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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday February 9, 2007 - 37 Author's brunch serves up historical perspectives By Melanie Cummings OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The political gets personal in the latest slate of books come to life at Sunday's (Feb. 4) Bookers author's brunch series, held at the Oakville Club. Told in the voices of the people who wrote them, novelists Lawrence Hill and Anita Rau Badami, and historian Margaret MacMillan shared their thoughts on the art of weaving historical events from the perspective of the people living them. While "At the time I had Badami's no intention of Can You putting these Hear the Nightbird events into any Call? was kind of writing. I only recentjust couldn't bring ly released, myself to do it." for her the story began Can You Hear the in 1984, Nightbird Call? when she author Anita Rau came face to Badami face with the violent politics in the Punjab, in her native India. The former journalist was in Delhi the day after India's Prime Minister Indira Ghandi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards. It set off a wave of violence against innocent Sikhs and it is from this outcry that Badami saw Anita Rau Badami a man burned alive among other horrible atrocities. "At the time I had no intention of putting these events into any kind of writing. I just couldn't bring myself to do it," said Badami. But when she listened to tape recordings of victims' families who had called into a radio show on the subject, the book came together. "It allowed me to personalize and humanize the process of writing fiction. It provided the distance I needed from these events yet still the characters brought me closer to them. It was a process of pushing myself far from what I saw that also managed to push me closer to the minds and lives of the people affected." The book is told from the perspective of three women, Bibi-ji, Leela and Neema and the setting spans across political border battles between India and Pakistan in 1947, religious struggles among Sikh demands for an independent state, and into Canada to where the main characters immigrate. Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes represents the first time the local author has written in the voice of a woman and an African one who existed in 1745, no less. "It was a bit of a creative stretch for me," said Hill. The story's protagonist is Aminata Diallo, "a broken down old black woman who has "Life was so bad for them that 1,200 blacks boarded 15 ships paid for by the British government so that they could go back to African homelands." The Book of Negroes author Lawrence Hill Lawrence Hill crossed more water and walked more miles than she cares to remember," said Hill. The Book of Negroes also spans global settings transporting readers from a tribal African village where Aminata is sold into slavery at age 11 and then shipped off to work on a plantation in the southern United States. The story also travels to Halifax where freed slaves faced a life of oppression that was worse than slavery in the U.S., said Hill. "Life was so bad for them that 1,200 blacks boarded 15 ships paid for by the British government so that they could go back to African homelands," said Hill. His novel moves on to See Author page 38 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2007 11:00am to 3:00pm International Centre Aviation Ballroom, 6900 Airport Road Sponsored by You won't want to miss this annual event! Speak one on one with Exhibitors showcasing dozens of Residential and Day Summer Camps for your child. Explore opportunities in Arts & Crafts, Riding, Swimming, Tennis, Golf, Gymnastics & more. For more information please call 905-815-0017 or toll free 1-800-265-3673