An extraordinary career-spanning collection from one of the most revered poets and storytellers of our age

Tracing the legacy of Margaret Atwood – a writer who has fundamentally shaped our contemporary literary landscapes – Paper Boat assembles Atwood’s most vital poems in one essential volume.

In pieces that are at once brilliant, beautiful and hyper-imagined, Atwood gives voices to remarkably drawn characters – mythological figures, animals and everyday people – all of whom have something to say about what it means to live in a world as strange as our own. ‘How can one live with such a heart?’ Atwood asks, casting her singular spell upon the reader, and ferrying us through life, death and whatever comes next. Walking the tightrope between reality and fantasy as only she can, Atwood’s journey through poetry illuminates our most innate joys and sorrows, desires and fears.

Spanning six decades of work – from her earliest beginnings to brand new poems – this volume charts the evolution of one of our most iconic and necessary authors.

‘We should regard Atwood as a poet first and foremost – just one who happens to be a highly regarded novelist’ Sunday Herald

"What a book of magic Paper Boat is . . . a bright and cornucopic life force of a book . . . It resounds with the acuteness of Atwood’s wisdom, the warmth of her cold eye, her uniquely lit courage" - Guardian

"Atwood at the height of her poetic powers: her imagery made tangible with sound" - New York Times Book Review, on Dearly

"Read these poems aloud, read them carefully, read them with joy and tears" - Scotsman, on Dearly

"She’s one of the few contemporary writers whose poetry and prose receive equal amounts of praise" - Washington Post