
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Our guest on the final episode of “Notes on a Native Son” is British writer Ekow Eshun. He has been described as a cultural polymath. At a startlingly young age, 29, he became the first Black editor of Arena, a mainstream magazine in the UK. He continued to break new ground when he became the first Black director of a major cultural institution, London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace. These days, as chair of the Commissioning Group for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, he leads one of the world's most famous and sometimes controversial public art projects, always worth a visit if you're in London.
Eshun’s choice of Baldwin's work for our conversation is informed by a book he's recently written called “The Strangers,” about five prominent Black figures and their sense of isolation and exile. Host Razia Iqbal meets with Eshun at Princeton University where he was lecturing about art, curation, and happily for us, James Baldwin.
You can find the entire "Notes on a Native Son" series here.
Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.
Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.
By WNYC Studios4.3
15401,540 ratings
Our guest on the final episode of “Notes on a Native Son” is British writer Ekow Eshun. He has been described as a cultural polymath. At a startlingly young age, 29, he became the first Black editor of Arena, a mainstream magazine in the UK. He continued to break new ground when he became the first Black director of a major cultural institution, London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace. These days, as chair of the Commissioning Group for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, he leads one of the world's most famous and sometimes controversial public art projects, always worth a visit if you're in London.
Eshun’s choice of Baldwin's work for our conversation is informed by a book he's recently written called “The Strangers,” about five prominent Black figures and their sense of isolation and exile. Host Razia Iqbal meets with Eshun at Princeton University where he was lecturing about art, curation, and happily for us, James Baldwin.
You can find the entire "Notes on a Native Son" series here.
Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.
Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

43,837 Listeners

38,430 Listeners

6,881 Listeners

9,238 Listeners

4,022 Listeners

1,576 Listeners

8,471 Listeners

484 Listeners

57 Listeners

12,704 Listeners

14,450 Listeners

6,467 Listeners

14,655 Listeners

3,506 Listeners

113,121 Listeners

2,800 Listeners

9,100 Listeners

1,405 Listeners

1,196 Listeners

5,569 Listeners

5,767 Listeners

421 Listeners

16,512 Listeners

16,525 Listeners

2,821 Listeners

644 Listeners

1,965 Listeners

1,600 Listeners

1,768 Listeners

246 Listeners

20 Listeners

15 Listeners