Making a Difference Canadian Multicultural Literature

Making a Difference offers a wide range of writing styles in fiction and poetry, with a focus on Native and immigrant experiences, ethnic ancestry, and the complex spectrum of cultural differences. It begins with the first ethnic authors who wrote ethnic literature in English, and includesestablished and new voices that have made a difference to our understanding of Canadian identity. In the past few years, such authors as Rohinton Mistry, M.G. Vassanji, Joy Kogawa, and Michael Ondaatje have won some of Canada's most prestigious literary awards. Jeannette Armstrong, Austin Clarke, Kristjana Gunnars, Claire Harris, Thomas King. Marlene Nourbese Philip, and George Elliott Clarkeamong others have attracted critical acclaim and media attention. With the diversity of perspectives in its seventy-one authors represented, Making A Difference invites readers to think of Canadian literature not in terms of 'centre' and 'margins', but rather as an extraordinary web of culturalexploration. Making A Difference is the first comprehensive anthology of ethnic and aboriginal writing in Canada. Its wide scope demonstrates that this kind of literature has a long and important tradition, a tradition whose diversity and high quality warrant national attention and study.