Picture of Author Author Name
JUNE 2, 1964

This is one of the last letters Hughes received from Van Vechten, who died on December 21, 1964. Until the ends of their lives, both Van Vechten and Hughes remained enthusiastic about new trends in African-American literature.

Click on the letter to hear editor Emily Bernard's commentary.

 


James Baldwin
photo by Carl Van Vechten
Amiri Baraka
photo by Carl Van Vechten

Carl and Fania, 1955

 

 

  • Listen to a rich conversation between Emily and Judith Jones, who was Langston Hughes's last editor and who continues to work at Knopf -- Judith served as Emily's editor on this project as well. While you listen to the conversation (about 15 minutes in length), you can still move around the site, look at images and read excerpts and letters. This is a large file to download.

  • Hear Emily read several of the letters from the book on Random House's Bold Type.

  • Visit the Langston Hughes pages in the Knopf Poetry Center.

  • Read an excerpt from Carl Van Vechten's contoversial novel, Nigger Heaven.

  • Return to Emily Bernard's main desktop page.