Welcoming acclaimed author and winner of 2016’s Canada Reads to campus

The Student Success Centre in collaboration with McMaster University Library is pleased to welcome Canadian author, Lawrence Hill, to McMaster University. Lawrence Hill is a 15-time award-winning author and scholar, well-known for his acclaimed novels, The Book of Negroes and The Illegal.

As the author of this year’s Common Reading Program selection, The Illegal, Hill will visit campus three times to meet with students and discuss the novel’s emerging themes related to university life and pressing community issues, such as the world’s refugee crisis.

“It is such an honour to see The Illegal accepted for the McMaster University Common Reading Program,” says Hill, “I can’t think of a more pressing humanitarian crisis in 2016 than the fate of refugees, and I look forward to entering into a dialogue with students, faculty and the broader Hamilton community.”

The first of these dialogues will occur on Thursday, September 8 at Mills Library, where people with diverse histories and backgrounds will act as ‘living books’ available for conversation about identity, belonging, and other themes related to the novel. There will be 12 living books at this event, including Lawrence Hill, as well as McMaster’s President, Patrick Deane, founder of Empowerment Squad and WUSC student, Leo Johnson, and Ward 3 City Counselor, Matthew Green. In addition to opening up important conversations about university and community, this event will also offer students an opportunity to learn more about the library’s services and resources.

Following this event, Lawrence Hill will return to McMaster twice in November for one-on-one conversations as a Writer in Residence and for the community event, In Conversation with Lawrence Hill. Led by Dr. Daniel Coleman, In Conversation with Lawrence Hill, will be an opportunity for students and readers to have their copy of The Illegal signed by the author, while also engaging in a meaningful conversation about the book and its themes.

First-year students interested in joining The Common Reading Program and attending the events will receive a free copy of The Illegal with a personal message from McMaster’s President, Patrick Deane, and Dean of Students, Sean Van Koughnett. Students may register for the program and its events on OSCARplus.