Austin Clarke's classic story of British colonial education is the subject of Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack. It is the story of a boy whose mother struggled against seemingly impossible odds to give her son the best available education. Generations of Barbadians, and West Indians, will identify with young Austin Clarke, from the absentee father to the challenges of a daily life in a society based on colour and class prejudice and a rigid set of customs and rules imported from England and imposed on Caribbean society. Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack is more than a memoir; it provides a rare in-depth look into the nature of the colonial condition, told with humour, wit and an authentic Bajan voice.

When Mary-Mathilda, one of the most respected women of the island of Bimshire (also known as Barbados) calls the police to confess to a crime, the result is a shattering all-night vigil that brings together elements of the island's African past and the tragic legacy of colonialism in one epic sweep.

Set in the West Indies in the period following World War II, "The Polished Hoe" -- an "Essence" bestseller and a "Washington Post Book World" Most Worthy Book of 2003 -- unravels over the course of twenty-four hours but spans the collective experience of a society characterized by slavery.

Now available after over four decades, the first collection of short fiction from bestselling author and Barbadian-born Canadian luminary Austin Clarke - winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and the Trillium Book Award for his novel The Polished Hoe - is a vital, lyrical, and provocative exploration of the Black immigrant experience in Canada. Originally issued in 1971, Austin Clarke's first published collection of eleven remarkable stories showcases his groundbreaking approach to chronicling the Caribbean diaspora experience in Canada. Characters move through the mire of working life, of establishing a home for themselves, of reconciling with what and who they left behind - all the while contending with a place in which their bone-chilling reception is both social and atmospheric. In lyrical, often racy, and wholly unforgettable prose, Clarke portrays a set of provocative, scintillating portraits of the psychological realities faced by people of colour in a society so often lauded for its geniality and openness.

At the news of her son BJ's involvement in gang crime, IdoraMorrison, a maid at the local university, collapses in her basementapartment. For four days and nights she retreats into a vortex ofmemory, pain, and disappointment that becomes a riveting expose of her life as a Caribbean immigrant living abroad. Abandoned by her deadbeat husband, Bertram, and left alone to raise her son, Idora has done her best to survive against immense odds. But now that BJ has disappeared into a life of crime, she recoils from his loss and is unable to get out of bed, burdened by feelings of invisibility. Slowly, however, Idora summons the strength to investigate her son's troubles--and her own weaknesses--as she finds her way back into the light with a couragethat is both remarkable and unforgettable.

Praised as "masterful" by the "New York Times" and "uncommonly talented" by "Publishers Weekly" and winner of the 1999 Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award, Austin Clarke has a distinguished reputation as one of the preeminent Caribbean writers of our time. In "Pig Tails 'n Breadfruit," he has created a tantalizing "culinary memoir" of his childhood in Barbados. Clarke describes how he learned traditional Bajan cooking--food with origins in the days of slavery, hardship, and economic grief--by listening to this mother, aunts, and cousins talking in the kitchen as they prepared each meal.

"Pig Tails 'n Breadfruit" is not a recipe book; rather, each chapter is devoted to a detailed description of the ritual surrounding the preparation of a particular native dish--Oxtails with Mushrooms, Smoked Ham Hocks with Lima Beans, or Breadfruit Cou-Cou with Braising Beef. Cooking here, as in Clarke's home, is based not on precise measurements, but on trial and error, taste and touch. As a result, the process becomes utterly sensual, and the author's exquisite language artfully translates sense into words, creating a rich and intoxicating personal memoir.

"The West Indians' primitive vitality and humanity in "Storm of Fortune" is rendered in ... some of the most delightful dialogue to see print in many a long year." -"Library Journal
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