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Director Steve McQueen, left, celebrates with the cast and crew of "12 Years a Slave" as they accept the award for best picture during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, March 2, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Academy Awards bump: Sales soar for ’12 Years a Slave’ book after movie win

NEW YORK, N.Y. – “12 Years a Slave” is getting a post-Oscar bump — for the book it was based on.

The 19th-century memoir by ex-slave Solomon Northup jumped from No. 326 on Amazon.com before Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony to No. 19 on Monday afternoon.

The film was directed by Steve McQueen and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (CHOO’-ih-tel EHJ’-ee-oh-fohr). It was among last year’s most highly praised releases and won the Oscar for best picture. It was the first film directed by a black person to win for best picture.

The book and the movie tell of how the free-born black Northup was kidnapped and forced into slavery. Thanks to the movie’s success, interest in the book has been revived and public high schools are starting to add it to course lists.

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