Syaman Rapongan is an acclaimed Tao writer who lives on Pongso no Tao or Orchid Island. He is the author of many books, including Eyes of the Ocean, published in English translation by Columbia University Press. Syaman Rapongan is a tireless advocate for Tao culture, an expert diver, and a master canoe carver.Kyle Shernuk is assistant professor of modern Chinese literature and culture at Georgetown University.

• On TranslationTranslator’s IntroductionIn Lieu of a Preface: Traveling Alone on the Winter SeaEyes of the SkyPostscript

The translation of Syaman Rapongan’s Eyes of the Sky at last allows Anglophone readers to see one of the most important Indigenous works of literature from the western Pacific. The novel depicts a world where settler values appear to overtake Indigenous cosmologies, but the Tao people practice their survivance with resilience and grace. This is a universal tale of devotions and regrets, songs and stories, about multispecies interdependence, generational continuities, Indigenous-settler relations, and the wondrous moments where flying fish scales shimmer like stars that are the eyes of the sky.

Syaman Rapongan is an acclaimed Tao writer who lives on Pongso no Tao or Orchid Island. He is the author of many books, including Eyes of the Ocean, published in English translation by Columbia University Press. Syaman Rapongan is a tireless advocate for Tao culture, an expert diver, and a master canoe carver.Kyle Shernuk is assistant professor of modern Chinese literature and culture at Georgetown University.

• On TranslationTranslator’s IntroductionIn Lieu of a Preface: Traveling Alone on the Winter SeaEyes of the SkyPostscript

The translation of Syaman Rapongan’s Eyes of the Sky at last allows Anglophone readers to see one of the most important Indigenous works of literature from the western Pacific. The novel depicts a world where settler values appear to overtake Indigenous cosmologies, but the Tao people practice their survivance with resilience and grace. This is a universal tale of devotions and regrets, songs and stories, about multispecies interdependence, generational continuities, Indigenous-settler relations, and the wondrous moments where flying fish scales shimmer like stars that are the eyes of the sky.

Syaman Rapongan is an acclaimed Tao writer who lives on Pongso no Tao or Orchid Island. He is the author of many books, including Eyes of the Ocean, published in English translation by Columbia University Press. Syaman Rapongan is a tireless advocate for Tao culture, an expert diver, and a master canoe carver.Kyle Shernuk is assistant professor of modern Chinese literature and culture at Georgetown University.

• On TranslationTranslator’s IntroductionIn Lieu of a Preface: Traveling Alone on the Winter SeaEyes of the SkyPostscript

The translation of Syaman Rapongan’s Eyes of the Sky at last allows Anglophone readers to see one of the most important Indigenous works of literature from the western Pacific. The novel depicts a world where settler values appear to overtake Indigenous cosmologies, but the Tao people practice their survivance with resilience and grace. This is a universal tale of devotions and regrets, songs and stories, about multispecies interdependence, generational continuities, Indigenous-settler relations, and the wondrous moments where flying fish scales shimmer like stars that are the eyes of the sky.