Vitabu Books

Undated photo of Raaya (Roy) Macauley in Freetown, Sierra Leone The intertwined stories of Zachary Macaulay and Raaya (Roy) draw from both historical records and elements of historical fiction. While Zachary's life is well-documented—born in May 1768 in Scotland, working as a merchant’s assistant in Jamaica, opposing slavery, and later serving as governor of Sierra Leone—Raaya's tale blends real history with imaginative details.  Raaya (pronounced as Roy), born in Bengal in 1768 after his family lost their lands, began working aboard East India Company ships as a teenager. He met Macaulay in Jamaica, became his servant, and accompanied him to London and then Sierra Leone. Both men’s lives intersected with significant historical contexts: the transatlantic slave trade, early British settlements in Sierra Leone, and the expansion of the East India Company. Macaulay was influenced by abolitionists like William Wilberforce, who served on councils and advocated against slavery....

During the summer of 2014, I signed up for "Story of the Week" by The Library of America. The first email that landed in my inbox was " Storming the Capital " by George R. Gleig (1796–1888), which is excerpted from The War of 1812: Writings from America's War of Independence . It is the tale of an eighteen-year-old British officer who witnessed the sack of Washington on August 24–25, 1814.  Since 2014, I have received more than 450 emails from The Library of America's Story of the Week. To mark each season, I have made it a tradition to select stories sent during periods of the year that are special to me—for example, Christmas, Easter, springtime, midwinter, and American Independence.  On July 5, 2015, I first read " The Special Type " by Henry James (1843–1916). It's from Henry James: Complete Stories 1898–1910 . The narrator, a portrait painter, serves as the go-between in a situation involving an American millionaire estranged from his wife...

Left to right, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenyan author and academic, and  Handel Wright, author of this tribute to one of Africa's literary giants. Wright is a professor and director of the Centre for Culture, Identity & Education at the University of British Columbia. Wright has published extensively on African cultural studies. Read on... The great Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o has passed away .     Ngugi is one of the figures who made me fall in love with African literature. I read his novels in high school, and it was from "Weep Not, Child" and "A Grain of Wheat" that I first learned about Kenya. And when I later attempted to write about African cultural studies as a PhD student, his work, in general and especially his collectively authored play, "I Will Marry When I Want," and the Kamirithu Centre, were instrumental in my articulation of what African cultural studies could be. One never thinks they will actually get to meet their heroes, so I was beside ...