Clarke was a reporter at the
Timmins Daily Press and the
Globe and Mail, before joining the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a freelance journalist. He subsequently taught at several American universities, including
Yale University (Hoyt fellow, 1968–1970),
Duke University (1971–1972), and the
University of Texas (Visiting Professor, 1973) and helped establish black studies programs at several universities. He was Writer-in-Residence at
Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec (1977), and at the
University of Western Ontario (1978). He was not the first Canadian writer of African origin with that distinction belonging to 19th-century author
Amelia E. Johnson. However,
George Elliott Clarke says that Clarke was "the author of African descent in English, in Canada, that anyone who was interested in being a writer would have to be aware of and challenge as well." Previous recipients of the award (established in 1984) include:
Dionne Brand,
Wayson Choy,
Christopher Dewdney,
Helen Humphreys,
Paul Quarrington,
Peter Robinson,
Seth,
Jane Urquhart, and
Guy Vanderhaeghe. Clarke was reported as saying: "I rejoiced when I saw that Authors at Harbourfront Centre had named me this year's winner of the Harbourfront Festival Prize. I did not come to this city on September 29, 1959, as a writer. I came as a student. However, my career as a writer buried any contention of being a scholar and I thank Authors at Harbourfront Centre for saving me from the more painful life of the "gradual student". It is an honour to be part of such a prestigious list of authors." An outspoken intellectual, he avoided talking about
multiculturalism, hoping that his own term
omniculturalism could be accepted by people from both the political left and right. ==Selected awards and honours==