Some people seem to have a gift for reading the right books at the right time.
For example, consider Ashley White and George Clark, London Reads celebrity readers, who will be leading the next London Reads book event discussion about The Book of Negroes on Feb. 11.
Not only is their book selection a major award-winning novel, their timing for the book event is auspicious in two important ways: February is Black History Month and the first black American president took power only weeks ago at a historic inauguration in Washington.
Maybe Ashley, a Western alumna, and George, news director at Rogers Television, are just lucky. Maybe it’s just a coincidence.
However, Ashley and George have proven their instinct for good timing in their book choices before. For the 2007/08 edition of London Reads, they chose Three Day Road, which not only was the winner, the novel’s author, Joseph Boyden, won Canada’s biggest literary award, The Giller Prize, for Through Black Spruce later that year. In early October 2008, only weeks before Boyden won the Giller, Ashley and George met the author and enjoyed lunch with him at Windermere Manor to celebrate London Reads. When it comes to reading, Ashley and George have winning instincts.
In selecting The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, Ashley and George chose a novel that has already won several major literary prizes: Winner of The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, The Rogers’ Writers Trust Award and the Canadian Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award and longlisted for the Giller Prize.Hill’s novel is a very strong contender to win the All-star Edition of London Reads.
The Book of Negroes is the story of Aminata Diallo, who is captured as an 11-year-old from her village in West Africa in the late 1700s. In one of the most vivid passages of the novel, Aminata walks in a coffle ?- a string of slaves – to the east coast of Africa where she boards a ship and crosses the ocean to America.
Sold as a slave to work on a plantation in South Carolina, Aminata comes of age without freedom. In spite of the inhumane conditions, she finds friendship, falls in love and becomes a capable midwife in her community. In an amazing twist of fate, Aminata learns to read and write and it is these skills that connect her to the history of the Book of Negroes.
A hand-written ledger over 150 pages long, the original Book of Negroes is considered the first public documentation of black people in North America. Its contents list the names, ages and physical attributes of 3,000 black people who left New York for Nova Scotia.
In spite of its historical origins, the title of Hill’s novel is considered controversial and was published as Someone Knows My Name in the United States.
From an article in The Guardian, “Why I’m not allowed my book title,” Hill explains, “Americans won’t buy that term.” The article was dated May 20, 2008. How could Hill have known that less than six months later, Americans would elect a black man to lead their country?
London Reads event
Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill
Celebrity readers Ashley White and George Clark
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 7 p.m.
London Hall, 1421 Western Road
RSVP to programs@uwo.ca to reserve a space and obtain free parking
The writer is Communications Manager for Western Retail Services.