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A rich and fractured first book in which two authors, their families and their many ghosts navigate oceans, forests, gardens, dreams and houses in New Zealand, Singapore and China.

This Paper Boat follows the author as he traces his own history through the lives and written fragments of Iris Wilkinson (aka Robin Hyde), his parents, and their parents, while examining the public and private rituals of institutions ranging from the military to the medical, and of communities, families and individuals. Stumbling again and again across irreparable fractures in identity and material, time and space, the author discovers a world driven by its incompleteness and constructability towards hope and forgiveness. In these poems, rich in understatedly beautiful imagery, two authors, their families and their many ghosts navigate oceans, forests, gardens and houses in New Zealand, Singapore, China, and in dreams.

Author

More about Gregory Kan

Extract

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Reviews

Gregory Kan has brought forth a very engaging and brilliant collection, and after reading This Paper Boat, I cannot wait for more work from this emerging poet. – Matthias Metzler, Booksellers New Zealand

"When I was writing, I was often led by my hands more than my mind, so to speak. Sometimes I felt more like an engineer or sculptor than a writer. Hyde’s texts and mine fused together irreversibly as a block of raw marble that I then had the task of chipping away at." – Gregory Kan talking to Sarah Jane Barnett, ‘“Beautiful and imperfect plans”: An interview with Gregory Kan’ on Red Room

...a deeply-textured, incisive collection. – Siobhan Harvey, Weekend Herald