Code Noir

Winner of the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction * Finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize * A Globe and Mail Best Book of 2024

Groundbreaking, dazzling debut fiction from an award-winning poet, perfect for fans of Ocean Vuong and Tommy Orange

'Code Noir': an infamous set of real historical decrees passed in 1685 by King Louis XIV of France, defining the conditions of slavery in the French empire.

The original code had fifty-nine articles; Canisia Lubrin's stunning debut brings together fifty-nine linked fictions in a rare and highly original work of art that riffs on its historical antecedent.

Complemented by line-drawings by renowned visual artist Torkwase Dyson, Code Noir has taken the Canadian literary world by storm and won multiple awards. Ranging from contemporary realism to dystopian literature, futuristic fantasy to historical adventure, these stories are all linked by their characters' determination to live beyond the enclosure of official decrees, beyond the ruins of the past.

'A revelation... Lubrin is one of the finest writers and thinkers of our time.' Maaza Mengiste

'Code Noir is storytelling at its deepest and most intimate.' Dionne Brand