Clem Martini - Professional Life

Through Clem Martini’s extensive career he has won several awards and garnered great recognition as a notable author and playwright. This all stemmed from Martini’s life at Bowness High School, located in Bowness, Alberta which is now a part of Calgary. It was there in which he began writing short stories and many of these stories would even go on to earn various accolades. From there Clem decided to try his hand at penning plays thanks to his successful experiences in high school, including one of his English teachers pointing him towards writing for the stage. Since then Martini has continued to explore his literary skills while passing them on to others through youth programs and through teaching at the University of Calgary.

Success After High School
After graduating from Bowness High School Clem Martini attended the University of Calgary where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in playwriting in 1980. After that he went on to the National Theatre School in Montreal and was the first to graduate in the playwriting field. His experience with theatre led him to become a drama teacher for Wood’s Homes in Calgary  which brought in and cared for troubled youth. This environment would play a large role in Martini’s later writing, such as the play, Illegal Entry, which focuses on three teenagers breaking out of a treatment centre and attempting to rob a house. Illegal Entry would go on to win the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award in 2000. He worked at Wood’s Homes for fifteen years and now works as a professor at the University of Calgary where he continues to teach students about the power of playwriting while also addressing screenwriting too.