Also, please follow our new twitter feed @SPoToronto

We’ve got big plans for 2011…so watch this space.

DATE: Saturday, December 11 (Readers and performers, TBA)

TIME: 11 am-4:30 pm (presses should be on-site by 10 at the latest; doors open for set-up at 9)

ADDRESS: 1087 Queen Street West, Toronto M6J 1H3
(Directions: Queen Street West & Dovercourt Road. Some street parking. Public Transit: TTC
Queen Streetcar.

***Please note that this is a full regular book fair. Registration is on a first-come-first-serve
basis, so please hurry, as spaces are not likely to last long!!!

TO REGISTER: please print & complete the form below & mail it to us with your registration fee. (Nothing will be accepted via email—sorry!) REMEMBER THIS FAIR IS FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVE, so please fill in the form & send it to us as soon as you can.

PLEASE SEND A CHEQUE, NOT CASH IN THE MAIL!! (it can be a personal cheque, so if you don’t have an account in the Press name, no problem.)

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS
Can you spare an hour of your time on the big day? We need as many volunteers as we can find
for the following positions:
-greeter
-raffle ticket distributor
-press/info table
-collecting donations
-morning set-up
-evening clean-up

please send us an email torontosmallpressbookgroup@gmail.com if you are interested.
Thanks!

Looking forward to seeing you at the Fair!

THE SMALL PRESS of TORONTO BOOK
FAIR at THE GREAT HALL on QUEEN WEST
DECEMBER 11, 2010

“Produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.”

THE SMALL PRESS of TORONTO BOOK FAIR REGISTRATION FORM
The venue for the 2010 Fall Book Fair is: The Great Hall, 1087 Queen Street West.
The Fair will take place on Saturday, December 11th from 11 am to 4:30 pm (set up time, 10am).
*Registration & table allocation is on a first come first serve basis.

Please make cheques payable to The Toronto Small Press Fair Group

Name of Press or Exhibitor:
______________________________________________________________________
Name of contact person:
________________________________________________________________________
E-mail of contact person:
________________________________________________________________________
Press website:
____________________________________________________________________________

*Unless otherwise requested your press information will be linked to the Toronto Small Press Group
website.

[ ] I have enclosed my $15.00 fee to reserve a half-table space at the fair (3 feet
wide/2.5 deep)

[ ] I have enclosed my $30.00 fee for a full-table space at the fair

[ ] I can help to set up on the morning of the fair (9-11am)

[ ] I can help to clean up on the afternoon of the fair (5:00-6:00pm)

[ ] I am willing to volunteer in some other capacity (flyer distribution, information table,
postering, advertising, etc)

Please direct any questions to torontosmallpressfairgroup@gmail.com

Please return registration forms to:
SMALL PRESS of TORONTO c/o J. Zacharoff
231 Fort York blvd, Suite 1022
Toronto, ON M5V1B2

Dear Independent Press Owners:

We are requesting your help in promoting what is, in the final analysis, your event: If you have
list servers, blogs, or on-line magazines–or if you run or own a magazine, journal, or
newspaper—please help us in promoting the fair.

Thank you very much. We look forward to seeing you at the fair.

cheers,
the SPoT team

while we’re warming up for the Toronto fall edition…head to Ottawa this weekend.

info on facebook. Pre-fair reading, Friday evening: details here

Poet and playwright Daniel David Moses hails from the Six Nations Grand River. Moses co-edited Oxford University Press’ ‘An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English,’ now in its third edition. His essays were published by Exile Editions in 2005 in ‘Pursued by a Bear’ and his play ‘Kyotopolis’ in 2008. A new Playwrights Canada Press edition of his best-known play ‘Almighty Voice and His Wife’ and a poetry CD, ‘River Range’, with music by Dave Deleary, were released in 2009. He teaches in the Department of Drama at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.

Adebe D. A. won the Toronto Poetry Competition in 2005 to become Toronto’s first Junior Poet Laureate. After serving as Assistant Editor for the arts and literary journal, Existere, her debut poetry collection, Ex Nihilo, was published this year by Frontenac House, one of ten manuscripts chosen in honour of Frontenac House’s Dektet 2010 competition, using a blind selection process by a jury of leading Canadian writers: bill bissett, George Elliot Clarke, and Alice Major.

