Lawrence Hill will deliver the Massey Lecture series this fall. Under the title ‘Blood’, writer Lawrence Hill will present the scientific and social history of blood.
The Massey Lectures are an annual five-part series of lectures on a political, cultural or philosophical topic by a noted scholar or writer. Distinguished Massey lecturers in the past have included Doris Lessing, Martin Luther King Jr., Northrop Frye, Noam Chomsky, Margaret Atwood and Stephen Lewis.
The lecture series was created in 1961 to honour then, Governor General of Canada, Vincent Massey. The intent is to “enable distinguished authorities to communicate the results of original study on important subjects of contemporary interest.”
Lawrence Hill is best-known for his award-winning, bestseller ‘The Book of Negroes’ published in the United States under the title, ‘Someone Knows My Name’. Now the author has written an accompanying book, ‘Blood: The Stuff of Life’ which House of Anansi Press will publish in September.
Lawrence Hill, who lives in Hamilton, Ontario, is the brother of Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Hill. He will deliver the lectures, based on this new book, in 5 Canadian cities. The opening lecture will take place in Montreal October 15, Halifax October 17, Vancouver October 23, Edmonton October 25 and the final lecture in Toronto on November 1st.
Lawrence Hill is currently writing a new novel and working on a miniseries adaptation of ‘The Book of Negroes’. The production is scheduled to begin shooting in South Africa this fall with Canadian filmmaker Clement Virgo. The series will air on CBC-TV and the American network BET.
The Massey Lecture lecture series will be broadcast on CBC’s radio program ‘IDEAS’ November 11-15.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.