“Cotton” Comes to the Beeb

For Chester Himes fans and anyone else who appreciates good storytelling, here’s some welcome news: Himes’ 1965 novel, Cotton Comes to Harlem--his sixth and best-known work featuring New York City cops Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones--has been adapted as a four-part series for BBC Radio 4. Read by Hugh Quarshie, the series began yesterday and will continue through Thursday, with each episode being available on the Web for a week.

Click here to listen. But do it now!

To further stir your interest in and curiosity about what the BBC has done with Himes’ yarn, here’s the trailer for a very different version of Cotton, the 1970 blaxploitation film based on that book.



(Hat tip to Spinetingler Magazine and Gary Phillips.)