John Steffler was the Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada from 2006 to 2008. His other books of poetry include Lookout, a finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize; That Night We Were Ravenous, winner of the Atlantic Poetry Prize; and Helix: New and Selected Poems, winner of the Newfoundland and Labrador Poetry Prize. Steffler is also the author of the award-winning novel The Afterlife of George Cartwright. Brick Books issued a new edition of The Grey Islands in 2000 and presented a newer edition in 2015 as the Brick Books Classics 2.