77 FRAGMENTS OF A FAMILIAR RUIN

Timely, important, mischievous, powerful: a collection of 77 interrelated poems by celebrated Indigenous writer and public intellectual Thomas King.

77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin is intended as a eulogy for what we have squandered, a reprimand for all we have allowed, a suggestion for what might still be salvaged, a poetic quarrel with our intolerant and greedy selves, a reflection on mortality and longing, as well as a long running conversation with the mythological currents that flow throughout North America.

King has distilled his thoughts, sorrows, legendary humor, anger, sadness, and joy into a timely, provocative, and uniquely moving narrative that will please and impress poetry lovers while being accessible to a general readership.

THOMAS KING is one of Canada's premier Native public intellectuals and an award-winning novelist, short story writer, scriptwriter, and photographer whose poems have appeared in Canadian Literature, Wetstone Magazine, and in the books Kwe: Standing with Our Sisters and Soundings: An Anthology. Born to a Cherokee mother and Greek father, he was raised in Roseville in the central valley of California. A Member of the Order of Canada and the winner of a Western American Literary Association Lifetime Achievement Award, he holds a Ph.D. in English/American Studies from the University of Utah and has worked in Native Studies programs in Utah, California, Minnesota, Alberta, and Ontario. Thomas King has been awarded the 2022 Pierre Berton Award, celebrating those who have brought Canadian history to a wider audience.