The author and poet George Elliott Clarke discusses his memoir Where Beauty Survived: An Africadian Memoir (Knopf, 2021), with Joseph Planta.

Where Beauty Survived: An Africadian Memoir by George Elliott Clarke (Knopf, 2021). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Where Beauty Survived

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

George Elliott Clarke joins me now. He recently published a new book, Where Beauty Survived: An Africadian Memoir. It is a fascinating book, one that looks at his early life in the Black Canadian community in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It’s a proud heritage, with distinguished members of the family from both parents. It’s also a complicated family, and the emotional stress in his immediate family between his parents, as well as his parents and Clarke and his siblings, provide insight into racism and how race is perceived in George’s formative years. His mother Gerry, and father Bill, are often captivating characters. I’ll get him to tell us about his memories of community, and get his thoughts on legacy. George Elliott Clarke is a poet, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, librettist, and scholar. He is a professor of African-Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. An Officer of the Order of Canada, he was appointed Canada’s 7^th Parliamentary Poet Laureate in 2016. This book is published by Knopf. We taped this interview in mid-August. I reached him at his home in Toronto. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, George Elliot Clarke; Professor Clarke, good morning.

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