In a week and a half, Tobago-born Toronto-based poet, essayist, novelist, and playwright M NourbeSe Philip was awarded a prestigious Canadian cultural prize and saw her 2008 book Zong! win a literature magazine poll.

On July 7 the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize winners were announced: Philip in the arts category and psychologist and mental health researcher Gordon J G Asmundson in the social sciences and humanity category. The council awards two Molson prizes of Can$50,000 to distinguished Canadians in these fields annually.

The prize is funded by a $1 million endowment given to the council by the Molson Family Foundation and encourages recipients to continue contributing to the cultural and intellectual life of Canada.

On June 28 literature magazine World Literature Today (WLT) announced Philip's book Zong!, a book-length poem about the murder of Africans on board a slave ship in 1781 for financial gain, won the 21 Books for the 21st Century Readers' Poll. Earlier this year WLT editors invited 21 writers to nominate a single book, published since the year 2000, that has had a major influence on their own work, along with a brief statement explaining their choice. WLT published the longlist and then invited readers to vote on their favourites and Zong! was the winner.

Newsday interviewed Philip about Zong! recently.

The Zong Massacre

Philip learned about the case that inspired it years ago when she read Black Ivory: A History of British Slavery by English historian James Walvin. It mentioned an incident with a slave ship in 1781 coming across the Atlantic: the journey took longer than normal because the captain had never captained before.

[caption id="attachment_902184" align="alignnone" width="683"] Poet M NourbeSe Philip performs at Alice Yard, Woodbrook, Trinidad. Philip won a prestigious Can$50,000 cultural prize, the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize for arts, and her 2008 book Zong! tops the World Literature Today poll. - courtesy Maria Nunes[/caption]

"It got lost and essentially came close to Tobago, but its destination was Jamaica, so it was really off-course."

During the voyage, water ran low and some of the people on board, both crew and enslaved Africans, became ill and died. The captain decided to throw overboard around 150 enslaved Africans.

"The number tends to be slippery, but about 130 to 150 (were) killed so he could ensure there was more water left for those who remained on board."

Philip said her research indicated the ship left the coast of Ghana with 470 enslaved Africans. She noted at that time an enslaved person was insured as "cargo," just as property is insured today, and at that time insurance law said if an enslaved person died during the normal course of events, the owner could not collect insurance money for them. However, if there was a rebellion or a revolt and the enslaved person was killed, the owner could make an insurance claim.

Philip said from the documents she read it appeared the captain and his associates feared there would be a rev

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