Penguin Classics celebrates James Baldwin’s 100th birthday with new books and Hay Festival partnership

Penguin Classics will celebrate the centenary of James Baldwin’s birth with new publishing and a partnership with the Hay Festival.

A year-long celebration of the author’s life and work, featuring consumer and retail activity, partnerships and social media, kicked off with the Penguin Classics’ "On the Road" podcast episode on Giovanni’s Room (Penguin Classics), hosted by Henry Eliot. 

The programme culminates in the publication of Baldwin’s autobiographical work, No Name in the Street (Penguin Modern Classics), on 1st August. The book features "deeply personal reflections" on Baldwin’s life- from his childhood in Harlem to the deaths of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. 

Baldwin’s short story collection Going to Meet the Man (Penguin Modern Classics) will also be reissued in August, and a selection of novels and essay collections will be made available in audio in the UK for the first time. Moreover, the new editions will be supported by a marketing campaign that will also aim to "showcase the breadth of Baldwin’s rich body of work already available in Penguin Modern Classics".

Penguin Press publishing director Josephine Greywoode said: "James Baldwin is one of the most important writers of the 20th century and his work resonates as profoundly today as when it was first published. It has been an enormous privilege and honour to witness the renewed interest in his work over the past 10 years. We are absolutely thrilled to celebrate the centenary of his birth—and to bring his timeless works to a new generation of readers."

The Hay Festival will also celebrate the centenary with global activities, beginning this month with a "Book Club" session on Giovanni’s Room, programmed in partnership with Words of Colour. The event will be held on Thursday 22nd February, featuring broadcaster Yassmin Abdel-Magied and novelist Colm Tóibín.