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Whylah Falls is a longnarrative poem (or "verse novel") byGeorge Elliott Clarke, published in book form in 1990.
As with much of Clarke's work, the poem is inspired by the history and culture of theBlack Canadian community inNova Scotia, which he refers to as the "Africadian" community (a combination of the words "African" and "Acadian"). Clarke himself describes the work as a "blues spiritual about love and the pain of love".[1]
Whylah Falls tells the story of several pairs of black lovers in southwestern Nova Scotia in the 1930s, through dramaticmonologues,songs,sermons,sonnets, newspaper snippets,recipes,haiku andfree verse. It has also been released inaudiobook form, with an originaljazz score performed by Joe Sealy, Jamie Gattie and Steve Macdonald to accompany the reading. Clarke also adapted the poem into a stage play, which premiered in 1999.
Whylah Falls was a winner of theArchibald Lampman Award for poetry. The book was also chosen for theCBC's inauguralCanada Reads competition in 2002, where it was championed by authorNalo Hopkinson.
