George Elliott Clarke
Poet - Professor - Africadian
Welcome to my website.
I'm George Elliott Clarke: a poet first - all else second.
By my roots - African-American, Indigenous, Nova Scotian/Africadian, Afro-Metis - I'm nourished, but not entangled; and I'm a citizen of the world, in imagination, if not in fact. I earn my daily bread as a professor and writer, but I've also worked as a library activities programmer; computerized traffic signals controller; parliamentary researcher; student newspaper editor; community newspaper editor; social worker; parliamentary aide; and, of course, as a professor, first at Duke University and now at the University of Toronto, but with guest gigs at McGill, UBC, and Harvard. As a scholar, I've pioneered the study of African-Canadian literature; as a writer, I've brought "Blackened English" to poetry, drama, and fiction. And I've coined the term, "Africadian."
Welcome to my site, my insights. I hope you'll find it an incitement....
This ad for J'Accuse...! (Poem Versus Silence) appeared in The Walrus and in Maple Tree Literary Supplement in Autumn 2022. For the record, I see no difference between Kancel Kultur Klanners and other sponsors of anti-intellectual tyranny. True liberal/democrats had better wake up to this new "trahison des clercs" (to cite Julien Benda's own version of Emile Zola's "J'Accuse...!").
The epic poem, "Canticles," is nearing an end, 15 years after its inception in Zanzibar in February 2008.
Canticles I (MMXVI) & (MMXVII) treat personages and characters and events related to slavery and ant-slavery, imperialism and anti-imperialism. The narrative begins with Homer and ends with Mao.
Canticles II (MMXIX) & (MMXX) present rewritings of scripture(s), mainly from the KJV Bible and the Apocrypha (including The Book of Enoch), but also selections from The Book of Mormon, The Book of Shehzade, The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Popol Vuh, etc.
Canticles III (MMXXII) & (MMXXIII) treat the history of the fictitious "Africadian Baptist Association," and so the saga ends, after laying down thousands of pages (across six volumes) of irrepressible poetry.
Recent, Vital Links: Interviews, Reviews,
Commentaries, Poems
1) Aura, Patrick. “Black Lives at the Turn of the 20th Century.” Historica-Canadiana—A Cultural
History of Canada. August 18, 2022.
Part 1:https://sites.libsyn.com/425342/an-interview-with-george-elliott-clarke-part-1
Part 2:https://sites.libsyn.com/425342/an-interview-with-george-elliott-clarke-part-2
2) Baylis, Frank, MP. Parliamentary Poet Laureate. House of Commons Debates. 1st Session. 42nd Parliament. 148.251. (Wednesday, December 13, 2017): 16385.
https://www.facebook.com/frankbaylisliberal/
3) Cole, Desmond. Interview. Canadaland: Commons. Podcast. February 13, 2016.
http://canadalandshow.com/podcast/george-elliott-clarke-polyphony-canadian-blacknesses
4)Davis, Clinton, Fidel Franco, and Hillary LeBlanc. Black in the Maritimes. Podcast. “The Return of George Elliott Clarke.” Recorded: 10 October 2021.
https://blackinthemaritimes.com/2021/10/13/the-return-of-george-elliot-clarke/
Davis, Clinton, and Hillary LeBlanc. Black Lantic. Discussion of Black Scientist, Black Activist,
Black Icon: The Autobiography of Dr. Howard D. McCurdy. Ed. GEC. February 22, 2024.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bWFYaaL9AM
5) Finnerty, Michael. “On the Cancellation of Robert Lepage’s “Slav[e].” The Current. CBC Radio. July 5, 2018.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-july-5-2018-1.4734619
6) Kabango, Shadrach. Re: The Fabulous Bohee Brothers. February 14, 2022.
7) Kiwanuka, Nam. “Canadian Writers’ Panel.” With Elizabeth Hay, Vincent Lam, Thea Lim. The Agenda in the Summer with Nam Kiwanuka. Taped April 6, 2023.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLccpGzH6Qk0GqKQQPAfSpb1wZlC_QoMO6
8) Moore, Nathaniel. “I & I (George Elliott Clarke) 101.” The Wild Goose Chase Newsletter.
