Joan Clark

For the U.S. diplomat, see Joan M. Clark.
Not to be confused with Joan Clarke.

Joan Clark
Born(1934-10-12)12 October 1934
Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died11 April 2023(2023-04-11) (aged 88)
OccupationAuthor
GenreChildren's literature

Joan Clark (née MacDonald; 12 October 1934 – 11 April 2023)[1] was a Canadian fiction author.

Born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Clark spent her youth in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. She attended Acadia University for its drama program, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with an English major in 1957.[2] She has worked as a teacher.

Clark moved to Alberta in the early 1960s with her engineer husband[3] and attended the University of Alberta before moving to Calgary in1965. There she started to write stories.[4] She lived in Alberta for two decades.[5] In 1975, she and Edna Alford started the literary journal Dandelion in that province. In 1976, she studied with W. O. Mitchell at the Banff Centre.[6] Clark also served as president of the Writers' Guild of Alberta. She eventually returned to Atlantic Canada in 1985,[5] settling in St. John's, Newfoundland. There she was a founding member of the Writers Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador.[3]

Clark served on the jury of the 2001 Giller Prize. In 2010 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018, An Audience of Chairs, a film adaptation of her novel was released.

  1. ^ Joan Clark, acclaimed Canadian author, dead at 88
  2. ^ "Joan Clark – Biography". Acadia University. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  3. ^ a b Kirchoff, Jack (20 June 1990). "Book Notes". The Globe and Mail.
  4. ^ Vowles, Andrew (14 October 2000). "Finding their voices: Successful novelists discuss the different routes to a writing career". The Spectator.
  5. ^ a b McGoogan, Kenneth (1991). Canada's Undeclared War: Fighting Words From the Literary Trenches. Calgary: Detselig Enterprises Ltd. pp. 174. ISBN 1-55059-032-4.
  6. ^ Dacks, Barbara (2010). Alberta Encore. Edmonton, AB: 325127 Alberta Ltd. p. 121. ISBN 9780986669804.