Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
James Baldwin was one of the most incisive and influential American writers of the twentieth century. Active in the civil rights movement, open about his homosexuality, he was celebrated for eloquent analyses of social unrest and for daring portrayals of sexuality and interracial relationships. His writing has achieved the status of modern classics. James Campbell knew Baldwin, has interviewed many of the author’s friends and associates, and examined hundreds of pages of correspondence. He was the first biographer to access the FBI’s files. The result is a candid and original account of the life and work of a writer who believed ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’.
About the author: James Campbell is the author of Exiled in Paris and This Is the Beat Generation. He was born in Glasgow and was for many years an editor and columnist at the Times Literary Supplement in London.
James Baldwin was one of the most incisive and influential American writers of the twentieth century. Active in the civil rights movement, open about his homosexuality, he was celebrated for eloquent analyses of social unrest and for daring portrayals of sexuality and interracial relationships. His writing has achieved the status of modern classics. James Campbell knew Baldwin, has interviewed many of the author’s friends and associates, and examined hundreds of pages of correspondence. He was the first biographer to access the FBI’s files. The result is a candid and original account of the life and work of a writer who believed ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’.
About the author: James Campbell is the author of Exiled in Paris and This Is the Beat Generation. He was born in Glasgow and was for many years an editor and columnist at the Times Literary Supplement in London.
![Catherine Rayner || Arlo: The Lion Who Couldnt Sleep [AGES 5-7]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/62bJWlPugP4/mqdefault.jpg "Catherine Rayner || Arlo: The Lion Who Couldnt Sleep [AGES 5-7]
Catch up on a new BBC Authors Live broadcast with Catherine Rayner as she shares her latest picture book Arlo: The Lion Who Couldnt Sleep, a beautiful story about finding peace and calm. Catherine will also do some live painting and reveal step by step how she creates her beautiful illustrations.
A Scottish Book Trust event")
![Stories for Lockdown || Stay at Home [AGES 7-12]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AJn6hkW8zw4/mqdefault.jpg "Stories for Lockdown || Stay at Home [AGES 7-12]
It’s almost a year since writers from across Scotland united to publish a book of stories and poems all about lockdown. Hear them share their work, which might resonate with some of your own experiences of staying at home. Have you seen aliens? Had a bad haircut? Celebrated a birthday a bit differently? Some of the stories are serious, some are silly, but they all remind us there’s a rainbow after the storm")