Melanie Janisse is a native of Windsor, Ontario. She holds degrees Communications from Concordia University and Visual Arts from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Now a resident of Toronto, Melanie keeps active as a visual artist, poet, designer and shop owner. Orioles at the Oranges is her first collection of poetry.

Michael Bryson is the author of four short story collections, most recently The Lizard and Other Stories (Chaudiere, 2009). From 1999-2009, Bryson was the publisher and editor of the online literary journal, The Danforth Review. His fiction has appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Best Canadian Stories. He lives in Toronto with his wife and step-children.

Jocelyne Allen is a Japanese translator based in Toronto after a decade in Japan. During her time in the Land of the Rising Sun, Allen worked as a magazine columnist, interpreted for foreign correspondents and toured with a Japanese drum group. Her debut novel, You and the Pirates, was part of The National Post‘s ‘Canada Also Reads’ competition.

1 – When did PQL first start? How have your original goals as a publisher shifted since you started, if at all? And what have you learned through the process?

The Porcupine’s Quill was incorporated in 1974, originally as the production arm of Dave Godfrey’s Press Porcépic. PQL published its first title in 1975, Brian Johnson’s first and only book of poems, Marzipan Lies. Brian Johnson is currently the film critic for Maclean’s and claims to have met Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, twice! PQL’s goal is and always has been to publish brilliant fiction by largely unknown Canadian authors, and brilliant poetry by well-known Canadian poets. We have also been known to delve into literary criticism, art, personal essays and children’s fiction, and recently we have started publishing a series of graphic novels by emerging artists under the editorial and artistic guidance of wood engraver George A. Walker.

2 – What first brought you to publishing?

Tim Inkster, co-owner of PQL with his wife Elke, began his career in publishing in 1971, volunteering for the very famous David Godfrey’s fledgling Press Porcépic.

It should, perhaps, be clarified now that Tim is not the one answering these questions – instead you’re reading responses from the PQL intern, Caleigh (and I was brought to publishing not too long ago after realizing that good books were much more interesting than anything else going on in school.)

3 – What do you consider the role and responsibilities, if any, of small publishing?

Presenting beautiful literature in beautiful packages. Publishing what bigger publishers won’t. Staying afloat any way possible.

4 – What do you see your press doing that no one else is?
The Porcupine’s Quill has a reputation now for publishing consistently high-quality work in a consistently high-quality form. We are known for publishing new authors who later go on to become ‘greats,’ in one way or another, and our editors are now acknowledged to have an eye for picking out those greats. We are also unusual in the fact that almost all of our printing is done in-house, to a high standard of craftsmanship, and our books have a much longer (and attractive) life than many produced currently.

5 – How do your books get distributed? What are your usual print runs?

Our print runs are relatively small, from 500-1000 copies. They are distributed to bookstores by the University of Toronto Press (UTP), or individual purchasers can go through our store on Abebooks.com. They are also available through e-tailers like Amazon.com and Amazon.ca, and from the big American wholesalers: Ingram, Baker + Taylor and Blackwell.

6 – How many other people are involved with editing or production? What are the benefits, drawbacks?

Currently four people work more-or-less full-time in the shop. Tim does most of the design and production himself, but with ample help from Elke, Jill and myself. There are several editors associated with PQL scattered throughout Canada, and for the most part they are the ones who maintain the editorial relationships with our authors and poets. The benefit to such a small staff is that work never gets boring – you get to put your hands on a bit of everything. The drawback is that sometimes the staff is a little too small, and things get hectic!

7 – What, as a publisher, are you most proud of accomplishing? What do you think people have overlooked about your publications? What is your biggest frustration?

In 2008, Tim and Elke were appointed to the Order of Canada ‘for their distinctive contributions to publishing in Canada and for their promotion of new authors, as co-founders of The Porcupine’s Quill, a small press known for the award-winning beauty and quality of its books.’ They are, Tim tells me, particularly proud of that honour. From my experience, people tend to overlook the collections of short stories that PQL publishes; novels are the going genre these days, but short stories pack a lot of punch and are perfect for reading over a quick breakfast or break. The biggest frustration, as always, is money-related: making any does not get much easier, no matter how long you have been in the business.

