The Pear Orchard

On one level, The Pear Orchard depicts the struggle of a woman to embrace her deafness, but in these poems there is a rich tapestry of imagery from history, visual art, lives of the saints and life on a prairie farm. This book unfolds a new way of mapping silence and language as a hearing man and a deaf woman journey through time together, loving, speaking, not speaking. In this utterly unique book Weber seamlessly draws on themes of suffering, childbirth, sexuality, rebirth, language and relationships. Through the voices of ghosts and lovers Weber reinvents myths and symbols that have a powerful and tangible impact on lives lived in silence and within the stream of the sometimes harsh world of words. Perceptions are altered, new topographies are understood, and unheard stories are finally told through this unsettling, yet cathartic journey.

Joanne Weber

Joanne Weber obtained degrees in English, Library Science and Education and did graduate work at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, where she became fluent in American Sign Language. She now teaches the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at Thom Collegiate. Joanne and her husband live in Regina with their two teenage daughters. The Pear Orchard is a finalist in the First book Award at the 2007 Saskatchewan Book Awards.

Website » users.accesscomm.ca/weberjo