Background
Clarke was born on July 26, 1934 in St. James, Barbados; the son of Kenneth Trotman and Gladys Clarke. He immigrated to Canada in 1955.
Austin Clarke and his daughter Darcy Ballantyne.
Michael Tamblyn, Patrick Crean, Austin Clarke and Susan Walker at the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize gala.
(Set in 1961 Barbados, this novel centers on how the self-...)
Set in 1961 Barbados, this novel centers on how the self-governing colony is ruled by a Labor” party while the sugar estate workers wonder whether slavery has ever ended. Raging against the White” alliance of the landowning class, the church, and their Black supporters, this story lashes out at ignorance, self-deception, and pusillanimity. Revealing an acerbic comedy of status, play-acting, and double-dealing in the village a microcosm of the self-interested activities of the nation’s political class this bleak tale of absurdity highlights the controversial issues of race and racism.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/184523166X/?tag=2022091-20
1964
(Set in Barbados in the early 1950s, this uncompromising n...)
Set in Barbados in the early 1950s, this uncompromising novel depicts the pain of childhood in a world where poverty and blackness are despised, and kids are treated as objects on which adults can take out their self-contempt and frustration. Milton Sobers is a nine-year-old on the run from a series of sadistic beatings from both his schoolmaster and his washer-woman mother. Dreaming of a life in Harlem, which is predominately black, open, and free, Milton encounters many comic and sad adventures that inevitably return him to the situation he was trying to escape. Originally published in 1965, this pertinent portrayal of the destruction of innocence explores the commonality of physical violence in the lives of Caribbean youth while offering hope for the intelligent child protagonist. Set in Barbados in the early 1950s, this uncompromising novel depicts the pain of childhood in a world where poverty and blackness are despised, and kids are treated as objects on which adults can take out their self-contempt and frustration. Milton Sobers is a nine-year-old on the run from a series of sadistic beatings from both his schoolmaster and his washer-woman mother. Dreaming of a life in Harlem, which is predominately black, open, and free, Milton encounters many comic and sad adventures that inevitably return him to the situation he was trying to escape. Originally published in 1965, this pertinent portrayal of the destruction of innocence explores the commonality of physical violence in the lives of Caribbean youth while offering hope for the intelligent child protagonist.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1845231473/?tag=2022091-20
1965
(This is the first book in Austin Clarke’s acclaimed trilo...)
This is the first book in Austin Clarke’s acclaimed trilogy about a group of West Indian domestics, their friends, lovers, spouses and employers living in Toronto. In rich, exuberant language, the novel illuminates the world of Bernice Leach, a Barbadian woman, working in the infamous ‘Canadian Domestic Scheme’ as a live-in maid. Oddly situated in the employ of the Burrmanns, a wealthy Jewish-Canadian couple, Bernice becomes privy to some household secrets which serve both she and her friend Dots with cause for amusement and outrage. And when Bernice’s sister Estelle comes over, apparently on holiday from Barbados, her stay has first comic, then tragic results. The Meeting Point is a poignant study of the clashes, tensions and sheer comedy resulting from the confrontation of opposing lifestyles and cultures. Set in the 1950s, the novel brilliantly captures a portrait of a vital city as a it faces, for the first time, a significant black immigrant presence upon its landscape.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A1N5YE8/?tag=2022091-20
1972
("The West Indians' primitive vitality and humanity in Sto...)
"The West Indians' primitive vitality and humanity in Storm of Fortune is rendered in ... some of the most delightful dialogue to see print in many a long year." -Library Journal
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008NW6NM6/?tag=2022091-20
1973
(Poignantly capturing the sorrow and torment of the dispos...)
Poignantly capturing the sorrow and torment of the dispossessed, this collection of stories focuses on the contemporary experiences of urban dwellers longing for a place to call home. Private lives and intimate pains are made public, and the rawness of the moment is redeemed by the elegance of Clarke's prose and the innate sympathy of his eye. Poignantly capturing the sorrow and torment of the dispossessed, this collection of stories focuses on the contemporary experiences of urban dwellers longing for a place to call home. Private lives and intimate pains are made public, and the rawness of the moment is redeemed by the elegance of Clarke's prose and the innate sympathy of his eye.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1550961063/?tag=2022091-20
1992
(When Mary-Mathilda, one of the most respected women on th...)