8 – How does PQL work to engage with your immediate literary community, and community at large? What journals or presses do you see PQL in dialogue with? How important do you see those dialogues, those conversations?

This might seem like a cheap answer, but it’s the easy one: we are most immediately engaged with a magazine named the Devil’s Artisan, which is owned by PQL. The editor of the magazine, however, Don McLeod, is unrelated to PQL. The Devil’s Artisan is a magazine devoted to Canadian book arts and print culture, which ties well to PQL’s own goal of producing beautiful books as well as beautiful writing. And some years ago, one of our collections of criticism (When Words Deny the World by Stephen Henighan, 2002) stirred some hilariously indignant controversy in the Toronto literary community. For the most part, we simply publish what we enjoy, rather than explicitly seek dialogue with other presses. We do, however, host many events in our community.

9 – How do you utilize the internet, if at all, to further your goals?

Just recently, we launched an entirely new and updated website for PQL in an attempt to increase visits (and sales), and to update our look – http://porcupinesquill.ca. We have several Facebook groups to help coordinate fans for upcoming author events. I also regularly (for the most part) update a blog about the goings-on at the press and what I’m up to in particular – http://porcupinesquill.ca/caleighm.html. Sometimes you’ll find Tim writing a blog, too.

10 – Do you take submissions? If so, what aren’t you looking for?

PQL does accept (and love) submissions, but our upcoming titles are often determined two years or so in advance, meaning it will take some time for you to see your book published by PQL at all, even if we do like your work. We can also take, unfortunately, a rather long time in getting back to people. PQL is a literary press and so any pure genre piece – horror, fantasy, mystery, etc., all of which we frequently see in our submissions pile – is out of the question. We also generally will not publish an author who does not already have some pieces published in magazines.

10 – Tell me about your most recent titles, and why they’re special.

Oh my, I am so glad you asked this question! We have some great titles coming up in Fall 2010. My Other Women is Pauline Carey’s fantastic debut novel, set in Toronto’s ‘60s explosion of theatrical innovation; Carey follows a young woman named Andrea as she skips from married lover to married lover, pursues her own career in the arts and, surprisingly, makes friends with all of her ex-lovers’ wives. Andrea’s work in the theatre and her ‘work’ in her love life hold some intriguing parallels, and Carey’s writing is sharp and sardonic.

Complete Physical is a collection of poetry (lyrics, villanelles, even sestinas!) by physician-poet Shane Neilson, who ties his profession to the great poetic concerns of love and death in this unique collection.

Mystery Stories by David Helwig is a collection of short stories, and the mystery asking to be solved is absence: of friends, lovers, acquaintances, even strangers. Helwig is an award-winning author who has already written more than thirty books, and we are really excited to introduce this next collection (my favourite story is about a snowbound and befuddled criminal named Wicker – you’ll need to read it to find out more).

Eric Ormsby also returns with a collection of essays entitled Fine Incisions: Essays on Poetry and Place; topics range from Bob Dylan to Leo Tolstoy to life in Prague, but Ormsby’s own richly elegant and enlightened writing is the real treasure here. Ormsby’s poetry has appeared in major journals like The New Yorker, Parnassus and The Oxford American.

Award-winning writer Kildare Dobs is publishing his long poem Casanova in Venice: A Raunchy Rhyme with us, as well – a poem that I like to call ‘a twenty-first-century riposte to Lord Byron’s Don Juan.’ This is a hysterical and witty re-telling of the infamous Casanova’s life, from childhood to imprisonment, and it uses many of the eighteenth-century poetic conventions with which Casanova would have been familiar. Even better, Casanova is illustrated by (often raunchy) wood engravings created by the talented Wesley Bates.

Book of Hours by George A. Walker is a series of 99 wood engravings – a wordless novel – that remembers the daily routines of people in the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre before the onslaught of 9/11. Walker went so far as to even research the weather by the hour on 9/11 for his art, and the result is a reverential, quiet homage to the people and rituals that can offer some stability in the wake of tragedy.

We are offering two more collections of poetry by a couple of the greats – an addition to our ‘Essential’ series, this time The Essential Margaret Avison, and a collection by P. K. Page entitled Kaleidoscope: Selected Poems. Kaleidoscope is especially interesting because it is the first in a series of volumes to be published over the next ten years, as a complement to an online hypermedia scholarly edition of the Collected Works of P. K. Page.

