Synopses & Reviews
Wayde Compton's debut story collection is imbued with the color of speculative fiction; one strand of stories follows the emergence of a volcanic island, which alternatively becomes the site of a radical Native peoples' occupation, a real-estate development, and finally a detention center for illegal immigrants. Moving from 2001 through to 2025, The Outer Harbour is at once a history book and a cautionary tale of the future, condensing and confounding our preconceived ideas around race, migration, gentrification, and home.
Wayde Compton is the author of three poetry collections. He is director of the Writer's Studio at Simon Fraser University.
Review
"
The Outer Harbour is the hybrid lovechild of a poet and prophet. So assured, so eloquent, my thought on the final page was, How did this not exist before? It's a rare thing, a debut from a writer who's already a master craftsman, creating in his prime." and#151;Mat Johnson, author of
Pym,
Drop, and
Hunting in Harlem"Like Swift or the undeservedly little known American satirist Nathaniel West, Compton makes the reader laugh, grieve and wince uncomfortably, all often in the course of a single page ... The Outer Harbour is the work of a remarkable, mature writer at the top of his powers, creating fictions that are not only vastly entertaining but also freighted with important messages from the margins." and#151;Vancouver Sun
Synopsis
In his debut story collection, poet Wayde Compton explores concepts of place and identity through the lens of speculative fiction.
About the Author
Wayde Compton is the author of two books of poetry, 49th Parallel Psalm (Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize finalist) and Performance Bond. He also edited the anthology Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature. His non-fiction book After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region was shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award. Wayde is the director of the Writerand#8217;s Studio and the Southbank Writerand#8217;s Program at Simon Fraser University Continuing Studies.