I am delighted to announce that I have a book of essays forthcoming from Palimpsest Press in October—Footnotes: Case Studies in Canadian Small Press Bookmaking. It is now available to pre-order here (or from your local independent bookstore!). I can’t thank publisher Aimee Parent Dunn and editor Jim Johnstone enough for taking on this unwieldy manuscript and ushering it into print. I am delighted to be part of the Palimpsest list.
The essays are about small presses, poets, book designers, and printers, and the choices those folks make about how to create interesting book objects in the small press. The subjects include: Nil Press and the Blue R Hand Press (Robert Rosewarne, Fran Jones, William Hawkins, Al Purdy, and Alden Nowlan), Seripress and presspresspress (Barbara Caruso and bpNichol), Turnstone Press (Robert Kroetsch and Eva Fritsch), above/ground press (Christine McNair and rob mclennan), Broken Dimanche Press and the Centre for Expanded Poetics (Jessica Bebenek), and KEYBOARDS! (Justin Million). There have even been two (positive!) reviews already, from Mark Foss and Discordia (my thanks to them both).
Launch plans are coming together, and I’ll fill in more details (like times) as they emerge:
- October 19 (7:00pm) – Toronto: Palimpsest Press Fall Launch with Kirby and David Ly at Another Story Bookshop
- October 20 (7:00pm) – Dundas: Reading with Kirby and Jim Johnstone at The Printed Word
- October 24-25 (time TBC) – Ottawa: Talk (“The Small Press in 1960s Ottawa”) at the Ottawa Antiquarian Book Fair
- November 6 (6:30pm) – Ottawa: Official Ottawa Launch at the Book Arts Lab (MacOdrum Library, Carleton University), with guest reader information to follow.
I hope you will consider ordering the book and coming to one of these events. And hey, why not invite me to your town? (I’ve got a book of poetry coming out March 2027 from Knife Fork Book as well!).
Cameron Anstee 