The Book Review Podcast

Episode: Nicholas Boggs on Writing a James Baldwin Biography
Host: MJ Franklin, The New York Times
Guest: Nicholas Boggs
Date: November 14, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, MJ Franklin sits down with Nicholas Boggs, author of the new biography "Baldwin: A Love Story," to discuss James Baldwin's life, work, and legacy. The conversation delves into the unique approach Boggs took by structuring the biography around Baldwin's relationships with four significant men, and how love—both romantic and communal—served as a central force in Baldwin's creative and political life. The episode offers fresh insights into Baldwin as both an artist and a person, reframing him not just as a figure of righteous fury but as someone deeply moved, challenged, and inspired by love.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Who is James Baldwin?

(02:13–04:33)

• Baldwin as a Human and an Icon: Boggs stresses starting with Baldwin’s humanity, often lost amid his legendary status as a civil rights figure.
  • “First of all, he was a human being. And I think that's something that sometimes gets lost right in the lionization of him or the malignment of him.” — Nicholas Boggs (02:13)
• Multifaceted Artist: Novelist, essayist, playwright, political figure; wrote across modes and genres.
• Central Themes: Explored the "false notion of innocence" in America—especially white innocence and historical denial.
  • “He tackled love, of course... really, I think what he was tackling was this false notion of innocence that Americans were invested in—white Americans in particular.” — Nicholas Boggs (03:39)

2. Baldwin’s Significance

(02:53–03:27)

• Most Important 20th-Century Writer:
  • “I think he's the most important writer of the 20th century.” — Nicholas Boggs (02:53)
• Living Through—and Writing About—Multiple Social Movements: Civil rights, women’s rights, gay/lesbian movements.

3. The Lens of Love in Baldwin’s Life and Work

(05:16–08:56)

• Biography’s Structure: 700-page chronological narrative, anchored by four key love relationships.
  • “The four great loves of his life, the men that he dedicated books to that he collaborated with, that really sustained him in his artistic practice.” — Nicholas Boggs (05:16)
• Love as a Framework:
  • More than romance: love as an artistic, political, and creative catalyst.
    • “He had a politics of love, which is also worth discussing. But in terms of his creative process, he was not able to finish his first novel, Go Tell in the Mountain, until he moved to France.” — Nicholas Boggs (07:50)
• Double Entendre in Titles: For example, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” referencing both Black church tradition and literal mountains in Baldwin’s life.

4. Reframing Baldwin: Joy and Community

(08:56–10:01)

• Popular image is of Baldwin as wrathful or suffering, but Boggs argues his life was “full of joy and laughter and communion.”
• Distance from America (e.g., time in France and Istanbul) provided space for creative breakthrough.

5. Representation of Queerness & Relationships in Biography

(10:09–12:58)

• Previous Biographies & Silence Around Love Life: Earlier works often omitted or obscured these relationships due to era’s homophobia, lack of resources, or difficulty categorizing Baldwin’s sexuality.
  • “Since Baldwin rejected these categories of gay and straight and queer, it deflected away from this deep dive... What kind of love story is that? And that's something that I had to address in this book...” — Nicholas Boggs (10:36)
• Introducing the Four Anchors/Lovers:
  • Beauford Delaney: Artistic mentor and “spiritual father”
  • Lucien Happersberger: Swiss lover instrumental to “Go Tell It on the Mountain”
  • Engin Cezzar: Turkish actor, “blood brother” and deep companion from Baldwin’s Istanbul years
  • Yoran Cazac: French artist/collaborator, to whom “If Beale Street Could Talk” is dedicated

6. Structural & Narrative Decisions

(14:47–16:19)

• Boggs structured the book around these four loves to fill gaps left by earlier biographers and to unify the personal and artistic accounts.
  • “His novels are all love stories. His politics is rooted in this idea that black and white and Americans must come together, as he puts it, like lovers in order to change the world.” — Nicholas Boggs (15:20)

7. Research and Craft

(18:05–26:57)

• Story of Tracking Down Yoran Cazac:
  • Boggs contacted art historians and received a call from Cazac himself:
    • “I'm Yoran Cazac. I'm alive. Come to Paris. I have many stories to tell you about Jimmy.” — Nicholas Boggs (17:05)
• Discovery of a Lost Love Letter:
  • Seven-page love poem from Baldwin to Cazac found in Tuscany.
    • “It was all about yearning... The recurring line is, come to me, come to me, Come home.” — Nicholas Boggs (23:06)
• Writing Process & Challenges:
  • Paper-based, physical storyboarding at artist residencies, including Baldwin’s own at MacDowell.
  • Difficulty finding a narrative voice and the tonal breakthrough when the story shifted to Paris.
• Accessibility Goals:
  • “This is the book that I wish I could have read when I was coming out in college, when I was reading Baldwin. I...wanted it to be accessible. I wanted it to be told through stories. But I didn't want it to lose the kind of depth and rigor that Baldwin's work demands.” — Nicholas Boggs (26:57)

