Island
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“This is a collection made from staggering shifts of wind, straddling the threshold of living and co-existing, but also an invitation to rest on the forest floor, make a grassy bed, and let the soft bog of Walbourne-Gough’s poetics cradle you. Island is a way home, a road back, a poetic pathway through settler colonialism into the wilds of contemporary western Ktaqmkuk.” — Shannon Webb-Campbell, author of Lunar Tides
“Island can be seen through many lenses. It dramatizes a harsh land/seascape which tests and nurtures body and soul; it explores the tensions inherent in narratives about identity and belonging in the context of Newfoundland Indigeneity; it is a compassionate and loving tribute to family; it depicts a company town ‘built on divisions of race and class;’ and, in a series interspersed throughout the book, it offers a harrowing account of enduring vicious bullying in boyhood and adolescence. This volume deepens and broadens the investigations of Crow Gulch. Striving for even-handedness and understanding, it is a significant contribution to the body of Newfoundland poetry.” — Mary Dalton, author of Hooking: A Book of Centos
“Island is a refreshing, nuanced approach to a difficult conversation: one of power, identity, and privilege.” — Riddle Fence
Douglas Walbourne-Gough is a poet and mixed/adopted status member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation from Elmastukwek (the Bay of Islands), Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). His poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including Best Canadian Poetry in English, Grain, and the Fiddlehead, and has won the Riddle Fence Poetry Prize.
Walbourne-Gough’s debut collection, Crow Gulch, won the E.J. Pratt Poetry Award. It was also a finalist for NL Reads, the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, and the Raymond Souster Award, and was longlisted for the First Nations Community READS Award. Island is his second book of poetry.
Shortlisted: J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award