Longings and Belongings 5 — James Baldwin. Der Zeuge. Ein Porträt

In the organizer's words:

James Baldwin. The Witness. A portrait

Talk and reading with author René Aguigah - on October 24, 2025 at 8 pm - Unterhaus

"This book reads James Baldwin in his time - and asks him questions from the present," writes René Aguigah in the introduction to his 2024 book "James Baldwin. The Witness. A portrait". What are the circumstances of our time that still make James Baldwin relevant today? Why does one of the most important writers of the 20th century seem to have been discovered so late in Germany by international standards, and how can Baldwin's ideas and observations guide us in overcoming our current crises? In conversation, we want to approach Baldwin, who knew hatred so well but held on to love in his novels and essays. Aguigah portrays him as a witness to a time of violence and injustice that continues to this day. René Aguigah, born in Würzburg in 1974, is head of the literature department at Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur. He was a member of the jury for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize, a fellow at the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles and co-curator of the festival "What Would James Baldwin Do? A Festival on the 100th Birthday". Aguigah lives and works in Berlin.