Reading James Baldwin 2020-21

 Quilting Points 2020-21: Reading James Baldwin

Photograph by Carl Van Vechten/Beinecke Library © Van Vechten Trust

We are pleased to announce the return of the interdisciplinary critical and cultural theory reading group Quilting Points for its ninth consecutive year.  Ran by postgraduate researchers in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures at the University of Leeds, this year's directors are Joseph Genchi, Izzy Jenkinson, and Craig McDonald.  

This year we will be reading and discussing the work of African-American critic, essayist, novelist, and activist James Baldwin. As we explore Baldwin's extensive oeuvre, we will encounter themes of racial politics, sexuality, identity, and literary and cinematic representation.  As well as reflecting on Baldwin's writing within the context of its own creation, we will be placing Baldwin alongside current events, especially the political and social movement Black Lives Matter.

This year's meetings will take place online rather than in person at the University of Leeds.  While there is an inevitable drawback to being unable to meet in person, it is clearly for the best given the circumstances of global pandemic and it also allows us to extend the invitation to those who could not have previously joined us in person at Leeds.  Details for how to attend meetings, as well as links to the reading, will be provided on individual meetings' blog posts in due course.   

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