Fri, Apr 19
|Octopus Books
Book Signing at Octopus Books
In the Upper Country is a fictional portrayal of mid-19th century southern Ontario through the eyes of a young Black journalist. When a woman escaping the U.S. through the Underground Railroad kills a slave hunter, Lensinda is enlisted to interview her from jail.
Time & Location
Apr 19, 2024, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
Octopus Books, 116 Third Ave, Ottawa, ON K1S 2K1, Canada
About the event
Meet Kai Thomas, author of the bestselling novel In the Upper Country, for a book signing in our store!
Friday, April 19, 6pm-7pm Octopus Books, 116 Third Ave.
In the Upper Country is a fictional portrayal of mid-19th century southern Ontario through the eyes of a young Black journalist. When a woman escaping the U.S. through the Underground Railroad kills a slave hunter, Lensinda is enlisted to interview her from jail. Instead of providing her testimony, the old woman proposes an exchange: a story for a story. The deal seems mundane enough, except their back-and-forth soon reveals an extraordinary range of stories, secrets and untold histories, including those of Black refugee communities and Indigenous nations around the Great Lakes.
Shortlisted for the 2023 Governor General's Fiction Award, In the Upper Country was granted the prestigious Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust for an "exceptional debut novel" which "deftly and compassionately braids deeply engrossing stories within stories that explore a little-known aspect of Canadian history."
Thomas is a writer, carpenter and land steward. Born and raised in Ottawa, he is of Black and mixed heritage descended from Trinidad and the British Isles.