About the Authors

Clem Martini
 Clem Martini is a play-writer who was born 25th August, 1956 in Calgary, but spent his growing years in Bowness. During those years, Martini enjoyed reading and doing outdoor activities and he also had great love for animals (Roe, 2012). He started writing short story fictions in his early years in high school and won a lot of writing competitions held in school like the Woolworths competition. He was motivated and encouraged by his teachers in school to continue writing the plays. Martini received his bachelors in Fine Arts in play-writing from the University of Calgary in 1980 and in 1980. He was the first person to graduate from the National Theatre School in Montreal in play-writing (Roe, 2012).

 Historical Context 

 After his graduation from university, he taught play-writing and drama at Wood’s home in Calgary which was a treatment home for the troubled youth. Martini taught in the treatment home for fifteen years during which he met a lot of people with different personalities and mostly those who had problems with their families and hand involved themselves in criminal activities (Roe, 2012). This gave him a lot of insight into the minds and characters of the people which he also used in his books. Martini’s book ‘Illegal Entry’ is based on three criminal teenagers who ran away from their treatment home and break into another house to steal valuables, but instead they get locked in the garage of the house and are forced to encounter their intentions (Roe, 2012). Martini had also spent his growing years with his relatives who were schizophrenic and decided to write about people who lose their sense of self.

 Work and Awards 

               His characters offer different perspectives which not only include humans but also animals. His books ‘The life history of the African elephant’ which was inspired from an interview taken on radio of an elephant trainer, is a story about the elephant keeper who committed his life to look after his animal. ‘Secret life of the Octopus’ is the story about a depressed octopus in which the main character of the book becomes his friend (Roe, 2012). Martini had been nominated for the ‘Governor General’s Literary Award’ for his book ‘A three Martini Lunch.’ Apart from that, he has also won the National Play-writing Competition and three ‘Alberta Wright Guild’ (Roe, 2012).

http://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Medicine-Graphic-Memoir-Illness/dp/1551119285

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/clem-martini

Stephanie Ajiroba