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Esi Edugyan is known for her books of fiction. She’s a two-time winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novels Half-Blood Blues and Washington Black. In her most recent book, she’s turned to the world of non-fiction. Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling is a collection of essays drawn from her 2021 CBC Massey Lectures, devoted to bringing a richer context to black histories and other stories about race that often go untold.
Decibel producer Sherrill Sutherland sat down with Esi to find out why this moment felt like the right time to write this book, why ghost stories and race are important and why in Canada we still have trouble discussing our true relationship to slavery.