Scottish Book of the Year – event in Edinburgh next week
First event for Scottish Book of the Year Winner to be held in Edinburgh.
David Alston, author of Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean, will be appearing at The Royal Scots Club on Monday 13 March 2023.
David Alston’s book uncovering the connections between the Scottish Highlands and plantation slavery in the Caribbean was lauded for its unflinching research and its compelling style when it won Book of the Year at Scotland’s National Book Awards in December. Now, in his first in-person Edinburgh event, Alston will shine a light on the stories he uncovered and discuss how they have been received on both sides of the Atlantic.
While working as a museum curator in Cromarty, Alston discovered a mass of evidence showing how Scots were involved in every stage of the slave trade: from captaining slaving ships to auctioning captured Africans in the colonies and hunting down those who escaped from bondage. Their voices are clearly heard in the archives, while in the same sources the stories of enslaved people are silenced – reduced to numbers and listed as property.
Drawing on his research in Scotland and the Caribbean (Guyana in particular), Alston gives voice not only to these Scots but to enslaved Africans and their descendants – to those who reclaimed their freedom, to free women of colour, to the Black Caribs of St Vincent, to house servants, and to children of mixed race who found themselves in the increasingly racist society of Britain in the mid-1800s. His talk brings names, people and personal stories in a vital contribution to understanding this shared history.
· 7-8pm, Monday 13 March 2023
· Royal Scots Club, 29-31 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6QE
