Afua in The Jamaica Star

Afua's back from Jamaica, working on a new book and stuck with a sore throat that she hasn't been able to shake since before she left (anyone have any herbal remedies for that? feel free to suggest them in the comments section).

On a brighter note, The Jamaica Star reported on Afua's double book launch at The University of the West Indies.

Here's what they had to say of Afua's readings:

And as Afua Cooper started the evening's extended readings, she blended poetry and history, preceding the reading from the history book with the poem Confessions of a Woman Who Burnt Down a Town, she read, "I only intend for one house to burn."

Before reading from the book, Cooper gave extensive back-ground to the story, Angelique's history and that of Canada as well as black people in the country. She noted that many people do not associate slavery with Canada and while slavery was legal there, it has "disappeared from that country's historical records". "Black history has less to do with black history than with white pride," she said.

"They have a nickname for it, 'The Great White North', disconnected from anywhere else. That is not true," Cooper said. With that, she read from the first chapter, The Torture and Hanging of Angelique, which dealt with the brutal torture and hanging of the woman for starting a fire that razed the town on April 10, 1734. There were sighs and pained expressions in the audience as Cooper described Angelique's torture with the 'laced boots', under which she pleaded to be hanged now.

To read the rest of the article, click here.