Cecil Foster

Cecil Foster (born September 26, 1954) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, journalist, and scholar.

Biography

Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, where he began working for the Caribbean News Agency as the senior reporter and editor (1975–77), and the Barbados Advocate News as the reporter and columnist (1977–79), Foster emigrated to Canada in 1979. He went on to work for the Toronto Star as a reporter (1979–82). Foster then began working for The Contrast as an editor (1979–82), Transportation Business Management as an editor (1982–83), The Globe and Mail as a reporter (1983–89), The Financial Post as a senior editor (1989), and also served as special adviser to Ontario's Ministry of Culture, through the mid-1990s. His most recent book, Where Race Does Not Matter (2004), explores the potential of multiculturalism in Canada. It also expands on some of his earlier work that deals with issues of race in his own life as well as in the history of Canada. He is well known for exploring race through immigration, and empowers this culture and beliefs through “Blacks in Action”. Foster continues to bring his own personal experiences, and real-life issues to the work that he continues to produce. Island Wings: A Memoir (1998) was written as an autobiography of his own life, and is often referred to as more informative, rather than entertainment. Foster completed his PhD, a phenomenological exploration of the concept of Blackness in Canada, at York University in 2003. His philosophical influences include Hegel, Marx, Alexandre Kojève, Will Kymlicka, Charles Taylor, and former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

Foster is currently an associate professor of sociology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. On January 20, 2014 Foster's new book, Independence was released by HarperCollins Canada.

Foster is serving as a judge for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Works

• No Man in the House - 1991 ISBN 0-345-38899-2
• Caribana, the Greatest Celebration - 1995
• Sleep On, Beloved - 1995
• A Place Called Heaven: The Meaning of Being Black in Canada - 1996
• Slammin' Tar - 1998
• Island Wings: A Memoir - 1998
• Dry Bones Memories - 2001
• Where Race Does Not Matter: The New Spirit of Modernity - 2004
• Blackness and Modernity: The Colour of Humanity and the Quest for Freedom - 2007
• Independence - 2014

See also

• Barbadian Canadian

References

• "Too White". Media Awareness. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
• "Cecil Foster". Literature Alive. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
• Powell, Naomi (Feb 19, 2005). "Redefining race; University of Guelph professor Cecil Foster envisions a Canada where our values, not skin colour, define us". The Guelph Mercury. Retrieved 2010-06-18. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "Cecil Foster". Improvisation, Community and Social Practice; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Retrieved 2010-06-18. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• "The nature of black writing in Canada: an interview with Cecil Foster". Kola. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
• "Where Race Does not Matter". Kola. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
• "Just who do they think they are? (National Edition)". National Post. Retrieved 2010-10-26. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "African American Review". Indiana State University. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
• "Tough guys don't cuss. (cover story)". Canadian Business. Retrieved 2010-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links

• Cecil Foster's Official Website