Kidnapped and sold into slavery at the age of ten, Olaudah Equiano's memoir caused a sensation when it was first published in 1789. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is the true story of his life, from his ten years of service as a slave in the British Navy to his experiences - after having purchased his freedom twice - as a freed black man living in eighteenth-century England. Equiano would go on to be a leading figure in the anti-slavery movement, boosted by the success of his memoir, which became a bestseller and went through nine editions in his lifetime.

This new edition of the landmark memoir features a foreword by historian and bestselling author David Olusoga (Black and British), bringing this long-overlooked classic back into the spotlight, and showing his importance, which has been too often neglected, for the story of the abolition of slavery in Britain.

Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in the former Kingdom of Benin. Sold into slavery at the age of ten, he purchased his freedom as an adult and became a leading figure in the abolitionist movement. His memoir The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, published in 1789, was a bestseller and went through nine different editions. He died in 1797.