Small Press

Our aesthetic focus has always been on creating handmade, unique publications which, in their format, do justice to the writing published in them.

Our aesthetic builds on the idea of resonance, and poems that can offer moments of discovery with every new reading. Our mission is to be “committed to upholding the values that make poems timeless.”

Backbone is a niche press that focuses on writers of color and culture writing. We believe, in art, but certainly the literary arts, every voice is essential.

We believe in the fissures art can create in consciousness when, even if just for a moment, we experience a more vital way of operating in the world—and through that moment then seek out more extreme and enlightened modes of existence.

It can feel like a labour-intensive process, but I’ve found that there’s huge appreciation, from both the poets and the readers, when effort is made to give the words a beautiful home.

Website Submission Guidelines Interview with Joan Baranow and David Watts, Editors How did Wolf Ridge Press start? Our press started in 2008 when David had put together a collection of…

In the early months of 2017, we were discussing how often writers of formal or experimental poetry in Canada had to go through a man to publish a chapbook of experimental literature. We wanted to provide a space for writers to publish experimental, formal, political, feminist, or genre-blurring poetry that wasn’t governed by a dude.

We do a lot of work behind the scenes, but the writers create the work so they deserve the most credit and profit for it. They are the reason we even have a project to work on in the first place.

I felt that artists who were out there working the community, trying to create change often did not have time to do the “business” of writing. I hoped that there would be a way to help those artist by “gifting” them published books as that would only help them further in the community service goals.

The small presses are absolutely essential in getting work into print that the big publishers won’t touch. It’s where you find the most originality and risk-taking, both essential to great writing.

Over time, The Blasted Tree has increasingly featured odd and eccentric content that just doesn’t seem to belong elsewhere, projects that beg for an out-of-the-box take on publication format or materials.

I believe there’s a need to publish outside one’s comfort zone. At its core, publishing is about pushing boundaries, and expanding mindsets. And if our publishing is not doing either function for us, it is a signal for us to get our act together.

From the one ad we ran, we received 2,500 submissions the first 2 months and 6,000 in the four months that followed. We had enough to publish for a year or two and word of mouth carried us from there.

Website Submission Guidelines Interview with Ken Hunt, Editor How did Spacecraft Press start? Spacecraft Press began in 2014, when I was having a conversation with derek beaulieu. We were talking…