In his fourteenth book of poetry, Partake, Governor General’s Award winning poet Robert Hilles writes frankly about the death of his younger brother from cancer. He travels to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to grieve and heal and through these poems we see East meeting West. Partake chronicles the power of family and the spiritual journey from loss to renewal.

“In Partake, Robert Hilles proves himself to be a poet of bluntness and deep feelings. He writes about the untimely death of his younger brother with arresting, tactile metaphors and a sense of sorrow that spans mere distance and becomes a series of sunken islands and stark mountain peaks. He writes about several different deaths here, the death of innocence primary amongst them. These are poems that utter themselves in cries of grief and praise, poems that are vastly, vitally alive.”

– Barry Dempster, author of The Burning Alphabet and Love Outlandish

Robert Hilles lives on Salt Spring Island with his partner Pearl Luke. In 1994, he won the Governor General’s Award for Poetry for Cantos from a Small Room. In the same year, his first novel, Raising of Voices, won the Writers Guild of Alberta George Bugnet Award for best novel. He has published fourteen books of poetry and five books of prose. His other books include: Finding The Lights On, Near Morning, Nothing Vanishes, Kissing The Smoke, Breathing Distance, Somewhere Between Obstacles and Pleasure, Higher Ground, Wrapped Within Again, Slow Ascent, and Partake. Wrapped Within Again, New and Selected Poems was published in the fall of 2003 and won the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for best book of poetry. His second novel, A Gradual Ruin, was published by Doubleday Canada in 2004 and now is in paperback. His books have also been shortlisted for The Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Prize, The W.O. Mitchell/City of Calgary Prize, The Stephan Stephansson Award, and The Howard O’Hagan Award. His second non-fiction book, Calling the Wild, was published in the fall of 2005 from Black Moss Press. His thirteenth book of poetry, Slow Ascent was published in the fall of 2006. He currently at work on a new novel titled The Smallest Detail, A short story collection tentatively called A Glimmer, and a new poetry collection called Thru and Thru. His latest collection of poems called Partake came out in Spring 2010 from Black Moss Press. Samples of his work are available on his website or Wattpad. His readings are available to watch at his Youtube channel.

Robert Hilles' profile page