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.

About the Author
Gregory Kan is a writer and developer based in Poneke/Wellington. His first collection of poetry, This Paper Boat, was shortlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for poetry in 2017. Under Glass, his second collection, was longlisted for the award in 2020. He was the 2017 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellow. Clay Eaters is his third poetry collection.

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

Awards
Short-listed for Ockham New Zealand Book Awards - Poetry 2017.



Book Information
ISBN 9781869408459
Author Kan Gregory
Format Paperback
Page Count 84
Imprint Auckland University Press
Publisher Auckland University Press