Singer, actor and author Michelle Gayle chooses
IN PROFILE
James Baldwin was a gay black American writer known for his novels, essays, plays and poems; he was also active in America's civil rights movement. His two best-known works are his novel Go (1953), voted one of the best English language novels of the 20th century, and his essay collection (1955). An unfinished manuscript of his became the Oscar-nominated documentary, (2016). He died in France aged 63.