James Campbell was born in Glasgow. Between 1978 and 1982 he was editor of The New Edinburgh Review. Among his books are Paris Interzone: Richard Wright, Lolita, Boris Vian and others on the Left Bank, and This Is the Beat Generation. As ‘J.C.’, he wrote the NB column on the back page of the Times Literary Supplement, a selection of which will be published later in the year. His critically acclaimed biography of James Baldwin, Talking at the Gates, was published by Polygon in February 2021.