CONTACT:
Sally Harris
(540) 231-6759
BLACKSBURG, Jan. 5, 1998 -- George Elliott Clarke, a seventh-generation African Canadian who teaches at Duke University and has published three books of poetry, will present a reading/lecture on "For the Love of (Black) Poetry" Jan. 22 at Virginia Tech's University Club beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Clarke has a joint appointment in English and Canadian Studies at Duke. His book of poetry called Whylah Falls won the 1991 Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry. Radio and stage versions of Whylah Falls, a verse story about a mythical Black community in rural Nova Scotia, were performed in Canada in 1996 and 1997.
Clarke is working on a verse drama/opera called Beatrice Chancy, and previews of the work have been shown in Toronto. He also writes a bi-weekly book-review column for the Halifax Chronicle Herald, Nova Scotia's largest and most respected newspaper.
In the field of literature, Clarke has a particular expertise in the scholarship of race and has a strong international perspective. In addition to his own original writing, he has edited two anthologies of African Canadian writing. The most recent, Eyeing The North Star: Directions in African Canadian Literature, published in 1997, is the first to attempt to "canonize" certain African Canadian writers. In addition, he has contributed essays to The Oxford Companion to African Literature, to be published by Oxford University Press.
In his Jan. 22 presentation, Clarke will read from and discuss the writing of Whylah Falls. The talk is sponsored by Virginia Tech's Department of English. For further information call 231-6501.