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-Goughs 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. -- Maggie Burton * Riddle Fence * Island is a poetry collection that does community work on and off the page, as it addresses the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation and its place, or perceived non-place, within Newfoundland and across Canada. Island is a nod toward Ktaqmkuk being an island, but also the misconception of the self being an island. * Jury Citation, J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award *
