Overview: Currently funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, A Double Hunger is a 19th century althistorical Gothic set in a fictional Atlantic island o the West African coast. It follows a Royal Charter Company’s attempt to extract palm oil from the island for use in lubricating the growing industry of the British Crown, and the responses of the local, predominantly Afrodescendant population to this incursion, including elements of this population that are deemed, rightfully or wrongfully, monstrous.
Creative Requirement: Complete a first draft of the novel (90,000 words) ahead of the Canada Council’s expected delivery date (Nov/Dec 2026). Proceed to revision drafts thereafter (Spring/Summer 2027).
Research Requirement: Complete archival/secondary research (i.e. compile and synthesize secondary sources and other material resources) to provide su icient information to complete the creative requirement above:
- Compile a detailed dossier of the small-scale and large-scale operations, activities and enterprises of the United African Company (later the Royal Niger Company; later Unilever) in Nigeria throughout the 19th Century: The Royal Niger Company, the joint-stock corporation that formed the basis upon which the eventual nation of Nigeria was born, is the inspiration and basis of the fictional charter company portrayed in the novel.
- Objective: Compile a dossier across various informational sources—books, papers, other media—that will breathe life into the detailing of the fictional charter company’s actions and activities in the novel, and the motives/motivations of its characters and actors.
- Compile a detailed dossier on the specific work of palm oil extraction by the United African Company in Nigeria and other African nations in the 19th Century: To accurately portray the commercial process of palm oil extraction in the 19th century, including tools & equipment.
- Objective: Same as above.