Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1961-2022 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
33 boxes (4.5 metres)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Lawrence Hill is the son of American immigrants who came to Canada the day after they married in 1953 in Washington, D.C. The story of how they met, married, left the United States and raised a family in Toronto is described in Hill's bestselling memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada (HarperCollins Canada, 2001). Growing up in the predominantly white suburb of Don Mills, Ontario in the sixties, Hill was greatly influenced by his parents' work in the human rights movement. Much of Hill's writing touches on issues of identity and belonging. His third novel was published as The Book of Negroes in Canada, Great Britain, South Africa and India and as Someone Knows My Name in the USA, Australia and New Zealand, and won numerous literary awards, including the overall Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Hill is also the author of the novels Any Known Blood (William Morrow, New York, 1999 and HarperCollins Canada, 1997) and Some Great Thing (Turnstone Press, Winnipeg, 1992).
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Lawrence Hill, 2022; 2023.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
2022 Accession:
This accession includes drafts and notes related to The Illegal (2015), The Book of Negroes (2007), Some Great Thing (1992), Café Babanussa (2016) by Karen Hill and an outline for The Deserter’s Tale (2007); unpublished short stories written between 1979-1986; materials relating to The Book of Negroes CBC television series and a movie adaptation of The Illegal; files relating to speaking engagements, publicity, and interviews; media clippings; awards; personal and professional correspondence, and other documents relating to the life, work, and family of Lawrence Hill.
Contains series:
Series 1: Manuscripts and other writing
Series 2: Publicity, speaking engagements, media clippings, promotional materials, awards
Series 3: Correspondence, fan mail, greeting cards
Series 4: Personal and other files
2023 Accession:
This accession includes drafts and reader notes for the books Beatrice and Croc Harry, The Illegal, the play “Sensitivity,” and the essay “All of This;” magazine and newspaper articles written by Hill; reviews, interviews, profiles, and articles on Hill and his work; drafts of Hill’s public talks and remarks, as well as programs, itineraries, and promotional material for public talks; personal and professional correspondence, photographs of Hill and family; awards and honours, including an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Toronto, and a Library and Archives Canada Scholars Award; as well as other material relating to the life, work, and family of Lawrence Hill.
Contains series:
Series 1: Manuscripts and other writing
Series 2: Public talks and remarks
Series 3: Correspondence
Series 4: Personal materials
Series 5: Publicity, awards, and other professional materials
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca