Zelda

Lockhart, PhD

Award-Winning Novelist

Educator, Consultant and Speaker

Travels from: Durham, NC

“An epic, vivid and heart-wrenching novel…Lockhart breathes life into the landscape and gives us Black history through characters you will never forget. Beautiful.” — Imani Perry, author of the New York Times bestseller South to America

Dr. ZELDA LOCKHART is a current Fulbright Specialist engaging in cross-cultural story projects for generational healing in the U.S. and abroad. She holds a PhD in Expressive Art Therapies, an MA in Literature, and a certificate in writing, directing and editing from the New York Film Academy. Her work as an author and expressive arts consultant and educator centers on the power of story and nature to connect us across barriers and to heal our generations.

She is winner of the Lambda Literary Foundation 2024 Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-career Novelist Prize. Her books include HarperCollins 2023 release Trinity (a novel) translated and released by HarperCollins France 2024 as Entends ma voix. Her other works include The Soul of the Full-Length Manuscript: Turning Life’s Wounds into the Gift of Literary Fiction, Memoir, or Poetry. Her other novels are Fifth Born which was a Barnes & Noble Discovery selection and a Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award finalist, Cold Running Creek a Black Caucus of the American Library Association Honor Fiction award winner, and Fifth Born II: The Hundredth Turtle a 2011 Lambda Literary Award finalist.

Lockhart is a dynamic speaker and educator who travels the US and abroad utilizing story and nature to inspire individuals to heal, maintain healthy relationships, lead effectively, and work productively and gracefully in community.

Zelda's Featured Titles

Zora Neal Hurston Keynote

What sets Zelda apart is her extraordinary ability to connect people across divisions, creating a true sense of community through her interactive keynotes. Her soft, measured voice carries undeniable power, drawing listeners in and delivering messages that resonate long after she leaves the stage. We were truly blessed to have her, and our audience was captivated—so moved at times they could hardly contain themselves. She set the tone for the entire summit, contributing to its overwhelming success, and we cannot wait to work with her again.” — Rae Chesny, Director of Programs, Zora Neale Hurston Trust

Keynote: Stories Heal & Build Community

Title: Stories Heal & Build Community a Keynote and series of visits to classes, the Women’s Center, and the Intercultural Center at Wake Forest University. Dr. Lockhart’s Keynote and mini workshops focussed on the power of our stories to heal familial and social wounds and aid in our journey to becoming more compassionate community members and more effective leaders. (Sam Gladding Visiting Writer. Jan. 29 – 30th 2024)

Keynote: Mutual Vulnerability and Community Building

Part I: Keynote
“Mutual Vulnerability and Community Building: Enhancing the Way You Practice by Accessing Your Personal Stories Keynote & Workshop,” was given as part of the Healing touch Professional Association Conference. Many of us in the helping professions work on improving our skills by working on becoming more adept and understanding what the client needs that we can provide. We often approach this deeper understanding by asking the client to tell us their symptoms and the stories they are carrying that may be impacting their wellbeing. In other words, we find ways to help our clients be more vulnerable and transparent so that we can comfort, heal and fortify them.

Developing ways to better serve our clients is of course an important area of professional development, but few professional development seminars or workshops inspire the practitioner to consider the inner workings of themselves, their deepest wounds, losses, wants, and internal gifts. What are our individual stories? Knowing these are an important tool for better serving our clients. Our personal plots are present in our client interactions reciprocating responses through our bodies and through what we do and do not say. The disadvantage of not being in touch with these personal plots is that we find ourselves surprised by an interpersonal skill or gift without further exploring the source of and deeper potential for that gift. We also find ourselves surprised by reactions or ways that we were triggered because we did not know where our own trip wires were set.

This interactive keynote, will begin the process of stirring memories about instances when such moments occurred in your practice. Dr. Lockhart will read from her book The Soul of the Full-Length Manuscript: Turning Life’s Wounds into the Gift of Literary Fiction, Memoir, or Poetry. She will offer scenarios from her own practice that will exemplify the current problem and the solutions she sought through writing. Through this interactive keynote, the audience will be introduced to the overall learning objective of Dr. Lockhart’s presentations and workshops at the conference, which are for participants to gain a better understanding of their ability to engage in transformative work in the lives of others by engaging in transformative work in their own lives utilizing personal plot as the tool. This objective will be fulfilled in more depth through two writing workshops during the conference:

Part II: Workshops
Hopes & Fears: A Writing Exercise to Help You Capitalize on Your Gifts in the Client/Practitioner Relationship (A 60 Minute Workshop) – This particular writing exercise fulfills the objective of helping participants engage in knowing the events connected to their current hopes and fears as practitioners, and how this awareness reveals both the obstacles in their current client relationships and opportunities for success.
The Relationship Museum: An Exercise in Building Community Through the Mutual Vulnerability of Shared Stories (A 30 Minute Workshop) – This writing exercise will fulfill the objective of demonstrating to participants how knowing and perhaps sharing the stories that make up their identities can be done verbally, or through objects, and that this sharing creates deeper connection with others.

