Date/Time
July 25, 202411:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Join us for a special celebration of the long correspondence — and deep friendship — between two pivotal Caribbean diaspora writers. For three decades, letters to and from the Barbadian-born Austin Clarke (a ground-breaking, incendiary voice in Canadian and Caribbean literature) and the Jamaican-rooted Andrew Salkey (an accomplished novelist and a central figure of Britain’s Caribbean diaspora) crisscrossed the globe. Though divided by oceans, borders, and distance, both writers were united by a sense of brotherhood rooted in shared origins and the emergent Black political consciousness of the twentieth century.
Their letters — by turns poignant, furious, and funny — reveal the inner lives, public triumphs, and private reflections of two very different men, both sustained by a sense of international community deeply rooted in considerations of space, place, identity, exile, belonging, and transcendence.
Befitting the transatlantic dimension of their friendship, this event will bring together scholars and archivists from McMaster University in Canada (which holds Clarke’s papers) and the British Library (which holds Salkey’s papers) to discuss this remarkable documentary legacy.
This event will inaugurate a week-long series of readings and discussions marking the 90th anniversary of Austin Clarke’s birth.
