Reading James Baldwin — Imani Perry

Acclaimed writer Imani Perry will explore James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’ and ‘The Uses of the Blues’ in a virtual talk with the Lenox Library, the Authors Guild Foundation and the James Baldwin Estate, asn they present a new series of talks exploring the great writer’s life and work.

Few American writers have marked their era as powerfully as James Baldwin. As distinctive on the page as on the airwaves, his voice is indelibly associated with the demand for racial justice in the United States, a demand that continues to make him one of our most pressing and urgent contemporaries.

To mark Baldwin’s centenary, the Authors Guild Foundation has invited Lenox Library and its patrons to join a conversation featuring some of our most exciting writers, scholars, and essayists.

Gather with us in the Welles Gallery as we stream these special live, interactive sessions.

Session Schedule

Click any session title for more information. (Lenox Library patrons do not need to register individually.)

Date Session
Tuesday, March 18 Colm Tóibín—Go Tell It on the Mountain
Thursday, April 24 Imani Perry — ‘Sonny’s Blues’ and ‘The Uses of the Blues’
Wednesday, May 21 W. Ralph Eubanks & Eddie Glaude, Jr.—Notes of a Native Son
Thursday, June 26 Viet Thanh Nguyen—No Name in the Street
Thursday, July 24 Rachel Cohen—Baldwin & Delaney
Thursday, August 21 Vinson Cunningham—Another Country
Thursday, September 18 Ayana Mathis—The Fire Next Time
All sessions start at 2:00 p.m.

More info »

The image above shows a scene from the contemporary film ‘If Beale Street Could Talk,’ based on James Baldwin’s novel. Press image courtesy of Images Cinema