In many ways, the late, Black, gay writer James Baldwin had been writing his own story for years.
However, with “Baldwin: A Love Story” (FSG, 2025) by Nicholas Boggs, readers now have the first major biography of one of the definitive writers of the 20th century, gay or straight. Boggs, who played a considerable role as co-editor for the 2018 Duke University Press reissue of Baldwin and illustrator Yoran Cazac’s 1976 children’s book, “Little Man Little Man,” has created a stunning and meticulously researched book. While it’s hard to believe that no such Baldwin biography existed prior to this, we can all be grateful to Boggs for writing one. A perfect autumn read to curl up with as the seasons change.
Speaking of children’s books, Arnold Lobel was the author and occasional illustrator of more than 30 books for young readers, including the beloved “Frog and Toad” series, and also illustrated several others. Additionally, Lobel had the distinction of being one of an elite group of writers who received both Newbery and Caldecott Medals. Lobel, who came out later in life after being married to a woman, died from AIDS complications in 1987. What better way to pay tribute to a celebrated children’s book author than with a children’s book about him? “Outside In and the Inside Out: a story about Arnold Lobel” (Viking/Penguin, 2025), written and illustrated by Emmy Kastner, is just that book. Following Lobel from childhood illness and recovery through his love of storytelling and drawing into his career in the “buttoned-up business world” and eventually his life as a lauded children’s book author, without shying away from his finding “a new world with a new love.”
The first biography of the queer, Greek poet known as C.P. Cavafy (1863-1933) in more than 50 years, “Constantine Cavafy: A New Biography” (FSG, 2025) by Gregory Jusdanis and Peter Jeffreys, is cause for celebration indeed. A poet whose body of work continues to be translated to this day, the fact that Cavafy openly wrote poetry consisting of queer subject matter at the time he did is reason enough to read his work. Cavafy authorities Jusdanis and Jeffreys scrupulously researched their subject, and the book takes us from his early years with his family in his Egyptian birthplace through time in England (Liverpool and London) and Turkey (Istanbul) to his return to Alexandria. Featuring 16 pages of photos, it is a fascinating portrait of a brilliant and groundbreaking poet.
Poet and MacArthur Fellow Edward Hirsch is, at present, the president of the Guggenheim Foundation. His memoir, “My Childhood in Pieces: A Stand-Up Comedy, A Skokie Elegy” (Knopf, 2025), is exactly what you would expect from the title. Combining humorous bits presented in poetic language, Hirsch takes us on a guided tour of his early years in Chicago and his family’s eventual northern migration to suburban Skokie, Illinois, where he spent his formative years.
