 | |
| Founded | 1974 |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Headquarters location | Erin, Ontario |
| Distribution | University of Toronto Press [1] |
| Key people | Tim and Elke Inkster |
| Publication types | Books, magazines |
| Official website | www |
The Porcupine's Quill is an independent publishing company in Erin, Ontario, Canada. The Porcupine's Quill publishes contemporary Canadian literature, including poetry, fiction, art and literary criticism. It is owned and operated by Tim and Elke Inkster.
In 1974, The Porcupine’s Quill (PQL) was originally incorporated as the production arm of Press Porcépic in Toronto, Ontario. It is owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Tim and Elke Inkster. The press is known for publishing fiction by new writers who go on to become established figures in the Canadian literary landscape, such as Jane Urquhart, Steven Heighton, Andrew Pyper, Mary Swan, Russell Smith, Gil Adamson, Elizabeth Hay, Michael Winter and Annabel Lyon. Alternatively, the press usually publishes poetry by already well-known poets, such as Margaret Avison and P. K. Page.
Its first title, Marzipan Lies by Brian Johnson, was published 1975. Early in The Porcupine's Quill's history, Tim Inkster contacted friends he met during his time at the University of Toronto to publish their work, such as collections of poetry by Ed Carson and Brian Henderson.
The Porcupine's Quill has published a number of award-winning work and was named as "Canada's pre-eminent literary press" in The Perilous Trade: Publishing Canada's Writers. [2] Don Coles' collection of poetry, Forests of the Medieval World, won the Governor General's Award for Poetry in 1993. Later, in 2000, Don Coles' Kurgan won the Trillium Book Award. Most recently, a collection of short stories by Ian Colford entitled Evidence won the Margaret & John Savage First Book Award, was shortlisted for the Thomas H. Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize and was furthermore shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Evidence was also presented a silver medal by the Independent Publisher (IPPY). Sailor Girl by Sheree-Lee Olson, also published by The Porcupine's Quill, won the bronze medal. Off the Wall by Tony Urquhart, The Essential P K Page, and A Wood Engraver's Alphabet by G. Brender à Brandis were cited in the Alcuin Society of Vancouver's 27th annual Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada competition.
The owners, Tim and Elke Inkster, have also received praise for their contributions to the Canadian publishing industry. In 2008, both Inksters were appointed members of the Order of Canada by the Governor General of Canada. [3]
The Porcupine's Quill is unlike most other Canadian publishers in that it does most of its printing in-house. The Porcupine's Quill also prints The Devil's Artisan , a bi-annual magazine about printing and book arts in Canada.
Most printing is performed on a twenty-five inch Heidelberg KORD. The Porcupine's Quill usually uses acid-free Zephyr Antique laid paper, the sheets of which are then folded and sewn into signatures on a 1907 model Smyth National Book Sewing machine. This process results in more durable, sturdier books than are usually produced by trade book publishers. Tim Inkster has created videos on YouTube that demonstrate this printing and binding process.
Jane Urquhart, LL.D is a Canadian novelist and poet. She is the internationally acclaimed author of seven award-winning novels, three books of poetry and numerous short stories. As a novelist, Urquhart is well known for her evocative style which blends history with the present day. Her first novel, The Whirlpool, gained her international recognition when she became the first Canadian to win France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. Her subsequent novels were even more successful. Away, published in 1993, won the Trillium Award and was a national bestseller. In 1997, her fourth novel, The Underpainter, won the Governor General's Literary Award.
Patricia Kathleen Page, was a Canadian poet, though the citation as she was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada reads "poet, novelist, script writer, playwright, essayist, journalist, librettist, teacher and artist." She was the author of more than 30 published books that include poetry, fiction, travel diaries, essays, children's books, and an autobiography.
Steven Heighton was a Canadian fiction writer, poet, and singer-songwriter. He is the author of eighteen books, including three short story collections, four novels, and seven poetry collections. His last work was Selected Poems 1983-2020 and an album, The Devil's Share.
Michael Redhill is an American-born Canadian poet, playwright and novelist. He also writes under the pseudonym Inger Ash Wolfe.
This is a list of recipients and nominees of the Governor General's Awards award for English-language poetry. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English language poetry or drama was divided.
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Elizabeth Grace Hay is a Canadian novelist and short story writer.
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Heather O'Neill is a Canadian novelist, poet, short story writer, screenwriter and journalist, who published her debut novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals, in 2006. The novel was subsequently selected for the 2007 edition of Canada Reads, where it was championed by singer-songwriter John K. Samson. Lullabies won the competition. The book also won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for eight other major awards, including the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Governor General's Award and was longlisted for International Dublin Literary Award.
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Brian Henderson is a Canadian writer, poet, and photographer, whose book of poetry Nerve Language was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for Poetry in 2007.
Gillian "Gil" Adamson is a Canadian writer. She won the Books in Canada First Novel Award in 2008 for her 2007 novel The Outlander.
Descant was a quarterly literary magazine that published new and established contemporary writers and visual artists from Canada and around the world, reflecting "a cosmopolitan awareness." It was established in 1970 as a mimeograph. Based in Toronto, in its later years Descant published two themed issues per year, and a winter and summer miscellany issue. From 2007 to 2014, Descant sponsored the Winston Collins/Descant Prize for Best Canadian Poem.
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Suzette Mayr is a Canadian novelist who has written five critically acclaimed novels, and who is currently a professor at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Arts. Mayr's works have both won and been nominated for several literary awards.
George Alexander Walker is a Canadian artist and writer best known for his wood engravings and wordless novels.
Inanna Publications and Education Inc. is a Canadian book publisher based in Toronto, Ontario. Inanna publishes women's writing, including a journal, literary fiction, poetry, and academic books. Inanna's books are on a wide variety of feminist topics accessible to the largest possible community of women. Inanna "is bucking the trend – and flourishing." Most of Inanna Publications' books are collected at Harvard Library. Inanna's writers have won several Independent Publisher Book Awards and Canadian Jewish Book Awards, and have been shortlisted for the League of Canadian Poets's Raymond Souster Award, the Western Mail (Wales) Book of the Year, the Lambda Literary Foundation awards, and have been among the Toronto Book Award finalists.
Kai Cheng Thom is a Canadian writer and former social worker. Thom, a non-binary trans woman, has published four books, including the novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir (2016), the poetry collection a place called No Homeland (2017), a children's book, From the Stars in The Sky to the Fish in the Sea (2017), and I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World (2019), a book of essays centered on transformative justice.
Joshua Whitehead is a Canadian First Nations, two spirit poet and novelist.
Shadow Blight is a book written by Canadian poet Annick MacAskill from Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is her third collection of poetry and was published in June 2022 by Gaspereau Press. The book is the winner of the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for English-language poetry.