Conversations with Baldwin: The Salon is a series of digital panel discussions exploring the literature and life of 20th-century author and activist James Baldwin.

James Baldwin (1924 – 1987) was an American essayist, novelist, and playwright whose eloquence and passion on the subject of race in America made him an important voice in the 20th century.

The topic of this salon is ‘Baldwin on Friendship’. James Baldwin, though he was a great writer, was not alone. His contemporaries included Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, and Beauford Delaney, to name but a few. This discussion will explore the importance of friendship in Baldwin’s growth as a writer, when he was called out with love (and sometimes without!), and how community informed his practice for the better.

Guests on the panel include Ghanaian-British author and publisher Nii Ayikwei Parkes (flipped eye press), Moses McKenzie (An Olive Grove in Ends) and Dr Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman. The panel will be chaired by US-Caribbean editor and publicist Lisa Pegram (Poetry, June 2012).

ACCESS: This event is BSL interpreted.

Conversations with Baldwin: The Salon is part of Conversations with Baldwin, a festival celebrating the life and work of one of the 20th century’s greatest American authors, James Baldwin. Conversations with Baldwin is produced by Words of Colour and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.