Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book

Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book

Author: Lawrence Hill

Publisher: University of Alberta

Published: 2013-03-20

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 0888648200

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Censorship and book burning are still present in our lives. Lawrence Hill shares his experiences of how ignorance and the fear of ideas led a group in the Netherlands to burn the cover of his widely successful novel, The Book of Negroes, in 2011. Why do books continue to ignite such strong reactions in people in the age of the Internet? Is banning, censoring, or controlling book distribution ever justified? Hill illustrates his ideas with anecdotes and lists names of Canadian writers who faced censorship challenges in the twenty-first century, inviting conversation between those on opposite sides of these contentious issues. All who are interested in literature, freedom of expression, and human rights will enjoy reading Hill's provocative essay.


Book Synopsis Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book by : Lawrence Hill

Download or read book Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book written by Lawrence Hill and published by University of Alberta. This book was released on 2013-03-20 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Censorship and book burning are still present in our lives. Lawrence Hill shares his experiences of how ignorance and the fear of ideas led a group in the Netherlands to burn the cover of his widely successful novel, The Book of Negroes, in 2011. Why do books continue to ignite such strong reactions in people in the age of the Internet? Is banning, censoring, or controlling book distribution ever justified? Hill illustrates his ideas with anecdotes and lists names of Canadian writers who faced censorship challenges in the twenty-first century, inviting conversation between those on opposite sides of these contentious issues. All who are interested in literature, freedom of expression, and human rights will enjoy reading Hill's provocative essay.


Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book

Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book

Author: Lawrence Hill

Publisher: University of Alberta

Published: 2013-03-20

Total Pages: 57

ISBN-13: 0888646798

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Back Cover In 2011, Canadian writer Lawrence Hill received an email from a man in the Netherlands stating that he intended to burn The Book of Negroes, Hill's internationally acclaimed novel. Soon, the threat was international news, affecting Hill's publishers and readers. In this provocative essay, Hill shares his private response to that moment and the controversy that followed, examining his reaction to the threats, while attempting to come to terms with the book burner's motives and complaints. Drawing on other instances of book banning and burning, Hill maintains that censorship is still alive and well, even in this age of access to information. All who are interested in literature, freedom of expression and human rights will appreciate this passionate defence of the freedom to read and write. Front Flap "In June of 2011, less than a month after launching the Dutch edition of my novel, The Book of Negroes, in The Netherlands, I received the most surprising email of my life. It is worth quoting verbatim: 'Dear Sir Lawrence Hill, We, descendants of enslaved in the former Dutch colony Suriname, want let you know that we do not accept a book with the title "The book of Negroes." We struggle for a long time to let the word "nigger" disappears from Dutch language and now you set up your book of Negroes! A real shame! That's why we make the decision to burn this book on the 22nd of June 2011.. Sincerely, Roy Groenberg, Chairman Foundation Honor and Restore Victims of Slavery in Suriname' I wrote a reply that, in retrospect, seems outrageously Canadian in its politeness and tact." Back Flap: Lawrence Hill is a Canadian novelist and writer of non-fiction. His best-known work, The Book of Negroes, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Roger's Writer's Trust Prize, and CBC's Canada Reads; internationally it was nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It has sold more than 600,000 copies in Canada alone. In 2012, he received the Freedom to Read Award from the Writers' Union of Canada. Lawrence Hill lives in Hamilton, Ontario. Visit him at www.lawrencehill.com.


Book Synopsis Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book by : Lawrence Hill

Download or read book Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book written by Lawrence Hill and published by University of Alberta. This book was released on 2013-03-20 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Back Cover In 2011, Canadian writer Lawrence Hill received an email from a man in the Netherlands stating that he intended to burn The Book of Negroes, Hill's internationally acclaimed novel. Soon, the threat was international news, affecting Hill's publishers and readers. In this provocative essay, Hill shares his private response to that moment and the controversy that followed, examining his reaction to the threats, while attempting to come to terms with the book burner's motives and complaints. Drawing on other instances of book banning and burning, Hill maintains that censorship is still alive and well, even in this age of access to information. All who are interested in literature, freedom of expression and human rights will appreciate this passionate defence of the freedom to read and write. Front Flap "In June of 2011, less than a month after launching the Dutch edition of my novel, The Book of Negroes, in The Netherlands, I received the most surprising email of my life. It is worth quoting verbatim: 'Dear Sir Lawrence Hill, We, descendants of enslaved in the former Dutch colony Suriname, want let you know that we do not accept a book with the title "The book of Negroes." We struggle for a long time to let the word "nigger" disappears from Dutch language and now you set up your book of Negroes! A real shame! That's why we make the decision to burn this book on the 22nd of June 2011.. Sincerely, Roy Groenberg, Chairman Foundation Honor and Restore Victims of Slavery in Suriname' I wrote a reply that, in retrospect, seems outrageously Canadian in its politeness and tact." Back Flap: Lawrence Hill is a Canadian novelist and writer of non-fiction. His best-known work, The Book of Negroes, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Roger's Writer's Trust Prize, and CBC's Canada Reads; internationally it was nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It has sold more than 600,000 copies in Canada alone. In 2012, he received the Freedom to Read Award from the Writers' Union of Canada. Lawrence Hill lives in Hamilton, Ontario. Visit him at www.lawrencehill.com.