8. The Toughness and Legacy of Baldwin

(30:36–31:24)

• Writing and perseverance, not just talent, as the true measure of Baldwin’s art:
  • “He has this quote. He says writing is not about talented. I know a lot of talented ruins. It's about love and perseverance.” — Nicholas Boggs (30:36)
• The cost of activism and artistry on Baldwin’s life and health.

9. Public & Reader Reception

(31:49–32:43)

• Book tour: Overwhelmingly positive response, underscoring public need/desire for Baldwin’s work and story.
  • Story of meeting David Moses, the man who informed Baldwin of MLK’s assassination.

10. Baldwin Reading Recommendations

(32:43–35:32)

• First Baldwin Book (for Boggs): “Giovanni’s Room”—stolen from his twin sister in ninth grade.
• Favorite Fiction: “Another Country” (especially the first quarter), followed by “Giovanni’s Room”
• Favorite Nonfiction: Later essays—“To Crush a Serpent,” “Freaks and the American Ideal of Manhood,” and the introduction to “The Price of the Ticket.”
• Best Entry Point for Readers: “Notes of a Native Son”
• Underappreciated Gem: “Just Above My Head”—a black queer love story and a story of familial acceptance.

11. How to Read Baldwin: Close Reading Tips

(36:01–37:32)

• Be attentive to connections between Baldwin’s fiction and nonfiction.
  • “How does he render this problem of American innocence in his essays versus how does he turn it into narrative?” — Nicholas Boggs (36:55)
• Note rhetorical strategies, such as the slippage between “us” and “we” in his essays.

12. Memorable Closing Moment

(37:51–37:59)

• If the book could whisper to passersby:
  • “I think it would whisper to them the epigraph from the book, which is ‘Love is the only reality, the only terror, and the only hope.’” — Nicholas Boggs (37:51)

Notable Quotes

• On Baldwin’s Core Motivation:

  • “All art is created out of love. This is something that Buford taught him.” — Nicholas Boggs (06:35)

• On Archival Discoveries:

  • “In her bedroom she's thrown out all these documents and images…and she finds a love letter that Baldwin wrote to her husband in the early 1970s…a seven page love poem with a rusty metal paperclip…This poem makes me sad for Jimmy…” — Nicholas Boggs (23:06)

• On Biography as a Queer Form:

  • “The sort of normal life story…is a very linear normative narrative, which is not one that Baldwin lived. For example, look at his life. He's constructing these alternative kinship structures...” — Nicholas Boggs (19:31)

• On Biography and Research:

  • “I got there and I wouldn't write for two weeks. I would just storyboard the whole book, and I'd have the different sources...and I would move them around. It was crazy making.” — Nicholas Boggs (25:36)

• On Love and Baldwin’s Politics:

  • “His politics is rooted in this idea that black and white and Americans must come together, as he puts it, like lovers in order to change the world.” — Nicholas Boggs (15:20)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:13 — Who is James Baldwin?
• 05:16 — The structure & purpose of "Baldwin: A Love Story"
• 07:50 — Love as the source of Baldwin’s creative breakthroughs
• 10:36 — Historical absence of Baldwin’s love life in biographies
• 11:48 — The four key men/anchors of the biography
• 18:05 — Finding Yoran Cazac and archival gems
• 23:06 — Discovery of the love poem “Saturnia”
• 25:36 — Boggs’ research and writing process
• 32:57 — Book recommendations: first, favorite, and entry point
• 36:55 — Tips for close reading Baldwin
• 37:51 — If the book could whisper: “Love is the only reality, the only terror, and the only hope.”

Takeaways for New and Returning Readers

• Nicholas Boggs’s biography, "Baldwin: A Love Story," offers a fresh, intimate look at the writer through the lens of love, both in personal relationships and as a force in Baldwin’s art and activism.
• The book bridges scholarly depth with narrative accessibility, making it suitable for readers at all levels of familiarity with Baldwin.
• Understanding Baldwin—his novels, essays, activism, and relationships—means understanding his politics and practice of love as a transformative, even radical, act.
• Readers are encouraged to pay attention to how Baldwin’s experiences of love and loss permeate his entire body of work, connecting his private life to public art in profound ways.