ONE OF CANADA’S and Barbados’ literary giants, Austin “Tom” Clarke, an award-winning Canadian and Commonwealth novelist died this morning in a Toronto hospice.
Clarke was 81.
He has written dozens of books and short-stories, as well as hundreds of newspaper columns, many of them about life in Barbados and Canada spanning a period of more than half a century.
He was at one time a regular columnist for THE NATION newspaper and was an expert in the use of Bajan dialect.
His death was confirmed by his daughter Darcy Ballantine
She told THE NATION her father “passed away quietly” after a prolonged illness.
“It was a peaceful death,” she added.
Dr Reynaldo Walcott, a University of Toronto professor, described Clarke as a “brilliant mind who cared deeply about Barbados, Bajans and people from across the Caribbean and Canada”.
Among Clarke’s works were The Polished Hoe and Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack. (TB)
