Printshop notes

Well, Tim Bowling’s In The Suicide’s Library is now beginging to circulate. The first copies arrived in Alberta last Tuesday for a reading, and Tim says they were well received and much admired (and that’s before he even read from it). I notice Gary’s got a copy flopped opened on his desk, reading it on break. That’s usually a good sign.



We’ve finally got sheets for Johanna Skibsrud’s Giller Shortlisted The Sentimentalists printed and folded and ready for the bindery, but they will to have to sit caged up in a couple of giant postal bins until after the weekend’s Wayzgoose and Open House. Perhaps, I opined to Gary, we should set the book out and get everyone who comes to the Wayzgoose to help gather them into book blocks for sewing? Where else could a whole community take part in the production of a Giller shortlisted book? But likely we’ll wait until after the crowds go away, lest some visitor spill his drink or some bump the table, endangering many thousands of dollars worth of soon-to-be books.



Another reason to wait until next week to bind Giller books is that Newfoundland writer Bruce Johnson is coming to take part in the Wayzgoose celebration, and we’re hoping that with a little luck we’ll actually have copies of his novel, Firmament, available Saturday. They just started on the press today, so it may mean bringing him from the airport to the printshop on Friday night to help us bind and trim books. I started the letterpress jackets today, so at least those will be ready.

If you’re in the area, remember to join us Saturday at the printshop for a wide range of events, including our special guest Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. I think Amos gets to Nova Scotia today, actually, and will be doing some things at NSCAD University through the week.

ANDREW STEEVES ¶ PRINTER & PUBLISHER