When Mary-Mathilda, one of the most respected women on the colonized island of Bimshire (also known as Barbados), calls the police to confess to a crime, the result is a shattering all-night vigil. She claims the crime is against Mr. Belfeels, the powerful manager of the sugar plantation that dominates the villagers' lives and for whom she has worked for more than thirty years as a field laborer, kitchen help, and maid. She was also Mr. Belfeels's mistress, kept in good financial status in the Great House of the plantation, and the mother of his only son, Wilberforce, a successful doctor, who after living abroad returns to the island. Set in the period following World War II, The Polished Hoe unravels over the course of twenty-four hours but spans the lifetime of one woman and the collective experience of a society characterized by slavery.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060555653/?tag=2022091-20
2002
(In this collection, award-winning author Austin Clarke ha...)
In this collection, award-winning author Austin Clarke has caught, in his characters, a sweet longing for youth and an anxiety-stricken rage at old age; an immigrant’s longing for a placid, lost home and his lust for a new high-speed motorcar life; and an intellectual’s sense of empowerment by black history even as he watches what little he knows about such history engulf him. These are intense and private lives made public by the force of their individual voices, voices that may be rambunctious and fractious but that are, nonetheless, elegant in their intent and humor and their acceptance that is never acquiescence. The volume also includes a prose portrait of Austin Clarke by acclaimed author Barry Callaghan.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1550963597/?tag=2022091-20
2013
Clarke was born on July 26, 1934 in St. James, Barbados; the son of Kenneth Trotman and Gladys Clarke. He immigrated to Canada in 1955.
Clarke attended the St. Matthias Boys' Elementary School and Combermere School. In 1950, he graduated from Harrison College and obtained the Oxford and Cambridge High School Certificates.
Then in 1955, Austin enrolled at the Trinity College of the University of Toronto, where he studied English literature, economics and political science and left the university in 1957 to pursue his interests in literature and writing.
Clarke held many different odd jobs during the late 1950s and early 1960s, including working as a surveyor, a laborer in factories, an editor for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a janitor. Also he worked as a journalist for the Toronto Globe Mail, the Daily Press of Timmins, the Northern Daily News in Kirkland Lake and an editor for a number of industrial publications.
His first poem was titled "The Ballad of Bandy Legged James". In 1957, he started to write poems, short stories and novels. Clarke's successful entrance into the Canadian literary scene occur in 1964 with the publication of his book "Survivors of the Crossing." This novel explores the issue of colonial exploitation of sugarcane workers in Barbados. It was representative of the first major period in his literary production, which began during the early 1960s and centered on the complex social dynamics of Barbados. His book "Amongst Thistles and Thorns", 1965 is considered autobiographical in nature, further explores the issue of the Barbadian racial divide.
Between the mid-1960s and the 1970s, Clarke wrote the novels, including "The Meeting Point", 1967, "Storm of Fortune", 1973 and "The Bigger Light", 1975 known as the Toronto Trilogy constitute his second literary period. The novels explore the lives of sacrifice, resilience and racism faced by Toronto's Barbadian immigrants.
In addition to his writings, Clarke served as a cultural and press attache for the Barbados embassy in Washington from 1974 to 1975. In 1975, he became a general manager of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, where he worked for two years.
Also Clarke was a lecturer in creative writing and African American literature at Yale University in 1968-1970, Duke University from 1971 to 1972 and the University of Texas in 1973.
(In this collection, award-winning author Austin Clarke ha...)
2013(Set in Barbados in the early 1950s, this uncompromising n...)
1965(When Mary-Mathilda, one of the most respected women on th...)
2002(Poignantly capturing the sorrow and torment of the dispos...)
1992(Set in 1961 Barbados, this novel centers on how the self-...)
1964(This is the first book in Austin Clarke’s acclaimed trilo...)
1972("The West Indians' primitive vitality and humanity in Sto...)
1973In 1977 Austin ran as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party in Ontario.
Clarke was praised for his uncanny ability to look into the psyche of his characters and portray their feelings and emotions as they deal with the world around them. He had a gift for unraveling the soul of his characters to reveal not only their views of the world but also the way in which they are affected by the social paradigms that tragically define who they are and the ways in which they exist.
Austin Clarke married Betty Reynolds in 1957. They have 3 children.