WeLit Reading & Lecture from the novel Trinity, and Calling on My Ancestors & My Wisdom: A Journaling Workshop

Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute

WeLit Series Reading & Lecture – Dr. Lockhart offered a reading and discussion from her novel Trinity on October 11, 2023 as part of the WeLit series in conversation with Yona Deshommes for an audience of CCCADI community and the New York public.

Sankofa Young Women’s Leadership Program – On January 24, 2024, Dr. Lockhart designed and facilitated a two hour workshop for young women of color as part of the Sankofa Young Women’s Leadership Program. Participants wrote journal entries to open the lines of communication with an ancestor(s), someone or someones who they have already identified as a warrior woman or someone who they lost, loved, who loved them. Participants also engaged in journal prompts to manifest a warrior connection with someone (someones) in the next generation who they hope to impact with their new warrior ways.

Black Voices & The Global Black South

LGBTQIA Pride & Advocacy

Community Building

Do What You Came Here to Do

Evoking ancestral memory to illuminate life paths.

Journaling in Nature

Reconnecting to nature to heal generations and decolonize.

Women's Empowerment

“Zelda Lockhart is a keynote speaker of rare brilliance—equal parts reverent and riveting. Her speech not only illuminated the iconic Zora Neale Hurston, one of our most beloved Black women writers, but also inspired attendees to break through their own barriers and step boldly into their purpose. What sets Zelda apart is her extraordinary ability to connect people across divisions, creating a true sense of community through her interactive keynotes. Her soft, measured voice carries undeniable power, drawing listeners in and delivering messages that resonate long after she leaves the stage. We were truly blessed to have her, and our audience was captivated—so moved at times they could hardly contain themselves. She set the tone for the entire summit, contributing to its overwhelming success, and we cannot wait to work with her again.” — Rae Chesny, Director of Programs, Zora Neale Hurston Trust, 2025

“From the first moment Zelda walked on our stage, transformational energies began flowing through my community. Her presence is the alchemy of lightness, depth, wisdom and humor. She guided us in keynote and breakouts to explore our lives, our histories, and our communal roots through perspective and writing prompts that invoked the sacredness of being. We cultivated ownership of our story, gave voice to the voiceless parts of our history, and met each other – a community that has traveled together for over 30 years- with new appreciation and understanding. If you wish to include transformational programming, offer stage and mic to Zelda, sit back and be astounded. There is no one who will make you laugh, cry, and feel with such grace, power, and instant engagement – body, mind, and Spirit.” — Amelia Vogler, Former Executive Director of the Healing Touch Professional Association, 2024

“Dr. Lockhart has a brilliant mind, and her words are laced with power!” — Sam Gladding Visiting Writers Program, 2024

“Zelda is a magical connective force that facilitates remembering, reconnection, and revitalization by making it okay and right to revisit the past, in the now, and changing the future through the creation of new narratives.” — Tamara Thomas, CCCADI Sankofa Young Women’s Leadership Program Support Consultant

“Zelda’s genius and connectivity to spirit and her cultural roots makes all of her work vital to the preservation of literary legacies while sharing a profound vision. She holds space for all generations and beautifully weaves our collective healing story.” — Sabine Blaizin, CCCADI Director of Programs

“In April 2019, Zelda Lockhart served as the keynote presenter for Tidewater Community College’s Literary Fest. The vulnerability and courage exhibited in her writings, reading and commentary penetrated the hearts of attendees, giving the audience license to heal, be free and to support the liberation of others.” — Tidewater Community College, 2024

“Dr. Lockhart’s presentation was not just a lecture but rather an immersive, interactive experience that captivated her audience from beginning to end. Through her innovative approach, she not only shared the essence of her novel but also fostered an environment ripe for dialogue and reflection, encouraging participants to engage in meaningful discussions that continued well beyond the confines of the event. Dr. Lockhart demonstrates an exceptional ability to weave complex narratives that resonate on a deeply emotional level. Her words, laced with power and imbued with the weight of her subjects, left a lasting impression on all who were fortunate enough to hear her. The manner by which she articulates the Black experience, coupled with her insight into the dynamics of family and the long-lasting impact of trauma, underscores her status as a formidable figure in contemporary literature. Dr. Lockhart’s contributions as a presenter and teacher enriched the intellectual landscape of the community, providing a thought-provoking discourse for both students and the public.” — Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University

Trinity Syllabus Link

Trinity: a Novel by Zelda Lockhart Google Play 15 min Audio Book Sample

Zelda Lockhart Speaking One Sheet

Zelda’s Workshop History

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Fulbright Specialist
Lambda Literary Foundation 2024 Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize Winner
Ragan-Rubin Award for Literary Achievement
Distinguished Alumni Award, Old Dominion University
Piedmont Laureate of North Carolina
Lambda Literary Award Finalist (Fifth Born II: The Hundredth Turtle, LaVenson Press)
African-American & Native American Historical Fiction Winner (Cold Running Creek: a Novel)
Honor Fiction Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award (Cold Running Creek: a Novel)
Barnes & Noble Discovery Selection (Fifth Born: a Novel)