After the Commonwealth Publications debacle in Edmonton, subsidy publishing ought to be a crime. At the very least, it should be more stringently regulated. But don’t take my word for it. Rather, talk to some ... Read More »

In a year of earth-shaking changes in the book business, Barnes & Noble’s offer of $600-million (U.S.) for the Ingram Book Group in November was the shocker. Independent retailers in the U.S. are understandably appalled ... Read More »

Canadians’ buying habits have been changing over the years, as much in Quebec as elsewhere in the country. Bookstores, traditionally the backbone of any publisher’s sales strategy, have lost more and more market share of ... Read More »

Mavis Gallant once wrote that she found the very idea of a writers’ union “frightening.” A year ago, I would have thought that she was engaging in a bit of playful hyperbole. But after serving ... Read More »

"I want to be the cultural radical who throws the paint on Mickey Mouse.”Colin Jackson is kidding, and we all laugh, but at the same time we are deadly serious. Jackson, executive director of the ... Read More »

Well into a laborious interview over dinner, I had the following exchange with Douglas Coupland (notorious for his hatred of author tours and interviews): Me: “I’m not feeling we’re connecting very well. I’m not sure what ... Read More »

When I started Insomniac Press I never thought I'd be standing around freezing on a gun range at 8 a.m. explaining to heavily armed men in fatigues the relevance of literary publishing in Canada and ... Read More »

Not only do historians repeat themselves (something one notices when engaged in scholarly publishing) but, sometimes, history does too. We’re at one of those moments in the cultural industries.Roughly 50 years ago, university presses in ... Read More »

In Canada there are a large number of books that have been accepted as “classics” – works of enduring value. And yet, it would be difficult to make the case that these books inspire contemporary ... Read More »