Episode description

The chef and co-founder of The River Cafe, Ruth Rogers, picks the life of the writer and activist James Baldwin.

A writer, poet, playwright and activist, Baldwin was known as a trailblazing explorer of race, class and sexuality in America and the “literary voice of the Civil Rights movement”.

Joining Ruth and Matthew is Professor Rich Blint from the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts in New York. He is director of the college’s race and ethnicity programme and is a contributing editor to the James Baldwin Review. Together they explore Baldwin's writing style, the turbulent times faced both politically and personally; and ask - were he alive today - whether he would feel the world had progressed in its attitude to race.

Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Caitlin Hobbs.