Join us on Thursday, September 29th at 7pm for a signing and discussion panel: Recollections of “Life with Jimmy” in Saint-Paul de Vence, France by three intimate relations. Featuring Jules B. Farber, author of James Baldwin: Escape from America, Exile in Provence; Carole Weinstein and Daniel Baldwin, sister-in-law and nephew to James Baldwin; George Wein, jazz festival producer and musician; and author Nicholas Delbanco.
Book Synopsis: To escape racism in America, James Baldwin fled to S...
Join us on Thursday, September 29th at 7pm for a signing and discussion panel: Recollections of “Life with Jimmy” in Saint-Paul de Vence, France by three intimate relations. Featuring Jules B. Farber, author of James Baldwin: Escape from America, Exile in Provence; Carole Weinstein and Daniel Baldwin, sister-in-law and nephew to James Baldwin; George Wein, jazz festival producer and musician; and author Nicholas Delbanco.
Book Synopsis: To escape racism in America, James Baldwin fled to Saint-Paul de Vence, France, in 1970, where he lived in self-imposed exile until his death in 1987. This book focuses on this seventeen-year period of his life and literature. Author Jules B. Farber presents "life with Jimmy" through more than seventy interviews of personal reminisces with well-known literary figures, musicians, artists, and celebrities, such as Sidney Poitier, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Quincy Jones, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Bill Wyman, Harry Belafonte, Jr., George Wein, and many others. Farber also reached out to locals in Saint-Paul de Vence who adopted Baldwin into their village.
Baldwin's oeuvre and lifestyle during this time was concentrated in this ProvenCal setting. These personal, and sometimes intimate, recollections provide an overview of the diversity of Baldwin's writing, the details of his social interactions, the magnitude of his literary relevance, and a first-time examination of his integration as the first black man in Saint-Paul de Vence.
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CAROLE WEINSTEIN and DANIEL BALDWIN
Carole, mother of Daniel Baldwin, was the partner of James Baldwin’s brother David whom she met in 1964. Later Jimmy would refer to her as his “sister-out-of-law.” When Jimmy bought the house in Saint-Paul de Vence, David and Carole first visited Jimmy there together in 1971, from Amsterdam where they were living at the time. They drove there to celebrate his buying the house. Carole also visited in 1974, and then again in several summers from 1975 - 1980s with Daniel. She and Daniel also made a nostalgic visit several years later after Jimmy died and Daniel visited his father David there as well when he had become very ill. Carole was a very active participant in the afternoon sessions at the “Welcome Table” where the author sought criticism of his work completed in the early hours. Daniel fondly recalls his uncle Jimmy walking hand-in-hand with him up to the town center, visiting many villages in the area, sometimes carrying him, being taken on sightseeing trips on the Côte d’Azur, to Paris, swimming in the Colombe D'Or pool mornings, and to the Oceanarium in Monte Carlo , being taught to play chess, and astounded at finding Baldwin’s books in many strange languages, for him, in the house.
NICHOLAS DELBANCO
British-born Nicholas Delbanco lived near Baldwin in Provence a number of years. He was a regular literary sparring partner. In his book, Running In Place, Scenes from the South of France, he comments on the frequency of time spent talking at Jimmy’s table. Delbanco has published some twenty nine books of fiction and non-fiction. His most recent novel is The Years. His last non-fiction is The Art of Youth: Crane, Carrington, Gershwin , and The Nature of Fine Arts. Delbanco was the director of the MFA Program And the Hopwood Awards Program at the University of Michigan until his retirement in 2015. He is the Robert Frost Distinguished University Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan.
GEORGE WEIN
George Wein is considered to be as much a legend as his festivals. Through his company, Festival Productions, he has spearheaded hundreds of music events since 1954 when he produced the first Newport Jazz Festival – an event which started the festival era. He pioneered the idea of sponsor association with music events, beginning with The Schlitz Salute to Jazz and the Kool Jazz Festival. Wein is an NEA Jazz Master (Jazz Advocate), and in 2012 was given the APAP Award of Merit for Achievement in Performing Arts. In addition, honors and awards have been bestowed upon him by Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, AARP, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the French Legion d’Honneur, Chile’s Order of Bernardo O’Higgins and other organizations around the world. Mr. Wein is a lifetime Honorary Trustee of Carnegie Hall and a member of the Board of Trustees at Jazz @ Lincoln Center. Mr. Wein also has a long history of involvement with philanthropy and the arts, including the establishment of the Joyce and George Wein Chair of African American Studies at Boston University, the Alexander Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at Simmons College and an annual artist prize given through the Studio Museum in Harlem in honor of his late wife, Joyce Alexander Wein.