Commonwealth Writers’ Prize winner arrives in London

Lawrence Hill, winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, says his award is the biggest achievement of his life – and a professional turning point which will help open doors in international publishing.

The Canadian writer’s epic novel, The Book of Negroes, was named overall winner for the prestigious 2008 prize, which was announced in South Africa in May. Mr Hill arrived in London Wednesday for a week long writer’s tour.

During his visit, he will have an audience with the Queen, meet Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma and travel to the National Archives in Kew, where the original document on which his novel is based, is kept.

The Book of Negroes follows one woman's remarkable tale of survival and migration, and in so doing examines the history of slavery and liberation in the United States, Canada, England and West Africa.

Mr Hill said, “This is the story of an African woman and her people in the 18^th century, who travelled twice across the ocean - first in bondage and later on in life as freed people trying to go home.”

He was awarded his £10,000 cash prize at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in the Cape Winelands of South Africa.

The 51-year-old described his win as the biggest literary success of his life. “I was thrilled beyond all description. The award has opened up new markets for me. That is hugely significant for any writer but when you are writing from a relatively small market, which Canada is, it’s doubly difficult to step out on the world stage.”

During his trip to the UK, Mr Hill will also meet Delia Jarrett-Macauley, winner in 2006 for her novel Moses, Citizen & Me, and will participate in readings and discussions in London as well as introducing the performance of the play, An African’s Blood at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool. He also plans to meet key players involved in the development of the Black Cultural Archives at Lambeth Town Hall.

This year there were over 300 entries from around the world for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize which is organized by the Commonwealth Foundation with support from the Macquarie Group Foundation.

The Book of Negroes covers parts of history that have been largely ignored or forgotten, Mr Hill said. It has special significance because it is “written by a man in the voice of a woman, who tells an entire story from the first sentence to the last. So a woman’s voice holds the story together.”

The novel, which took him five years to write, is based on the original Book of Negroes, a 150 page document created by the Royal British Navy and kept after the American Revolutionary War. It contains biographical information of thousands of black people who fled New York for Canada and other places, but remained faithful to King George I.

Mr Hill always wanted to be writer: “First and foremost, writing is a personal mission to mine the depths of my own heart to see what I can come up with. It’s how I make sense of the world and my place in it.

He has a Master’s Degree in writing from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, but believes his greatest training came from being read to as a child and then becoming an avid reader as an adult. “I then spent a lot of time writing and writing and writing and honing my craft.

“Writing for me is like a personal salvation, not in a religious sense but in a quietly spiritual sense. It’s my passion and what I live for,” he said.

Related News:

• Commonwealth Foundation
• The Book of Negroes