Someone Knows My Name: A Novel

Someone Knows My Name: A Novel

Author: Lawrence Hill

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2008-11-17

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 0393067149

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Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. "Wonderfully written...populated by vivid characters and rendered in fascinating detail." —Nancy Kline, New York Times Book Review Kidnapped from Africa as a child, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe for the British, recording the names of blacks who have served the King and earned their freedom in Nova Scotia. But the hardship and prejudice of the new colony prompt her to follow her heart back to Africa, then on to London, where she bears witness to the injustices of slavery and its toll on her life and a whole people. It is a story that no listener, and no reader, will ever forget. Published in Canada as The Book of Negroes and the basis for the award-winning BET miniseries of the same name.


Book Synopsis Someone Knows My Name: A Novel by : Lawrence Hill

Download or read book Someone Knows My Name: A Novel written by Lawrence Hill and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2008-11-17 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. "Wonderfully written...populated by vivid characters and rendered in fascinating detail." —Nancy Kline, New York Times Book Review Kidnapped from Africa as a child, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe for the British, recording the names of blacks who have served the King and earned their freedom in Nova Scotia. But the hardship and prejudice of the new colony prompt her to follow her heart back to Africa, then on to London, where she bears witness to the injustices of slavery and its toll on her life and a whole people. It is a story that no listener, and no reader, will ever forget. Published in Canada as The Book of Negroes and the basis for the award-winning BET miniseries of the same name.


The Illegal: A Novel

The Illegal: A Novel

Author: Lawrence Hill

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2016-01-25

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0393285464

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“A gripping political thriller readers may find hard to put down.”—Dallas Morning News Keita Ali is an elite runner living in Zantoroland, a poor, fictional island that is erupting in political violence. When his father, a journalist, is murdered, Keita escapes to the wealthy nation of Freedom State—an imagined country much like our own. A stateless refugee without documentation, Keita must hide from the authorities even as he races marathons to support himself and ransom his sister who has been kidnapped. This tension-filled novel by the best-selling author of Someone Knows My Name is an astute exploration of dislocation, starting all over again, and the desperate need for home and community.


Book Synopsis The Illegal: A Novel by : Lawrence Hill

Download or read book The Illegal: A Novel written by Lawrence Hill and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-01-25 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A gripping political thriller readers may find hard to put down.”—Dallas Morning News Keita Ali is an elite runner living in Zantoroland, a poor, fictional island that is erupting in political violence. When his father, a journalist, is murdered, Keita escapes to the wealthy nation of Freedom State—an imagined country much like our own. A stateless refugee without documentation, Keita must hide from the authorities even as he races marathons to support himself and ransom his sister who has been kidnapped. This tension-filled novel by the best-selling author of Someone Knows My Name is an astute exploration of dislocation, starting all over again, and the desperate need for home and community.


The Book of Negroes

The Book of Negroes

Author: Lawrence Hill

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 511

ISBN-13: 0552775487

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Abducted from her West African village at the age of eleven and sold as a slave in the American South, Aminata Diallo thinks only of freedom - and of finding her way home again.After escaping the plantation, torn from her husband and child, she passes through Manhattan in the chaos of the Revolutionary War, is shipped to Nova Scotia, and then joins a group of freed slaves on a harrowing return odyssey to Africa. Lawrence Hill's epic novel, winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, spans three continents and six decades to bring to life a dark and shameful chapter in our history through the story of one brave and resourceful woman.


Book Synopsis The Book of Negroes by : Lawrence Hill

Download or read book The Book of Negroes written by Lawrence Hill and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abducted from her West African village at the age of eleven and sold as a slave in the American South, Aminata Diallo thinks only of freedom - and of finding her way home again.After escaping the plantation, torn from her husband and child, she passes through Manhattan in the chaos of the Revolutionary War, is shipped to Nova Scotia, and then joins a group of freed slaves on a harrowing return odyssey to Africa. Lawrence Hill's epic novel, winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, spans three continents and six decades to bring to life a dark and shameful chapter in our history through the story of one brave and resourceful woman.


