University Archives
& Special Collections

Canadian Small Press Collection

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION | COLLECTION HISTORY | MAJOR SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

The list of finalists for the 2004 Governor General's literary awards reflects the current vitality and diversity of the Canadian literary scene. Notable in the list is the number of small presses present: Coach House, Talonbooks, Brick Books, Gaspereau Press, Cormorant Books, Vehicule Press, and the list goes on. Canadian small presses are publishing high quality work that deserves to be and is being recognized. Reaching this level of respectability and high standards has been an arduous and challenging journey.

The first tentative steps toward establishing an indigenous literary publishing tradition took place in the 1920s. Graphic Publishers in Ottawa led the way in presenting the work of Canadian writers to their fellow Canadians. In less than ten years they published over fifty titles. Then the Depression struck. Graphic went bankrupt in 1932. The larger firms, which had just started to add Canadians to their rosters of primarily British and American writers, retrenched. The thirties were a bleak decade for Canadian writers and publishers. The introduction of the Governor General awards in 1936 and the CBC sponsorship of Canadian poems and short stories helped sustain Canadian writing during the Depression. With the outbreak of war in 1939, there was an urgent need for new literary outlets. The ferment of ideas, new experiences, and different perspectives found a release in quickly launched journals. Preview, First Statement, Northern Review, Fiddlehead, Direction, Here and Now, and Contemporary Verse fostered writers from every part of Canada. P.K. Page, A.M. Klein, Irving Layton, Miriam Waddington, Louis Dudek, Raymond Souster, and F.R. Scott emerged as strong new voices.

A number of the journals took up the task of publishing the first books of their contributors. Almost unintentionally they had become small presses. Each small press developed its own distinctive personality and many took up the causes dear to the publishers' hearts. The causes ran the gamut of everything from the promotion of one genre to championing regional perspectives. Dependent on limited financial resources, small markets, and the energies of relatively few dedicated individuals, many small presses came and went in the 1950s. The infusion of public funding with the implementation of Canada Council grants in the late 1950s provided a much needed boost. The grants enabled the small presses to look beyond mere survival.

Just as the small presses were gaining a measure of stability, a whole new group of young Canadian writers came of age. They brought energy, enthusiasm, and a willingness to push creative expression to the edge. Some of the stalwart small presses of the 1950s were totally transformed while others remained true to their original goals. New presses emerged to accommodate the surge of innovative ideas and approaches. Technological advances made it possible for even the smallest press to produce well designed and competitively priced books. By 1980 there were viable small presses in every corner of Canada, their colourful and often idiomatic names capturing their sense of place, purpose, and creativity--Breakwater, Coach House, Lancelot, Ragweed, Fiddlehead, VÈhicule, Peguis, Thistledown, and blewointmentpress, to name just a new. With growing confidence and skill, Canadian small press publishers were producing quality Canadian literature that readers and critics could not ignore.

Ironically, the small presses that started out as rebels have established a tradition. It is a rich and vital publishing tradition, which has made a major contribution to the development of our national culture. Without the hard work of our dedicated small press publishers, many Canadian writers would not have been able to get a start in the writing field. Canadians owe a great deal to our small presses and should not take them for granted in this new era of retrenchment.