(1924 – 1987) A Pentecostal preacher during his teens in New York City, NY, loosely described in Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), Baldwin left the church to become a novelist, playwright and essayist. Baldwin’s other great novels, Another Country (1962) and Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968), explore the intersection of race and sexuality and the ways these have shaped American culture. His play Blues for Mr Charlie (1964) was based on the Emmett Till murder case. Baldwin rose to international fame with the publication of The Fire Next Time (1963), which, though conciliatory towards whites, considered the slowness of racial change in the United States, and warned of dire consequences if this continued—predictions seemingly fulfilled in ensuing assassinations and race riots. Sickened by the racial climate in the US, Baldwin lived in southern France.