Finally, in a new sort of project, PQL is collaborating with the Wood Engravers’ Network to produce a calendar featuring a variety of spectacularly talented artists’ work – think Rosemary Kilbourne, Gerard Brender à Brandis, Anthony Drehfal, Andy English, Jim Westergard, Wesley Bates, and others.

You can see that I am slightly excited about our upcoming titles. Well, you asked, right?

11 – What’s next?

More great books, more hard work, more lunch breaks by the river. We look forward to the fair!

Bongo Beat Books is run by beat poet Ralph Alfonso and an adjunct to his Bongo Beat Records. It specializes in 1977-era punk and related. It may expand eventually but this is a pretty good niche to be in. Ralph Alfonso has been part of the Candian cultural tapestry since the early 70s as a writer, photographer, designer, illustrator, artist manager, poet, musician, performer, record label executive and more. He ran Canada’s first punk club (Crash’n'Burn), discovered Katrina & The Waves, co-managed Honeymoon Suite, did publicity for Anvil, toured with Lee Aaron, performed with David Amram, designed album covers for Blue Rodeo, Platinum Blonde, Tom Cochrane, Glass Tiger (and hundreds more), and is a really good photographer, too. He also designed the fan club newsletter for The Barenaked Ladies.

1- When did Bongo Beat Books first start? How have your original goals as a publisher shifted since you started, if at all? And what have you learned through the process?

I have been publishing since the early 70s in some shape or other or format (mimeograph, offset, digital, etc). Our goals have never wavered: cool stuff that looks cool. We graduated from small press-ish to the worldof trade paperbacks in 2009. We’ve learned that mimeograph is way cheaper!

2- What first brought you to publishing?

Comic books and through the DC Comics letter pages, comics fanzines and then later poetry small presses.

3-What do you consider the role and responsibilities, if any, of small publishing?

Go somewhere new. Open the wrong door.

4- What do you see your press doing that no one else is?

We are currently exploring the 1977 punk niche as relates to Toronto and Hamilton.

5-What do you see as the most effective way to get new books out into the world?

Make them look great and everyone will want to at least look at them (bam! first base), read something (yay!), and then buy them. There is a lot of clutter out there – take the time to stand out. Hire a great designer that will work for you. Say to yourself – 10 years from now will someone look at your books and say wow.

6- How involved an editor are you? Do you dig deep into line edits, or do you prefer more of a light touch?

I come from journalism so I am more about the when, where, why, who, what, when, etc? Once that’s sorted, I prefer a light touch and mostly about the grammar and punctuation.

7- How do Bongo Beat Books get distributed? What are your usual print runs?

I currently use my CD distributors to distribute our music books. Print runs are 500-1000.

8- How many other people are involved with editing or production? Do you work with other editors, and if so, how effective do you find it? What are the benefits, drawbacks?

One or two people the author trusts for editing. I do the production. The benefit – books look great. Drawback – it takes a lot of time.

9- How has being an editor/publisher changed the way you think about your own writing?

That I should write more

10- How do you approach the idea of publishing your own writing? Some, such as Gary Geddes when he still ran Cormorant, refused such, yet various Coach House Books’ editors had titles during their tenures as editors for the press, including Victor Coleman and bpNichol. What do you think of the arguments for or against, or do you see the whole question as irrelevant?

It is irrelevant in my situation. I understand both points of view.

11- How do you see your press evolving?

It may eventually displace the music disk side of our business.

12- What, as a publisher, are you most proud of accomplishing? What do you think people have overlooked about your publications? What is your biggest frustration?

Taking a gamble on something I believe in.My biggest frustration is getting paid.

13- Who were your early publishing models when starting out?

City Lights Books, Evergreen Magazine, San Francisco underground comics, Bomp magazine.

14- How does Bongo Beat Books work to engage with your immediate literary community, and community at large?

It keeps me on their radar.

15- What journals or presses do you see Bongo Beat Books in dialogue with?

Not that many in terms of us as a press – but lots on the author level.

16- How important do you see those dialogues, those conversations?

On a publisher level – sharing information is empowering.

