The Canadian Arts community is mourning the passing of Austin Clark, the Toronto-based writer who won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for his 2002 novel “The Polished Hoe.
Over the course of his long career, the Barbadian-born Clarke frequently wrote about the immigrant experience and being black in Canada.
In 1997, his novel “The Origin of the Waves” won the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His 1999 novel “The Question” was nominated for the Governor General’s Award. Clark became a member of the Order of Canada in 1998.
A funeral service is planned for Toronto’s St. James Cathedral on July 9th.