Blood

Blood

Author: Lawrence Hill

Publisher: House of Anansi

Published: 2013-09-28

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1770893245

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Selected for The Globe 100 Books in 2013. With the 2013 CBC Massey Lectures, bestselling author Lawrence Hill offers a provocative examination of the scientific and social history of blood, and on the ways that it unites and divides us today. Blood runs red through every person’s arteries and fulfills the same functions in every human being. The study of blood has advanced our understanding of biology and improved medical treatments, but its cultural and social representations have divided us perennially. Blood pulses through religion, literature, and the visual arts. Every time it pools or spills, we learn a little more about what brings human beings together and what pulls us apart. For centuries, perceptions of difference in our blood have separated people on the basis of gender, race, class, and nation. Ideas about blood purity have spawned rules about who gets to belong to a family or cultural group, who enjoys the rights of citizenship and nationality, what privileges one can expect to be granted or denied, whether you inherit poverty or the right to rule over the masses, what constitutes fair play in sport, and what defines a person’s identity. Blood: The Stuff of Life is a bold meditation on blood as an historical and contemporary marker of identity, belonging, gender, race, class, citizenship, athletic superiority, and nationhood.


Book Synopsis Blood by : Lawrence Hill

Download or read book Blood written by Lawrence Hill and published by House of Anansi. This book was released on 2013-09-28 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected for The Globe 100 Books in 2013. With the 2013 CBC Massey Lectures, bestselling author Lawrence Hill offers a provocative examination of the scientific and social history of blood, and on the ways that it unites and divides us today. Blood runs red through every person’s arteries and fulfills the same functions in every human being. The study of blood has advanced our understanding of biology and improved medical treatments, but its cultural and social representations have divided us perennially. Blood pulses through religion, literature, and the visual arts. Every time it pools or spills, we learn a little more about what brings human beings together and what pulls us apart. For centuries, perceptions of difference in our blood have separated people on the basis of gender, race, class, and nation. Ideas about blood purity have spawned rules about who gets to belong to a family or cultural group, who enjoys the rights of citizenship and nationality, what privileges one can expect to be granted or denied, whether you inherit poverty or the right to rule over the masses, what constitutes fair play in sport, and what defines a person’s identity. Blood: The Stuff of Life is a bold meditation on blood as an historical and contemporary marker of identity, belonging, gender, race, class, citizenship, athletic superiority, and nationhood.


The Deserter's Tale

The Deserter's Tale

Author: Joshua Key

Publisher: House of Anansi

Published: 2007-02-01

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1770890726

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Joshua Key's critically acclaimed memoir, The Deserter's Tale, is the first account from a soldier who deserted from the war in Iraq, and a vivid and damning indictment of how the war is being waged. In spring 2003, young Oklahoman Joshua Key was sent to Ramadi as part of a combat engineer company with the U.S. military. The war he found himself participating in was not the campaign against terrorists and evildoers he had expected. Key saw Iraqi civilians beaten, shot, and killed for little or no provocation. After six months in Iraq, Key was home on leave and knew he could not return. So he took his family and went underground in the United States, finally seeking asylum in Canada. In clear-eyed, compelling prose crafted with the help of award-winning Canadian novelist and journalist Lawrence Hill, The Deserter's Tale tells the story of a man who went into the war believing unquestioningly in his government and who was transformed into a person who ethically, morally, and physically could no longer serve his country.


Book Synopsis The Deserter's Tale by : Joshua Key

Download or read book The Deserter's Tale written by Joshua Key and published by House of Anansi. This book was released on 2007-02-01 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joshua Key's critically acclaimed memoir, The Deserter's Tale, is the first account from a soldier who deserted from the war in Iraq, and a vivid and damning indictment of how the war is being waged. In spring 2003, young Oklahoman Joshua Key was sent to Ramadi as part of a combat engineer company with the U.S. military. The war he found himself participating in was not the campaign against terrorists and evildoers he had expected. Key saw Iraqi civilians beaten, shot, and killed for little or no provocation. After six months in Iraq, Key was home on leave and knew he could not return. So he took his family and went underground in the United States, finally seeking asylum in Canada. In clear-eyed, compelling prose crafted with the help of award-winning Canadian novelist and journalist Lawrence Hill, The Deserter's Tale tells the story of a man who went into the war believing unquestioningly in his government and who was transformed into a person who ethically, morally, and physically could no longer serve his country.


