If Beale Street Could Talk is a novel by James Baldwin (1974). Created for Harlem Stage's yearlong James Baldwin Festival, this performance tells the powerful story of Tish, a young pregnant woman and her family struggling with the criminal justice system to free the innocent man she loves and father of her child. Told in Tish's voice it is one of Baldwin's most tender novels, suffused with love and hope, despite all obstacles and injustice.