Lawrence Hill wins Canada Reads book competition for second time

The Hamilton author has won one of Canada’s biggest literary contests for the second time with his fiction novel about a marathoner.

Author Lawrence Hill has just won his second Canada Read’s competition with his novel The Illegal. The prized Canadian novelist also won in 2009 with his story The Book of Negroes. 

This year’s winning novel is a fictional account of runner Keita Ali and the experience adjusting to life as a refugee. As Ali escapes from his country of political unrest, he turns to running as means of survival eventually entering into– and winning– road races as a way to earn money.

As former Olympian Clara Hughes, said while defending Hill’s most recent work, this is a story not just of this one refugee but of all those who have been through a similar experience.

The Illegal is already going to be made into a movie and is bound to be the top running book of 2016.

Hill is a runner himself, who when speaking to us about his novel, said that in writing The Illegal, he drew on personal experiences and on those of his family. The Hamilton author has a mile PB of 4:36 and has been running since the age of 12.

During his writing process, he consulted top Canadian runner Reid Coolsaet for expertise on marathon running.