The Canticles represent Clarke’s epic ambition: To provide first a panoramic view of slavery and anti-slavery, plus imperialism and anti-imperialism, then revisionings of mainly Judeo-Christian scripture, and ending with the chronicle of the construction of the African Baptist Church Association in Nova Scotia in 1853. Clarke will read from the three volumes published so far: Canticles I (MMXVI & MMXVII) and Canticles II (MMXIX).
Biography
The 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15) and the 7th Parliamentary/Canadian Poet Laureate (2016-17), George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1960. Educated at the University of Waterloo, Dalhousie University, and Queen’s University, Clarke is also a pioneering scholar of African-Canadian literature. A professor of English at the University of Toronto, Clarke has taught at Duke, McGill, the University of British Columbia, and Harvard. He holds eight honorary doctorates, plus appointments to the Order of Nova Scotia and the Order of Canada at the rank of Officer. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. His recognitions include the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellows Prize, the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry, the Premiul Poesis (Romania), the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction, the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (US), and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award. His books are available in Chinese, Romanian, and Italian. (George Elliott Clarke: Poesie e Drammi. [Trans. & Ed.] Giulio Marra. Venezia, Italia: Studio LT2, 2012. AND George Elliott Clarke Koiné Opera (GECKO). Vicenza, Italy: The Art Box, 2017.)