The first Writer’s Reading Series of 2024 hosted by Trent University’s English Department was held on February 8th at Champlain College. Author Canisia Lubrin was welcomed to celebrate the launch of her new novel Code Noir with its initial release being only 3 days prior. Attendees were able to purchase Code Noir, along with Lubrin’s award-winning poetry books Voodoo Hypothesis (2017) and The Dyzgraphist (2020). The reading was followed by a book signing as well as a reception featuring various beverages and treats, invoking conversation among guests. 

“My approach to this book is multifold and that is because it is based upon this particularly upsetting historical document called the Code Noir.” The Black Codes. 

Code Noir shares its name with a piece of European legislation signed by King Louis XIV in 1685. 59 articles were written by King Louis and his court that controlled the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire at what was an attempt at condemning the brutalization of slaves from their masters was instead used to help fortify and strengthen the practice of slavery. 

Lubrin’s version contains 59 short fiction stories, all of which have been linked to an article of the original document. At the beginning of each short story is a black-and-white abstract art piece done by multimedia artist Torkwase Dyson, with the article written by King Louis embedded within the charcoal drawings. Each story is a piece of a larger picture, showcasing the unsettling reality of such a document as characters yearn for a life that is greater than the limits of Code Noir.

“The murderers in this draft are those who write the laws, who tell you to prepare for the tragedy of the afternoon because they have claimed — with their Black Codes — every morning of every country on Earth,” Lubrin read from the Opening Remarks. 

Along with the opening remarks, Lubrin read two longer stories. From Part One: Now she read Chapter 4: The Birth Dealer, or the Two-Snake Caduceus, the haunting short revealing so much about how Article 28 of the real-life Code Noir affected the bodies of Black women through only a conversation.

It is undeniable that the stories are unsettling in their nature, but their existence is necessary in order to learn from the past and aid the present consequences. She calls her stories “countermeasures” to the original 59 articles, showing how they have “shape-shifted.” 

“The form is the answer to the work,” Lubrin told Arthur after the reading, revealing that the idea for this novel was not one that came in a single stroke of genius. 

“Even though I started writing these stories many years ago, they didn’t come into this form until, you know, just recently.”

The first stories, unknown to Lubrin that they would land themselves within this genre-bending masterpiece, originally had no relation to the real-life Code Noir. She had discovered the Codes while doing research for one of her previous books, in which she began to see the ways the Codes had shapeshifted their ways into the lives of Black people. Lubrin began to see the implications of the codes within her previous work, which eventually led to the form in which each piece “needed to really live,” she said. 

Lubrin did not write the book with a specific audience in mind, rather creating a piece of art that reflected a truth waiting to be heard, hoping the book “will meet its reader and the reader will then decide however the interaction opens them up.”

When asked what she hoped the readers would gain from her work, Lubrin said “The reader is not a dial I can turn,” trusting them to learn what they need to learn from having a connection to her art. 

“It’s really not the certainty of result, it is about the invitation for imagination and letting that be the catalyst,” she said.

Lubrin is a refreshing mark within the literary world of fiction. The combination of short stories ranging in genres and literary styles, abstract visual art, and real historical documents creates an atmosphere that is eerie, thought-provoking, and eye-opening. 

Shop local and head over to Take Cover Books on Hunter Street here in Peterborough or go to takecoverbooks.ca to get your hands on a copy of Canisia Lubrin’s Code Noir, as well as her poetry books Voodoo Hypothesis and The Dyzgraphist. 

If you missed this, don’t fret as the English Department is planning the next Writers Reading Series to take place in March. Keep your eyes peeled for flyers around campus to see which Canadian author is coming to Trent University next.