17- Do you hold regular or occasional readings or launches?Yes.

18- How important do you see public readings and other events?

Very important!

19- How do you utilize the Internet, if at all, to further your goals?

You name it – we’re on it.

20- Do you take submissions? If so, what aren’t you looking for? No.

21- Tell me about your most recent titles, and why they’re special.

“Treat Me Like Dirt” by Liz Worth. All the big publishers turned her down. We’re on our third printing. It’s a punk book but it’s not a punk book. It is by and large a soap opera or maybe even just a modern opera, hiding under the sheepskin of a punk book. It is the rise and fall of a forgotten tribe of Toronto pop culture made all the more remarkable by the survivors’ pride in their failure.

22- What’s next?

A discography on Ontario punk 1976-1982.

Because the press is new and focuses on handcrafted objects, not all our 12 or 20 questions were appropriate; the questions below are the ones that spoke most to Jessica right now.

1 – When did 52 Clouds in the Sky first start? How have your original goals as a publisher shifted since you started, if at all? And what have you learned through the process?

I started 52 Clouds in the Sky in early 2009. The biggest goal was getting started and making things happen. I’m focusing on making work that best represents what I’d like to do creatively with 52 Clouds and continuing to learn from other presses and from my experiences.

2 – What first brought you to publishing?

I became interested in publishing when I discovered Maria Vettese’s Port2Port Press and a few lectures devoted to artist books in a university course on art, music and languages of interdisciplinary. Between Maria’s appreciations of the simple pleasures in life inspiring her work to diving into the artistic process in those lectures, I decided to try and put my voice out there.

3 – What do you consider the role and responsibilities, if any, of small publishing?

I think that it’s important for small presses to provide a showcase for unknown voices or creators who prefer a smaller audience that wants to explore work that is put together from start to finish by the creator or is not of the mainstream.

4 – How (do your books/does your journal) get distributed? What are your usual print runs?

I distribute my work in small batches, usually not more than fifty, at craft shows and book fairs. 52 Clouds in the Sky is done on the side and I can only do shows for now. At a later time, I hope to set up an online shop. You can follow my creative activity online at my blog and ask me questions too.

5 – How many other people are involved with editing or production? Do you work with other editors, and if so, how effective do you find it? What are the benefits, drawbacks?

I do everything in the production and managing process. It would be great to find somebody who shared my vision and whose schedule could work with mine but I’m okay with seeing everything through from start to finish at this point. It’s challenging sometimes but it provides me with a great project to escape to and have complete control over.

6 – How do you see (your press/magazine) evolving?

I have a wide range of interests and will constantly go back and forth between object-based and paper-based items when evolving what I have to offer at 52 Clouds in the Sky. Up to now I’ve had handmade notebooks and cards, beaded key chains and postcards. I hope to have a little zine for the 2010 Small Press Book Fair and many more books in the future.

BRICK BOOKS is the one of the only Canadian presses that publishes exclusively poetry books.  Founded by Stan Dragland and Don McKay, Brick Books has published new and established voices in Canadian poetry since 1975.

The mandate of Brick Books is to foster interesting, ambitious, and compelling work by Canadian poets, both new and established; to create and maintain the exceptional editorial standard for which Brick has gained a national reputation; to produce beautifully designed, attractive books worthy of the excellence of their contents; and to distribute and promote these books and their authors.

Kitty Lewis, who is answering these questions, has been general manager of Brick Books for over 20 years.

1 – When did your press first start?

Brick Books was founded in 1975 by Stan Dragland and Don McKay.  They were both teaching at the University of Western Ontario in London back in the 1970′s and kept on seeing good poetry from writers in the area. They decided to start a press to publish this work. They started with chapbooks but we now publish full-length books – in the case of poetry, this is any book longer than 49 pages.

2 – What first brought you to publishing?

Don McKay is my big brother and asked if I would like to help out at Brick Books. I started by filling the orders and taking care of overdue accounts, then gradually added more duties to my role as general manager.

3– What do you see as the most effective way to get new books out into the world?

We belong to the Literary Press Group of Canada and their sales reps present our books to bookstores across Canada and the United States.  We have a website at www.brickbooks.ca and are also busy using Facebook and Twitter to get the word out about our books.