A Burning

A Burning

Author: Megha Majumdar

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2020-06-02

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 052565870X

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A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! A New York Times Notable Book For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise—to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies—and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India. In this National Book Award Longlist honoree and “gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary” (USA Today), Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party, and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely—an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humor—has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear. Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning has the force of an epic while being so masterfully compressed it can be read in a single sitting. Majumdar writes with dazzling assurance at a breakneck pace on complex themes that read here as the components of a thriller: class, fate, corruption, justice, and what it feels like to face profound obstacles and yet nurture big dreams in a country spinning toward extremism. An extraordinary debut.


Book Synopsis A Burning by : Megha Majumdar

Download or read book A Burning written by Megha Majumdar and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-06-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! A New York Times Notable Book For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise—to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies—and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India. In this National Book Award Longlist honoree and “gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary” (USA Today), Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party, and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely—an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humor—has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear. Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning has the force of an epic while being so masterfully compressed it can be read in a single sitting. Majumdar writes with dazzling assurance at a breakneck pace on complex themes that read here as the components of a thriller: class, fate, corruption, justice, and what it feels like to face profound obstacles and yet nurture big dreams in a country spinning toward extremism. An extraordinary debut.


Beatrice and Croc Harry

Beatrice and Croc Harry

Author: Lawrence Hill

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2022-01-11

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 144346337X

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One of Canada’s most celebrated author’s debut novel for young readers Beatrice, a young girl of uncertain age, wakes up all alone in a tree house in the forest. How did she arrive in this cozy dwelling, stocked carefully with bookshelves and oatmeal accoutrements? And who has been leaving a trail of clues, composed in delicate purple handwriting? So begins the adventure of a brave and resilient Black girl’s search for identity and healing in bestselling author Lawrence Hill’s middle-grade debut. Though Beatrice cannot recall how or why she arrived in the magical forest of Argilia—where every conceivable fish, bird, mammal and reptile coexist, and any creature with a beating heart can communicate with any other—something within tells her that beyond this forest is a family that is waiting anxiously for her return. Just outside her tree-house door lives Beatrice’s most unlikely ally, the enormous and mercurial King Crocodile Croc Harry, who just may have a secret of his own. As they form an unusual truce and work toward their common goal, Beatrice and Croc Harry will learn more about their forest home than they ever could have imagined. And what they learn about themselves may destroy Beatrice’s chances of returning home forever.


Book Synopsis Beatrice and Croc Harry by : Lawrence Hill

Download or read book Beatrice and Croc Harry written by Lawrence Hill and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Canada’s most celebrated author’s debut novel for young readers Beatrice, a young girl of uncertain age, wakes up all alone in a tree house in the forest. How did she arrive in this cozy dwelling, stocked carefully with bookshelves and oatmeal accoutrements? And who has been leaving a trail of clues, composed in delicate purple handwriting? So begins the adventure of a brave and resilient Black girl’s search for identity and healing in bestselling author Lawrence Hill’s middle-grade debut. Though Beatrice cannot recall how or why she arrived in the magical forest of Argilia—where every conceivable fish, bird, mammal and reptile coexist, and any creature with a beating heart can communicate with any other—something within tells her that beyond this forest is a family that is waiting anxiously for her return. Just outside her tree-house door lives Beatrice’s most unlikely ally, the enormous and mercurial King Crocodile Croc Harry, who just may have a secret of his own. As they form an unusual truce and work toward their common goal, Beatrice and Croc Harry will learn more about their forest home than they ever could have imagined. And what they learn about themselves may destroy Beatrice’s chances of returning home forever.


Some Great Thing

Some Great Thing

Author: Lawrence Hill

Publisher:

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13:

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Disillusioned and apathetic after four years of college, fledgling reporter Mahatma Grafton returns to his hometown to begin work at a local newspaper. The eccentric commitment of an unlikely welfare crusader, an exchange student from Cameroon and a French language rights activist begins to consume him. When a peaceful demonstration escalates into a full-scale riot and police cover-up, Mahatma discovers the principles that have always eluded him. Intelligent and comic, Some Great Thing exposes the internal realities of a newspaper's editorial desk, and treats social issues such as race, gender, language and the rights of the poor with sensitivity and courage.


Book Synopsis Some Great Thing by : Lawrence Hill

Download or read book Some Great Thing written by Lawrence Hill and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disillusioned and apathetic after four years of college, fledgling reporter Mahatma Grafton returns to his hometown to begin work at a local newspaper. The eccentric commitment of an unlikely welfare crusader, an exchange student from Cameroon and a French language rights activist begins to consume him. When a peaceful demonstration escalates into a full-scale riot and police cover-up, Mahatma discovers the principles that have always eluded him. Intelligent and comic, Some Great Thing exposes the internal realities of a newspaper's editorial desk, and treats social issues such as race, gender, language and the rights of the poor with sensitivity and courage.