Duke University Press (DUP), publisher of James Baldwin’s only children’s book, Little Man, Little Man, is celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of James Baldwin’s birth (August 2, 2024) with special pricing, donations, and a Baldwin reading list.
DUP re-issued Little Man, Little Man in 2018 to much acclaim. First published in 1976, the book was ahead of its time and didn’t find an audience, going quickly out of print.
“Baldwin baptizes us into a world that most who read this book will never know and we will all forever be the better for it!” said Levar Burton of the crucial impact of this book on its republication.
The story’s Black vernacular language and the colorful watercolor illustrations by Yoran Cazac connected with twenty-first century readers and the book was hailed as “a new classic” by School Library Journal.
To celebrate the Baldwin centennial, DUP is offering Little Man, Little Man at the special price of $9.99 to consumers until the end of the year. This offer is available to individuals, booksellers, libraries, and wholesalers. No coupon is needed. The discounted price applies to both the print and e-book.
DUP will also be donating copies of Little Man, Little Man to the Durham, NC-based charity Book Harvest, which supports literacy by giving free books to area children. Additional copies are being donated to La Maison Baldwin, Baldwin’s home in France where he spent the last 17 years of his life. It is now a writers’ residency and organization devoted to preserving Baldwin’s legacy. Books will be given away at their centennial gala in September.
Finally, DUP has prepared a reading list of books and articles about Baldwin. The list includes articles from our journals Public Culture, Theater, South Atlantic Quarterly, Social Text, Nka, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, English Language Notes, American Literature, and Twentieth-Century Literature. All the articles will be freely available online through the end of 2024. The list also features books about James Baldwin by Magdalena Zaborowska, and Sissy Insurgencies by Marlon Ross, which contains a chapter on Baldwin.
DUP invites attendees at the American Library Association annual meeting (June 27-July 2) to stop by our booth to pick up a postcard featuring Little Man, Little Man and the Baldwin reading list and to learn more about the special discount.
Duke University Press is proud to be one of several publishers of Baldwin’s work who are celebrating the centennial. We hope our donations and the special price will help Little Man, Little Man circulate widely and create lifelong readers and lovers of James Baldwin’s work.
Wholesalers and booksellers who are interested in bulk purchase opportunities should reach out to DUP’s Associate Director of Books Marketing and Sales, Cameron M. Ludwick, at cameron.ludwick@duke.edu.
Duke University Press News 