4 – How involved are the editors at Brick Books?

Brick Books looks for the quality of the writing of the work that is sent to us, not the saleability or popularity of the author. As “Stan Dragland” reported in an interview with Northwest Passages a few years ago, “The writers seek us out because we treat them well. Even the best writers want to be edited with care. It’s a matter of great satisfaction to be told by the poets, again and again, how much they like working with us.”

Many first-time authors want to have their books published by Brick Books. Many have worked with our editors at writing workshops. We build professional relationships with the individual Brick Books authors and treat them with great respect. We remain in contact with them long after their books have been published by sending regular reports of our events and awards.

Brick Books’ operation, from the start, has been editor-driven. The great care taken with the manuscripts submitted by both new and established writers are at the heart of Brick Books’ conception of itself. The editors at Brick Books are all established writers themselves.

5 – How do your books get distributed? What are your usual print runs?

Our books are distributed through “LitDistCo – Canada’s Literary Distribution Specialists”.  LitDistCo is a book distribution collective of literary book publishers.  Our usual print runs are 700 copies.

6 – How many other people are involved with editing or production?

Brick Books has 8 editors who work with the manuscripts each year.  There are 2 part-time staff who do the production work and one full-time general manager.  We have on occasion used an outside editor.

7 – How do you approach the idea of publishing your own writing?(Some, such as Gary Geddes when he still ran Cormorant, refused such, yet various Coach House editors had titles during their tenures as editors for the press, including Victor Coleman and bpNichol.)

We have occasionally published a poetry book by writers involved with Brick Books.  These manuscripts go through the stringent screening process with other submissions.  No book written by Brick Books personnel, or by anyone else, however eminent, is automatically accepted.  We read manuscripts from January 1 to April 30 every year – 7 manuscripts are chosen for publication out of the approximately 100 submissions received.

8– What, as a publisher, are you most proud of accomplishing?

In 2010 Brick Books celebrates its 35th anniversary.  We are also very proud of our record of reserving several spots each year for beginning poets.

9– How does your press work to engage with your immediate literary community, and community at large? What journals or presses do you see your press in dialogue with? How important do you see those dialogues, those conversations?

Brick Books is in touch with the other literary presses in Canada through the Literary Press Group.  We also communicate with reading series and bookstores across the country to showcase our authors’ reading their work.  We send review copies to journals and literary magazines across Canada.  These connections are very important to us and to the culture of writing.

10 – Do you hold regular or occasional readings or launches? How important do you see public readings and other events?

Promotion of our books is very important to Brick Books. We encourage all authors to travel in Canada to promote and read from their books. These readings take the form of a launch in the author’s local bookstore or local venue and then readings that are organized by the author and by the publisher. In the past two years authors have traveled from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, Yellowknife and Whitehorse to promote their books. We also tap into extra travel grants or marketing/promotion grants to broaden the scope of an author’s travels.

11 – How do you utilize the Internet to further your goals?

We have had a website www.brickbooks.ca since 2000 which includes author biographies and descriptions of all the books we have published since 1975 as well as author tours, information about the press, awards, submission guidelines.  It was re-designed in 2008 and now includes a blog as well as many author interviews and readings, reviews of the books and links with authors’ personal websites or personal pages at various associations.  Books can also be purchased from our website now.  It’s a great resource for our press.

We also have a group page and a fan page on Facebook as well as a Twitter account.  These pages are updated on a regular basis with award nominations, author readings and reviews and other news about Brick Books.

12 – Do you take submissions? If so, what aren’t you looking for?

We accept submissions between January 1 and April 30 every year. Brick Books can only publish authors who are Canadian citizens or landed immigrants.

We receive approximately 100 manuscripts for consideration every year. We publish only 7 books a year. Submissions received outside of our reading period will be returned. Our publishing schedule is filled two years in advance. If you would like to submit work to Brick Books, you should be familiar with our books to see if your writing is a good fit with our publishing program. Check out our books in your local bookstore or library or browse our website.  We do not consider unfinished work (manuscripts of less than 48 pages.)

13– Anything else?

Brick Books celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2010.  Longevity, editorial strength, sound distribution and excellent production values have raised our profile very high and we plan to continue to build on those strengths.

Kitty Lewis, General Manager

Brick Books