Austin C. Clarke is best known for his Toronto Trilogy, a series of three novels about immigrants from Barbados living in Canada: The Meeting Point (1972), Storm of Fortune (1973), and The Bigger Light (1975). In addition, Clarke has written five novels and six short-story collections. Clarke's autobiographical works include Growing Up Stupid under the Union Jack: A Memoir (1980) and A Passage Back Home: A Personal Reminiscence of Samuel Selvon (1994).

Clarke was born on July 26, 1934, in St. James, Barbados. His father, Kenneth Trothan, was an artist, and his mother, Gladys Clarke, was a hotel maid. Clarke attended Coleridge-Parry Primary School in St. Peter, Barbados. He attended secondary school at Harrison College in Barbados. In 1955, Clarke entered Trinity College, of the University of Toronto, Ontario, in Canada, where he studied economics and politics. From 1959 to 1960, Clarke worked as a newspaper reporter in Timmins and Kirkland Lake, Ontario. In 1963, he became...