Clark Blaise, OC (born April 10, 1940) is a Canadian-American author. He was a professor of creative writing at York University, and a writer of short fiction. In 2010, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Early life and education

Blaise was born in Fargo, North Dakota, to Canadian parents who lived in the United States. Before the eighth grade, he had already moved 30 times; ultimately, he attended 25 different schools. While at Denison University, he initially intended to pursue a major in geology but switched to English after taking a writing course in which he studied under Paul Bennett. and Tribal Justice (1974). In 1980, the couple decided to return to the United States, Both continued their literary careers, including a collaborative analysis of the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182, known in India as the Kanishka bombing. Blaise wrote two more novels and a number of short stories.

Personal life

He married writer Bharati Mukherjee in 1963. They met as students at the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa

Honours and awards

In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions to Canadian letters as an author, essayist, teacher, and founder of the post-graduate program in creative writing at Concordia University".

Bibliography

Short story collections

  • A North American Education – 1973
  • Tribal Justice – 1974
  • Resident Alien – 1986
  • Man and His World – 1992
  • Southern Stories – 2000
  • Pittsburgh Stories – 2001
  • Montreal Stories – 2003
  • The Meagre Tarmac – 2011 (longlisted for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize)

Novels

  • Lunar Attractions – 1979 (winner of the 1980 Books in Canada First Novel Award)
  • Lusts – 1984
  • If I Were Me – 1997

Memoirs

  • Days and Nights in Calcutta – 1977 (with Bharati Mukherjee)
  • I had a Father – 1992

Non-fiction

  • The Sorrow and the Terror: The Haunting Legacy of the Air India Tragedy – 1987 (with Bharati Mukherjee)
  • Time Lord: Sir Sandford Fleming and the creation of standard time – 2000

Criticism

  • A Novel of India's Coming of Age - The New York Times, April 19, 1981 (A review of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children)

References

  • "The invisible Canadian". Quill & Quire. An article about Clark Blaise.