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George Elliott Clarke, inaugural E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto, was born near the Black Loyalist community of Windsor Plains, Nova Scotia, and raised in Halifax. The son of William and Geraldine Clarke, Clarke holds an Honours B.A. in English from the University of Waterloo, an M.A. in English from Dalhousie University and a Ph.D. in English from Queen’s University. He practices poetry, politics and journalism.

George’s poetry is written in a lyrical style, frequently alluding to religious, Black Loyalist heritage. While he has studied the Black literature of many countries, he gives special attention to Nova Scotia. The editor of a two-volume anthology of local Africadian writing, Fire on the Water (Pottersfield Press, 1991), George has written lyrics for the folk-gospel quartet Four the Moment. His poetic Whylah Falls was part of the 1996 CBC Radio Drama series and an acclaimed stage play in 1997 and 2000. It was also staged, in Italian, in Venice, Italy in 2002.

In 1998, he was the first recipient of the prestigious Portia White Prize, an annual award from the Nova Scotia Arts Council. Named after one of Nova Scotia’s pre-eminent musical pioneers, the Prize recognizes cultural and artistic excellence. In commenting on the prize winner, the Honourable Russell MacLellan, Premier of Nova Scotia, said, “Dr. Clarke was selected because he represents one of our best. As such, he is honoured with the most prestigious award that can be presented in Nova Scotia to a Nova Scotian artist.”

In 2001, Clarke won the Governor General’s Award for Poetry for his collection Execution Poems , published by the Gaspereau Press. The Canada Council for the Arts poetry jury commented the “Execution Poems is raging, gristly, public – and unflinchingly beautiful. Clarke plays with rhyme, theatre and the shape of the book showing us justice as official speech perpetrates it and as ordinary speech registers it. He harnesses the pain in the history of racism and pours it into explosive, original language.”

His books have been translated into Chinese, Romanian, and Braille.

For more information please visit the 2011 Book Confernece Web-Site.