Nocturnal Tonglen is a stirring first book of poetry by Derek Hanebury, dealing with the disappearance of a young woman, his sister-in-law, Carolyn Pruyser. This 19-year-old university student’s car was found abandoned in 1984, not far from her family’s farm. Despite an extensive search and investigation, her body was never discovered and no one was ever charged. Hanebury’s poems chronicle both anguish and the healing journey brought on by that mysterious event. Angry at times, but also elegiac, the poetry of Nocturnal Tonglen confronts the darkness of suffering and, like the Buddhist practice of tonglen, exhales the white light of love and compassion.

Derek Hanebury is the author of the novel Ginger Goodwin: Beyond the Forbidden Plateau. His poems and stories have been published magazines and broadcast on CBC radio. He teaches English and creative writing.at North Island College in Port Alberni, BC. This is his first book of poetry.