaker of the Year recipients include Del. Danica Roem, Susan Greenbaum, Doris Buffett, Roxane Gilmore, Anne Holton and Nikki Giovanni.

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Virginia Professional Communicators is a statewide organization of professional women and men pursuing careers across the communications spectrum. Learn more at: www.vapc.org

Media contact: Diane Thieke, VPC Communications, 609-577-4075, diane.thieke@versiona.com