On today's show, we welcome Sidney Morrison, author of Frederick Douglass: A Novel from Portland’s Hawthorne Books. Sidney’s book is a fictionalized account of the life of Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became instrumental in ending slavery in the U.S., and who many consider one of the greatest Americans of the 19th Century.
Sidney has been working on this book for over 40 years, finishing the first version in 1978. The published volume is version number three, and portrays the very human side of Douglass, his friends and family, including the influential women in his life, as well as his former colleagues and enemies. Both Douglass and the history of his time come alive in these pages.
Sidney’s a retired teacher of history and English, and school principal, one of the few principals who served at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. He now works as a part-time educational consultant and leadership coach in school districts in Southern California.
Frederick Douglass: A Novel is Sidney’s first book. Karen Joy Fowler calls it “an important work about an important man and America, meticulously researched, deeply imagined, and engagingly told.”
- KBOO