Like a sheep in the desert - When James Baldwin visited Switzerland (Swiss Press Audio 2012, by Michael Stauffer) - Swiss Press Award

DRS 2

Michael Stauffer

To my knowledge, no Black person had ever set foot in this small Swiss village before me. Between 1951 and 1953, the most famous African-American writer of the 20th century retreated to the Valais mountain village of Leukerbad three times to work on his novel "Go Tell It on the Mountain." The experience was tremendous – for the villagers as much as for the poet. Their encounter became a question of identity. Baldwin never felt as Black as he did in Switzerland. Michael Stauffer and Rolf Hermann follow in Baldwin's footsteps in Leukerbad. Their mountain guide includes Lucien Happersberger from Valais, Baldwin's companion in the 1950s.