I take
Liberties—poetic—and take
License to relate her story
In her voice, to tell History
Who she was—as I hear her say
Or sing.
[...]
But still you will come face-to-face
With a "Portia," whose life outshines
All brilliance this black ink divines....
In his unique brand of spoken word, Africadian poetry, the incomparable George Elliott Clarke explores a personal subject: his great-aunt Portia White. The result is a stirring, epic poem vibrating with energy and music that spans White's birth in 1911, a coming of age amidst the backdrop of two World Wars, and her life-long love affair with music—from singing in to directing the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church choir to her bel canto tutlege at the Halifax Conservatory of Music to her final, command performance before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1964.
Portia White is a stunning testament to the first African Canadian to become an international star. Features vibrant illustrations by contemporary artist Lara Martina.
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About the author
George Elliott Clarke
George Elliott Clarke is a renowned poet and scholar. Of Afro-Métis and Africadian (African-Nova Scotian) heritage, Clarke teaches African-Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto, a subject which he championed at Duke, McGill, and Harvard. Keen on biography, Clarke contributed to the interviews that inform Burnley “Rocky” Jones: Revolutionary (2015), penned a portrait-in-poetry of Portia White (2019), and published his own memoir, Where Beauty Survived (2021). He was Howard McCurdy’s House of Commons aide, 1987–1991.
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