House of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers
Dennis Lee and
Dave Godfrey
Dave Godfrey (9 August 1938 – 21 June 2015) was a Canadian writer, professor, and publisher. His novel ''The New Ancestors'' won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction in 1970. . The company specializes in finding and developing new Canadian writers of literary
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
,
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
, and
non-fiction
Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...
.
History
Anansi started as a
small press
A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably.
Independent press is general ...
with only one full-time employee, writer
George Fetherling
Douglas George Fetherling (born 1949), is a Canadian poet, novelist, and cultural commentator. One of the most prolific figures in Canadian letters, he has written or edited more than fifty books, including a dozen volumes of poetry, five book-len ...
. It quickly gained attention for publishing significant authors such as
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...
,
Matt Cohen,
Michael Ondaatje,
Marian Engel
Marian Ruth Engel (née Passmore; May 24, 1933 – February 16, 1985) was a Canadian novelist and a founding member of the Writers' Union of Canada. Her most famous and controversial novel was '' Bear'' (1976), a tale of erotic love between an a ...
,
Erín Moure,
Paulette Jiles
Paulette Jiles (aka Paulette K. Jiles, Paulette Jiles-Johnson) (born 4 April 1943) is an American poet, memoirist, and novelist.
Personal life
Paulette Kay Jiles was born in 1943 in Salem, Missouri. She attended college at the University of ...
,
George Grant and
Northrop Frye
Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century.
Frye gained international fame with his first book, '' Fearful Symmet ...
. The company also published many translations of
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
works by authors such as
Roch Carrier
Roch Carrier (born 13 May 1937) is a French Canadian novelist and author of "contes" (a very brief form of the short story). He is among the best known Quebec writers in English Canada.
Life
He was born in Sainte-Justine, Quebec, and studied at ...
,
Anne Hébert
Anne Hébert (pronounced in French) (August 1, 1916 – January 22, 2000), was a Canadian author and poet. She won Canada's top literary honor, the Governor General's Award, three times, twice for fiction and once for poetry.
Early life
Hébe ...
,
Lise Bissonnette
Lise Bissonnette (born December 13, 1945) is a Canadian writer and journalist.
Biography
Born in Rouyn, Quebec, Bissonnette studied education science at the Université de Montréal from 1965 to 1970. She later pursued doctoral studies at th ...
and
Marie-Claire Blais
Marie-Claire Blais (5 October 1939 – 30 November 2021) was a Canadian writer, novelist, poet, and playwright from the province of Québec. In a career spanning seventy years, she wrote novels, plays, collections of poetry and fiction, newspa ...
.
Anansi publishes the transcripts for many of the
Massey Lectures
The Massey Lectures is an annual five-part series of lectures given in Canada by distinguished writers, thinkers and scholars who explore important ideas and issues of contemporary interest. Created in 1961 in honour of Vincent Massey, the former ...
.
House of Anansi Press was purchased in 1989 by General Publishing, parent of
Stoddart Publishing
Stoddart Publishing was a Canadian book publisher and distributor, owned by Jack Stoddart, which ceased operations in 2002.UncreditedBook giant Stoddart files for creditor protection CBC News, May 1, 2002. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
History
General ...
.
In June 2002 it was acquired by
Scott Griffin
Scott Griffin, (born 1938) is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist best known for founding the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2000, one of the world's most generous poetry awards, and Poetry In Voice, a bilingual recitation competition for Canadia ...
, founder of the
Griffin Poetry Prize
The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin.
Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...
.
Select bibliography
*''
Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature'',
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...
(1972)
References
External links
Official SiteList of references* Archives of the House of Anansi Pres
(House of Anasi Press fonds, R11750)are held at
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:House Of Anansi Press
Book publishing companies of Canada
Publishing companies established in 1967
1967 establishments in Ontario