James baldwin biography timeline with pictures

James Baldwin and Britain

1949

Baldwin travels from Paris to London in the hope of establishing magazine contacts in the city.

1955

James Baldwin visits London to try and stage his first play "The Amen Corner" and to seek a publisher for "Giovanni's Room", a groundbreaking work exploring gay male love set in Paris.

At the end of the year, the British publisher Michael Joseph accepts "Giovanni’s Room" for publication after it is rejected by Baldwin’s U.S.

publisher Knopf.

Late 1959 or early 1960

According to Baldwin’s biographer James Campbell, Baldwin visited England during this period "when he didn’t intend to." (See James Campbell’s biography of Baldwin Talking at the Gates, first published by Viking in 1991 and reissued with a new introduction by Polygon and Birlinn Ltd in 2021).

1962

Baldwin travels to London where various publishers try to persuade him to leave his publisher Michael Joseph, including Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

He remains lo 2,565 James Baldwin Photos & High Res Pictures - Getty Images WURE