James Arthur Baldwin

The American Poets' Corner

The Cathedral is proud to announce that James Arthur Baldwin has been elected, by unanimous vote, to be the 2011 inductee into the American Poets’ Corner at the Cathedral. The board is led by Marilyn Nelson, the Cathedral’s Poet in Residence.

James Baldwin (1924 – 1987) was born in Harlem and was noted for his novels on sexual and personal identity, and his sharp essays on civil-rights struggles in the United States. He gained fame in 1953 with his first novel, Go Tell it on the Mountain, a story of hidden sins, guilt, and religious torments. In this and subsequent works Baldwin fused autobiographical material with analysis of social injustice and prejudices.

The formal induction will take place on Sunday, November 6th at a 4:00 Service. A celebration of James Baldwin and his work is scheduled to take place at the Cathedral the evening of Monday, November 7th.

Participants include: The Very Rev. Dr. James A. Kowalski, Marilyn Nelson, Trevor Baldwin, David Leeming, Alfred Corn, Jericho Brown, Jamet Pittman, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Sharan Strange, James H. Cone, Ysaye Barnwell, Cecelia Smith, Quincy Troupe, Patricia Smith, Michael Early and others.

The American Poet’s Corner, created in 1984 to memorialize and celebrate American writers, is modeled after a similar alcove at Westminster Abbey in London. Past inductees include Emily Dickinson, E.E. Cummings and last year’s honoree, Sylvia Plath.

About the American Poets’ Corner and the Cathedral
The American Poet’s Corner at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Cathedral poetry events have become an integral part of the literary landscape in New York. Visitors come to the American Poet’s Corner, located in the Arts Bay on the north side of the nave, to remember the authors they’ve long loved, and to see who else is honored, whom they may have not read. Poets, fiction writers, essayists, and dramatists: the American Poet’s Corner memorializes the literature of our nation in all its surprise, wit and beauty. The American Poet’s Corner has earned respect for its choices of inductees, and by the high quality of its Electors and Poets in Residence, which include 17 U.S. Poets Laureate and winners of every literary prize an American writer can aspire to, including the Nobel.

 

 

Sunday, November 6 4:00pm
Monday, November 7 7:00pm

A Contribution of $10.00 will be appreciated; reservations are not required.