February 15, 2019.
https://gooselane.com/blogs/news/i-i-101
9) Oyinsan, Olubunmi. Interview. Sankofa Pan African Series. By Zoom. May 10, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIQgaWromYYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2MLqSZqX1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2MLqSZqX1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5sdJRIFTv8Here
10) “In Memoriam: Remembering Len Gasparini.” Curated by GEC. Posted December 19, 2022, at 1:20 p.m.
https://accenti.ca/in-memoriam-remembering-len-gasparini/
“Anecdotes About Luciano Iacobelli.” Curated by GEC. Accenti. Posted November 7, 2022, at 21:42 EST.
<https://accenti.ca/anecdotes-about-luciano-iacobelli/>
11) “My Autobiography Is Just a Bibliographical Appendix to My Father’s Library.” Shelf Portraits, 6 September 2022; also 24 March 2023.
"My Autobiography is Just a Bibliographical Appendix to my Father's Library,"
12) International Questionnaire on International Labor Day. Host: Yin Xiaoyuan. Posted: April 27, 2021.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/R-Hn8cDPX75kcVpevFrn-Q
13) “100 Days of Solitude: Days on End.” The Globe and Mail. Saturday, June 20, 2020. D6.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-100-days-of-pandemic/#clarke
14) “A few modest amendments to the Constitution.” Policy Options / Options politiques. February 2018.
http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2018/a-few-modest-amendments-to-the-constitution/
15) “On My Dark Hobby and Blackest Art,” “16 / 61,” and “The Poet.” Three poems. The Beltway Poetry Quarterly. 23.1. March 2022.
https://www.beltwaypoetry.com/poetry/poets/names/george-elliott-clarke/
16) GEC on "Africville Relocation": CBC Interview:
GALLERY
Drawing of Clarke, age 5.5, by his father, Bill Clarke, October 1965.
Clarke, aged 20, at Three Mile Plains, NS, 1980.
With poet Paul Zemokhol, Toronto (ON), June 2012
With poet Giovanna Riccio, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy, June 2017.
With filmmakers Leslie Schachter & David Richler,
Rideau Hall, Aug 2017
With David Renton's student theatre company, Mind the Flowerpots, age 14, Halifax, NS, Fall 1974.
In St. Petersburg (Russia), Summer 2007.
Clarke, aged 50, with Nobel Laureate Sir Derek Walcott, Victoria, BC, 2010.
Testifyin', Paris (FR) January 2013.
Toronto bus shelter poster, summer 2017.
Clarke, aged 17, with brother, Bryant, Lawrencetown Beach, NS, 1977.
With daughter AMC and Her Excellency Michaelle Jean, Governor-General of Canada, at Order of Canada appointment ceremony, Ville de Quebec (QC), October 2008.
With daughter AMC, her mom JM, and poet Ama Ede, at Parliamentary Poet Laureate official reception, Ottawa (ON), February 2016.
With poets Giovanna Riccio and bill bissett, Toronto,
Dec 2017.
With Ottawa Folk Festival Founder Chris White, in Halifax (NS), recording The Afro-Metis Constitution album, February 2018.
BIOGRAPHY
George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, near the Black Loyalist and Afro-Metis community of Three Mile Plains, in 1960. A graduate of the University of Waterloo (B.A., Hons.,1984), Dalhousie University (M.A., 1989), and Queen’s University (Ph.D., 1993), he is now the inaugural E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. An Assistant Professor of English and Canadian Studies at Duke University, North Carolina, 1994-1999, Clarke also served as the Seagrams Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies at McGill University, 1998-1999, and as a Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia (2002) and as a Visiting Scholar at Mount Allison University (2005), and as the William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies at Harvard University (2013-14). He has also worked as a researcher (Ontario Provincial Parliament, 1982-83), editor (Imprint, University of Waterloo, 1984-85, and The Rap, Halifax, NS, 1985-87), social worker (Black United Front of Nova Scotia, 1985-86), parliamentary aide (House of Commons, 1987-91), and newspaper columnist (The Daily News, Halifax, NS, 1988-89, and The Halifax Herald, Halifax, NS, 1992-2016). He lives in Toronto, Ontario, but he also owns land in Nova Scotia. His many honours include the Portia White Prize for Artistic Achievement (1998), Governor-General’s Award for Poetry (2001), the National Magazine Gold Medal for Poetry (2001), the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award (2004), the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellowship Prize (2005), the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction (2006), the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (2009), appointment to the Order of Nova Scotia (2006), appointment to the Order of Canada at the rank of Officer (2008), appointment as Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto (2012-15), appointment as Parliamentary [National] Poet Laureate (2016-17), appointment as a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (2017), and the receipt of eight honorary doctorates.