Past Event! Note: this event has already taken place.
George Elliott Clarke Guest Lecture
March 9, 2017 at 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
| Location: | 2017 Dunton Tower |
| Cost: | Free |
| Audience: | Anyone |
| Key Contact: | Sarah Waisvisz |
| Contact Email: | sarah.waisvisz@gmail.com |
CTCA is delighted to welcome Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke to Ottawa for two special public events on Wednesday March 8th and Thursday March 9th.
On Thursday March 9th, Clarke will give a guest lecture at Carleton University on the themes of ‘Afro-Can Lit’ in his own writing. Clarke’s lecture, “From ‘Coloured’ and ‘Negro’ and ‘Black’ to ‘Africadian’ and ‘Afro-Métis’: The Black-Ink Odyssey of George Elliott Clarke,” is co-hosted by the Department of English and CTCA and held in conjunction with Prof. Susan Birkwood’s ENGL 2802: Canadian Literatures course. This informal lecture is open to all members of the Carleton community and will be held from 2:30-4:00pm in Dunton Tower 2017.
Currently Canada’s 7th Parliamentary Poet Laureate, Clarke was the 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-2015) and is a noted dramatist, fiction writer, librettist, and essayist as well as poet. His literature considers the intersections of migration, diaspora, and indigeneity in the history and culture of the Black Canadian communities of Atlantic Canada, known as Africadia. Seminal works include the poetry collection Execution Poems: The Black Acadian Tragedy of George and Rue (2001), the play Whylah Falls (1999), and the novel George and Rue (2005). Clarke’s 16th poetry work is Canticles I (MMXVI) (2016), the first half of the first book of a three-book epic treating imperialism, slavery, and resistance to both. Clarke’s recognitions include the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellows Prize, the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award. Clarke’s work is the subject of Africadian Atlantic: Essays on George Elliott Clarke (2012), edited by Joseph Pivato. Now teaching African-Canadian literature 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.
Clarke’s lecture is free, accessible, and open to the Carleton community.
