Austin Clarke

AUSTIN CLARKE (1934–2016) was one of Canada’s foremost authors, whose work includes ten novels, six short-story collections, three memoirs, and two collections of poetry. His novel The Polished Hoe won the 2002 Giller Prize. Clarke was appointed to the Order of Canada, held four honorary doctorates, and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the W. O. Mitchell Prize, the Casa de las Américas Prize, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Excellence in Writing, among others. In his fifty-year career he worked as a journalist, a professor, and a cultural attaché in Washington, D.C.