Austin Clarke's 2012 literary award

Harbourfront Awards Author with little regard for recognition

By William Doyle-Marshall
The eminent Barbadian-born author Dr. Austin C. Clarke received the 2012 Harbourfront Award towards the end of October in recognition of his years of writing and contribution to the Canadian literary scene.
  When he learnt of his selection from Geoffrey Taylor, director of the International Festival of Authors, it took him a while to recognize this was not just a beautiful recognition for his existence in the city. But it came at a time when he was completely broke.
   So it was a time of rejoicing as he was between books when news of the award broke. It made the writing easier, for this prolific Barbadian author who has been a pillar of the Caribbean-Canadian literary community. ”This is a very serious thing to say because it has implications that you writing for money which of course you don’t want to admit to, but of course is the fact,” he admitted.

Dr. Austin Clarke at York University
receiving his Honourary
Doctorate

   “It was an appreciated recognition by me of the number of years I spent writing and being broke and suffering and so on. I took it very seriously because it was not a personal thing but it was more serious than that. “After all these years I have been recognized; not that I was seeking recognition but it doesn’t detract from the worth of the award of the prize when you are recognized,” Clarke confessed.
   His first attempt at creative writing was a long poem in 1964 “Intractable”and poorly structured which he showed to Bob Weaver, a literary guru of the city who advised Clarke to quit wanting to be a poet and concentrate on prose. Reflecting on the advise these many years later, Austin remembers telling Weaver that he made possible for “Canada’s best poet” and his reputation to be cat spraddled because he thought it did not have any worth. He still has the poem although he cannot remember it by heart. In retrospect the award-winning author concludes Weaver’s judgement was correct.
   Dr. Clarke’s combined contribution to the civil and literary life of his adopted province and country inspired honours like the Order of Ontario, the Order of Canada the W.O. Mitchell Prize and the Martin Luther King Junior Award for Excellence in Writing,
    Martin Singer Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies  presented Clarke for an Honourary Doctorate at York University two years ago. He told the convocation ceremony Clarke represents one of Canada’s most respected and prolific writers, one whose fiction reaches across barriers of race, class and geography to offer a picture of a complex Canadian landscape into which are etched the memories and rhythms of the Caribbean.
   Back in 1964 Clarke worked for a Don Mills firm. His boss sent  him to do radio programmes in Toronto. Reflecting on that experience the aging Barbadian literary icon noted the whole concept of distance (leaving Don Mills for downtown Toronto) was quite a journey especially in the winter.
    “Being trained by the Thompson press you were exposed to every aspect of publishing including sweeping and learning to use the camera and all that,” Clarke recalls. One Monday morning a mail came to him (in the office) and he felt that was very good. And being a bit of a braggart, announced it to the whole editorial room and the boss heard. “He came to me and said ‘oh no. That is not for you. It is for the company.’”
   That spurred on the young, aspiring, un-named writer to consider writing for himself. He immediately contacted a friend about creating his personal letterheads. That launched his career as a freelance writer and later a winner of awards.  He played down the importance of awards.
   “I would write the book and then surrender it to the critics and book reviewers. I would not hinge my life to that kind of material success. I was writing for pleasure and I told myself I was writing for pleasure and to be writing for pleasure meant you were a real writer. I wasn’t writing for awards. Of course now that I have had a few awards it is very beautiful. I am not saying anything deleterious about that.”
   Clarke novelist, short story writer, journalist and public intellectual, arrived in Canada 1955 at the age of 21. The journalism he undertook for the CBC in 1963 included reporting on the civil rights and black power movement in the United States where he had the opportunity to interview, among others Malcolm X.
October 27, 2012