Aphra Behn, the first professional female writer in English, was a successful London playwright in the 1670s and 1680s. Her early book Oroonoko, published in 1688, tells the story of a slave uprising in Surinam (Suriname). In this interesting talk, Professor Elaine Hobby will share how Behn's rare and precious books give insight into her life.

Professor Elaine Hobby is a researcher and professor of seventeenth-century studies at Loughborough University (United Kingdom) and is a 2019 National Library of Australia Fellow.

Image: Aphra Behn (1640–1689), The Histories and Novels of the Late Ingenious Mrs Behn (detail), 1696, nla.cat-vn2027753