A Belfast author has teamed up with a screenwriter from Rwanda to co-author a new love story.
Dr Tony MacAulay, writer of Paperboy and Breadboy, cowrote 'Kill the Devil: A Love Story from Rwanda' with Juvens Nsabimana after listening to survivors and perpetrators in the villages of Rwanda recounting their profound stories.
Having spent the past 35 years working to build peace and reconciliation at home and abroad, Dr MacAulay was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Ulster University for services to literature and peacebuilding.
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The book tells the story of love between a survivor and a perpetrator of genocide and reveals the remarkable progress in reconciliation in Rwanda since the horrors of 1994.
Speaking ahead of the book's launch, Dr MacAulay said: “On my visits to Rwanda I have been inspired by incredible reconciliation work. I was privileged to hear stories of forgiveness and reconciliation, something I’d never heard the like of before - certainly not where I come from.
"Whilst visiting Rwanda I was fortunate to meet Juvens. Following many conversations we were keen to collaborate and help shine a light on the remarkable, untold stories of reconciliation in Rwanda since the genocide in 1994, when a million people were killed in a hundred days.”
Juvens Nsabimana co-author of Kill the Devil added: “When I met Tony during one of his visits to Rwanda, we very quickly realised that we not only connected as storytellers but knew we would work well together.
"I created the screenplay idea of Kill the Devil but needed to collaborate with someone who had the experience and expertise of writing a novel.
"We have been on an incredible writing journey together and I am grateful to have had the opportunity collaborate with him!”
Kill the Devil is available in all good bookshops and as an ebook now.
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