“The Book of Negroes recites the pain, misery and liberation of one African woman, Aminata Diallo, who was stolen from her homeland and sold into American slavery.”

Lawrence Hill, a cultural and spiritual descendant of West African griots, has used his vast storytelling talents to create an epic story that spans three continents.

I wept upon reading this story. The Book of Negroes is courageous, breathtaking, simply brilliant.

Through Aminata, Hill narrates the terrifying story of slavery and puts at the centre a female experience of the African Diaspora.

Happy World Poetry Day: ‘The American identity has never been a singular one and the voices of poets invariably sing, in addition to their own, the voices of those around them.

American ladies are known abroad for two distinguishing traits (besides, possibly, their beauty and self-reliance), and these are their ill-health and their extravagant devotion to dress.

I think you had the GOP down there in North Carolina reaching out to African-American voters and this guy coming on television and using the N-word and saying what Don Yelton said.

I don’t think the American government has a lot of respect for culture.

It’s not getting any better for the American people. It seems to be getting worse. That’s predictable; education is a cycle. Stupidity breeds more stupidity.