The Deaf Island by Joann Gardner

Selected and introduced by D. Nurkse

The age of Alzheimer’s is a demographic reality. I didn't know until I read Joann Gardner's The Deaf Island how it cries out for the eye and voice of a poet: for poetry’s adamant and powerful weakness, its courage to look at the world and not know what it’s seeing, its willingness to let itself be forged by the unknown—its negative capability.

—D. Nurkse

Edition: 500 copies of the winning books were printed by the Prolific Group and designed by Gabriele Wilson, with covers by John Gall.