Voice Carried My Family

Description

Voice has particular meaning for the inheritor of an oral tradition. This striking new collection from a popular poet has great variety but also strong pervasive themes, both synthesizing and expanding the ideas of Sullivan's previous successful collections. This poet places his voice in Oceania, among the voices of his family, with voices from New Zealand history, and against the false voices of 'shadows'. Love, beauty, pain, hope and the ever-present drive to write for freedom are some of the forces at work in this powerful book.

Author description

Robert Sullivan, of Nga Puhi and Irish descent, is the author of four earlier books of poetry, a graphic novel, and a prize-winning book of Maori legends for children. He won the PEN award for the best first book of poetry and he was the Literary Fellow at the University of Auckland in 1998. He has co-edited a contemporary Maori literature issue of the American journal Manoa, co-edits the online literary journal Trout and is co-editor of the prize-winning anthology of Polynesian poetry, Whetu Moana. He is currently teaching creative writing at the University of Hawaii.