Cecil Foster facts for kids

Cecil Foster (born September 26, 1954) is a Canadian writer, journalist, and professor. He is known for his books and ideas about important topics like citizenship, culture, and multiculturalism. He also writes about race, ethnicity, and immigration.

Cecil Foster is currently the Chairman of the Department of Transnational Studies at the University at Buffalo.

Early Life and Education

Cecil Foster was born in Bridgetown, Barbados on September 26, 1954. His parents, Fred and Doris Goddard, moved to Britain when he was two years old. They left Cecil and his siblings with relatives.

Life was very hard for the family. Cecil remembers that there was often not enough food. He attended Harrison College, a well-known high school in Barbados.

In 1978, Foster moved to Canada. He later earned his PhD degree from York University in 2002.

Career Highlights

Cecil Foster started his career in journalism. He worked as a senior reporter and editor for the Caribbean News Agency from 1975 to 1977. Then he was a reporter and columnist for the Barbados Advocate News from 1977 to 1979.

After moving to Canada in 1979, he continued his journalism career. He worked for the Toronto Star as a reporter from 1979 to 1982. He also edited The Contrast and Transportation Business Management.

Later, he worked for The Globe and Mail as a reporter from 1983 to 1989. He was also a senior editor at The Financial Post in 1989. In the mid-1990s, he advised Ontario's Ministry of Culture.

Exploring Important Ideas

Foster is well-known for exploring ideas about race through the lens of immigration. He often shares his own experiences and real-life issues in his work.

His book, Where Race Does Not Matter (2004), looks at how multiculturalism can work in Canada. It builds on his earlier work about race in Canadian history and his own life.

Island Wings: A Memoir (1998) is an autobiography about his life. It is seen as a very informative book.

Foster completed his PhD in 2003. His studies focused on the idea of "Blackness" in Canada. He was influenced by many thinkers, including former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

He also taught sociology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

Awards and Recognition

Cecil Foster is a respected novelist. He was a judge for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize, a major literary award in Canada.

He has won several awards for his writing:

• In 1997, he won the Writers' Trust of Canada's Gordon Montador Award. This was for his book A Place Called Heaven, recognized as the Best Canadian Book on Contemporary Social Issues.
• His novel “Sleep On, Beloved” was a finalist for the Ontario Trillium Book Prize.
• His book “Blackness and Modernity: The Colour of Humanity and the Quest for Freedom” (2007) won the 2008 John Porter Tradition of Excellence Book Award. This award is given by the Canadian Sociology Association.

In 2019, he published They Called Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada. This non-fiction book tells the history of Black Canadian train porters. Another writer, Suzette Mayr, used this book for her research when writing her 2022 novel, The Sleeping Car Porter.

Books by Cecil Foster

• No Man in the House - 1991
• Distorted Mirror: Canada’s Racist Face - 1991
• Caribana, the Greatest Celebration - 1995 (about Caribana)
• 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
• Genuine Multiculturalism: The Tragedy and Comedy of Diversity - 2013
• Independence - 2014
• They Called Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada - 2019

See also

• Barbadian Canadian