The sixth and, on the surface, most innovative poetry collection from Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist Michael Crummey.
Eclectic, unpredictable, and strange, Passengers follows Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer on an imagined circumnavigation of Newfoundland; traces the island escapades of Lucifer from the time of his arrival as a stowaway in the Middle Ages; and wanders the pre-pandemic cities of Europe, touching down in Stockholm’s ABBA museum, the Belfast Public Library, Austria’s plague cemeteries, and the Czech Republic’s Punkva Caves.
Widely considered “one of Canada's finest writers” (Globe and Mail), Crummey is noted for the immediacy and emotional impact of his poetry and fiction and for his ability to raise the vernacular to planes of “exquisite beauty.”
Part travelogue, part archeological dig, Passengers is an eccentric guide to the wild geography, folklore, and misbegotten history of the human heart.
The sixth and, on the surface, most innovative poetry collection from Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist Michael Crummey.
Eclectic, unpredictable, and strange, Passengers follows Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer on an imagined circumnavigation of Newfoundland; traces the island escapades of Lucifer from the time of his arrival as a stowaway in the Middle Ages; and wanders the pre-pandemic cities of Europe, touching down in Stockholm’s ABBA museum, the Belfast Public Library, Austria’s plague cemeteries, and the Czech Republic’s Punkva Caves.
Widely considered “one of Canada's finest writers” (Globe and Mail), Crummey is noted for the immediacy and emotional impact of his poetry and fiction and for his ability to raise the vernacular to planes of “exquisite beauty.”
Part travelogue, part archeological dig, Passengers is an eccentric guide to the wild geography, folklore, and misbegotten history of the human heart.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Aug 2, 2022 |
| Specifications | 128 pages | 6 in x 8 in |
| Keywords | canadian poetry; poetry month; east coast canada; mythology; travel; experimental writing; steven heighton selected poems; michael redhill; megan gail coles; satched; creative writing; contemporary poetry; post-modernism; european history; |
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Supporting Resources
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Excerpt |
| Written By |
MICHAEL CRUMMEY is the author of thirteen books of fiction and poetry. His latest novel, The Adversary, was the winner of the 2025 International Dublin Literary Award. His work has been published in a dozen countries and has won or been a finalist for many Canadian and international awards, including the Giller Prize, the Governor General's Award, the Commonwealth Prize, and the Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. His most recent poetry collection, Passengers, was published by Anansi in 2022. |
| Written By |
|
MICHAEL CRUMMEY is the author of thirteen books of fiction and poetry. His latest novel, The Adversary, was the winner of the 2025 International Dublin Literary Award. His work has been published in a dozen countries and has won or been a finalist for many Canadian and international awards, including the Giller Prize, the Governor General's Award, the Commonwealth Prize, and the Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. His most recent poetry collection, Passengers, was published by Anansi in 2022. |
Short-listed, E.J. Pratt Family Poetry Award, 2023
"A native of Newfoundland, Crummey puts travel and alienation at the center of his sixth book, summoning personae from the Devil to the Nobel laureate Tomas Tranströmer (the passengers of the title, perhaps) to evoke an outsider’s perspective." — New York Times
"In the impressive number of unusual but apt similes and metaphors ... Crummey strikes a compelling balance in tone, writing with both affection and a note of wearied cynicism about the world around him." — Quill & Quire