Equiano, Olaudah Wheatley's most renowned black literary contemporary, Olaudah Equiano, released his two-volume autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; or, Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, in 1789. Equiano was a former slave who had been granted his freedom. He used his experience as a slave on a British plantation to write about Africa and its people in a way that would appeal to European readers. Gustavus Vassa was first published in Swedish in 1771. It was written by Franciscus Junius, an accomplished Dutch writer and scholar who lived in Sweden during the late years of King Gustav III. Junius based his account on materials provided to him by Equiano when they were both prisoners in the Netherlands. At the time it was written, Gustavus Vassa was the most widely read book published in Sweden. It has been estimated that between seven and eight thousand copies were sold during Junius' lifetime. After Junius' death in 1805, no other publisher in Sweden was interested in continuing the work, so Gustavus Vassa was eventually forgotten until it was rediscovered by academic scholars in the nineteenth century. In addition to writing the biography, Junius also translated parts of Equiano's narrative into Swedish.