Austin Clarke

Austin Clarke, who died in 2016, was a celebrated author of novels and essays on the Canadian immigrant experience. A prolific author of 11 novels, six short story collections and five books of nonfiction, he was the recipient of the Roger’s Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize, the Toronto Book Award and the W.O. Mitchell Award for support of young writers. In 2002 he won both the Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for The Polished Hoe. Beyond writing, he served as Cultural Attaché of Barbados, manager of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation in Barbados and on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.