Austin Clarke was born in 1934 on the island of Barbados. He taught at a rural school for three years before leaving for Canada in 1955 to attend Trinity College. Two years later, he dropped out of school and began working as a journalist and broadcaster. He taught creative writing at several American universities and served as cultural attache to the Barbadian embassy in Washington, D.C.. Clarke returned to Canada in 1976 and ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Ontario election of the following year. He also served on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada from 1988 to 1993. Austin Clarke currently lives in Toronto.

Books by Austin Clarke

	1964 The Survivors of the Crossing
	1965 Amongst Thistles and Thorns
	1967 The Meeting Point
	1971 When He Was Free and Young and He Used to Wear Silks
	1973 Storm of Fortune
	1975 The Bigger Light
	1977 The Prime Minister
	1980 Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack: A Memoir
	1985 When Women Rule
	1986 Nine Men Who Laughed
	1988 Proud Empires
	1992 In This City
	1992 Public Enemies: Police Violence and Black Youth
	1993 There Are No Elders
	1994 A Passage Back Home: A Personal Reminiscence of Samuel Selvon
	1996 The Austin Clarke Reader
	1997 The Origin of Waves
	1999 The Question
	2001 Pig Tails 'n' Breadfruit: The Rituals of Slave Food (also published as Love and Sweet Food)
	2002 The Polished Hoe
	2003 Choosing His Coffin
	2008 More
	2013 Where the Sun Shines Best
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Awards

• Giller Prize
  • 2002 – The Polished Hoe – Winner

• Governor General's Literary Award: Fiction
  • 2000 – The Question – Shortlisted

• Governor General's Literary Award: Poetry
  • 2013 – Where The Sun Shines Best – Shortlisted

• Order of Canada
  • 1998 – Member

• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
  • 1997 – The Origins of Waves – Winner

Comments

Added 12 November 2005.
Updated 10 May 2014.