On Friday former President Barack Obama shared his annual year-end list of the books, movies and music that he found most provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved in 2018.
On that list is a book by a Victoria resident, Esi Edugyan who wrote Washington Black. The book won the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize, given to the Canadian author with the year's best work of fiction.
Esi was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta; her parents were immigrants from Ghana. She studied creative writing at the University of Victoria, where she was mentored by Jack Hodgins. Edugyan also earned a master's degree from Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars.
Washington Black, follows the saga of an 11-year-old boy who escapes slavery at a Barbados sugar plantation, with the help of the owner's kinder brother.