TORONTO -- Austin Clarke was remembered Friday as a man whose life "defies summarization," with a heartfelt sendoff to the trailblazing black Canadian writer punctuated with music, laughter and a celebration of his lengthy literary career.

Mourners filled the pews at the Cathedral Church of St. James in downtown Toronto to pay their final respects at the funeral of the award-winning author, who died on June 26 at age 81.

Rinaldo Walcott delivered an emotional eulogy for Clarke, citing his long list of notable roles, including documentarian, journalist, mentor and family man.

But it was Clarke's literary work, which began with 1964's "The Survivors of the Crossing," that was a focal point in the poignant hour-long tribute. The ceremony included a reading from the closing pages of his last novel "More," laden with local references.

Clarke's 2002 novel, the Bajan plantation story "The Polished Hoe," earned significant accolades for the author, winning the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Trillium Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, which earned him a private audience with the Queen.

"A writer has two bodies: the biological body and the body of work," Walcott told mourners.

"The first body can and will be used at some point. But, Austin, you have left us a full other body as well....

"Austin has graciously and eternally written our collective story and returned it to us as an intellectual gift," he added.

"He has given us words ... to express ourselves, our lives offered back to us in a fashion and a language and a style that allows us to see ourselves."

Clarke was born in St. James, Barbados, and moved to Canada in 1955 to attend the University of Toronto. He soon turned to journalism and subsequently to fiction.

He was known for exploring the Caribbean immigrant experience in his 11 novels, six short-story collections, four memoirs and two poetry collections.

Despite his love for Canada, Barbados remained a touchstone for all he did "and the foundation of who he was," said Walcott.

"His Toronto and his Barbados are not just geography. They're the identity that he had ... that shaped the wonderful gifts he has given us."

The ceremony featured acoustic performances of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" and "No Woman No Cry" by vocalist Julian Taylor.

The tribute also included moments of levity, as Walcott recalled some of Clarke's distinctive dining habits, including enjoying breakfast for dinner and his insistence on drinking wine out of martini glasses.

"Even though I address this to you and to us in past tense, you will never be past tense.... You are singular."

In an interview following the service, award-winning poet Afua Cooper cited Clarke as one of her mentors, and said he helped her considerably in getting her book "The Hanging of Angelique" published.

"As a young writer coming up in the city of Toronto, we call him the dean of African-Canadian writing," said Cooper, the James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

"We're inspired by his work. He did it. He wrote about us. He wrote about the city. He wrote about Caribbean people, he wrote about women.

"His legacy is his writing. His legacy is what he's left behind for us to use, to enjoy, to revel in, also to use as a template. And his legacy is also us, the generations of writers younger than himself that he has mentored."