James campbell author biography samples
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Jimmy in Paris, 1948
To celebrate publication of the new edition of James Campbell’s essential biography of James Baldwin, Talking at the Gates, here is an extract about Baldwin’s relocation from New York to Paris in 1948. Campbell met Baldwin in the 1970s and was a regular visitor at his home in France during the last decade of his life. Their friendship makes the biography no less incisive as an appraisal of Baldwin’s life and work; Baldwin would frequently refer other journalists to Campbell for insights into his life and work. Elegantly written, candid and original, it is a compelling account of the life and work of a writer who held to the principle that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’.
Lord, I Ain’t No Stranger Now
An Extract from Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin by James Campbell
‘Being a problem is a strange experience—peculiar even for one who has never been anything else, save perhaps in boyhood and in Europe.‘ – W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, 1903
“Why did you leave America?”
Baldwin seldom refused a request for an interview, and once he was famous and “Paris” had become part of his legend, he was asked this question many times. He gave different answers on differen
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I decided I wanted to be a writer when I was seven years old. Before that I wanted to be a duck. It's not easy being a duck so I'm glad I stuck to writing. I live in Suffolk in the UK with my wife and children. There is also a dog, some chickens, a hamster and thousands of worms. As well as being a writer, I'm also a performer, some would say a comedian for children. Since 1995 I have visited nearly 3000 schools, most in the UK but some in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, New York, Singapore and even Ipswich! I've performed my Comedy 4 Kids show in various wonderful festivals and venues including Just So Festival, The Adelaide Fringe, The Edinburgh Fringe, The Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, The Melbourne Comedy Festival, The Hay Festival, Wigtown Book Festival, Bath Children's Literature Festival, Womad, Latitude. I'm the only children's comedian to have performed at the Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival. I have done my best to turn all that performance into a new kind of book. Books that put stand-up comedy on the page without losing the exciting feel of not knowing where it's going to go next. I do write stories with a beginning, middle and end (my Boyface books for example) but I've become best known for my Fun
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