Dr. George Elliott Clarke was born in 1960 in Windsor, Nova Scotia, near the Afro-Metis community of Three Mile Plains. He is a man who has worn many hats over the years, including esteemed poet, scholar, writer, composer, and educator.

Dr. Clarke has a long academic history beginning at the University of Waterloo where he got his Bachelor of Arts in 1984. Then in 1989, he went to Dalhousie University, earning his masters degree and then to round off his education he attended Queen’s University in 1993 and got his PhD. After getting his PhD, he became the Assistant Professor of English and Canadian studies at Duke University and remained there until 1999. During that time he served as the Seagrams Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies at McGill University. In 2002, he was a Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia, and then a Visiting Scholar at Mount Allison University in 2005. He was the 27th Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies at Harvard University, from 2013-2014. In 1999, Dr. Clarke joined the English department of the University of Toronto, where he eventually became the E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature.

At his core he is a poet, and he says he has been a book-published poet since 1983. His work is a reflection of Black culture in Canada, especially on the east coast of Canada, a term which he has coined as ‘Africadian’. This term is used to describe the descendants of Black United Empire Loyalists who came to the Maritimes in the late 18th century. Dr. Clarke’s works often combine both historic and personal elements. He has adapted many of his own works into other genres. For example Whylah Falls (1990), a book where the protagonist struggles to find an authentic speech that reconciles his white education with his Black heritage, was adapted for radio in 1996 and then for the stage in 1997.

Many Canadian musicians perform songs written by Dr. Clarke, including east coast groups Four the Moment (including two lyrics on the 2022 Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize-winning LP, We’re Still Standing [1987]), the Nova Scotia Mass Choir, and poems/lyrics for composers Eddie Bullen, Leonard Woodworth “Sugar Plum” Croxen, Shelley Hamilton, Emily Hiemstra, D.D. Jackson, Pallavi Mozumder, Susan Odle, Juliet Palmer, James Rolfe, Shad Kabango (“Storm” on Shad’s Tao [2021]), Namratha Sridevi, and Chris White. He has written three opera libretti, recorded two CD’s of poetry with musical accompaniment, and helped with the production of two CD’s by the Afro-Metis Nation (2019, 2025).

He has been a SOCAN member since 1985 and a paid scholar since 1994. Dr. Clarke has since commissioned 95 art-songs which he then presents in public showcases called 5 Poets Breaking Into Song which has presented over 23 shows. The songs from the project have been included on James Rolfe’s Wound Turned to Light (2023) and D.D. Jackson’s Poetry Project (2024).

Dr. Clarke has contributed greatly to Canadian music and literature, remaining a strong advocate for the study of Canadian Black heritage.

Awards

• Appointment as Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2016-17)
• Appointment as Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto (2012-2015)
• The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)
• The Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (2009)
• Appointment to the Order of Canada at the rank of Officer (2008)
• Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction (2006)
• Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellowship Prize (2005)
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award (2004)
• Governor-General’s Award for Poetry (2001)
• The National Magazine Gold Medal for Poetry (2001)
• Portia White Prize for Artistic Achievement (1998)