Lawrence Hill

The Book of Negroes, the third novel by Toronto-born writer Lawrence Hill, gives a fictionalized account of a remarkable historical event. In the 1700s, a number of Africans were taken into slavery, brought to America, transferred to Canada, and ultimately were able to return to Africa. Their circular passage is personified by Aminata Diallo, who is eleven when she is abducted and becomes the centerpiece of Hill’s Dickensian saga. Publisher’s Weekly called the book “stunning, wrenching, and inspiring.” Hill read as part of the ‘Vrijheids-Lezingen’ series of the Nieuwe Kerk.

Click below for a trailer of the tv mini-series, which premiered in 2015.