Steinmetz, McKay & Starnino

This fall, Geist magazine features an excerpt from Andrew Steinmetz's novel, Eva's Threepenny Theatre, and a review of Don McKay's The Muskwa Assemblage.




While in Iceland for the Reykjavik International Literary Festival, Don McKay answered the question, Why Poetry? Visit the Griffin Trust website to read the entire speech.

Meanwhile, back in Canada, Andrew Steinmetz has been busy jumping on shortlists for the Ottawa Book Awards and the Roger's Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. He's still had time for other pursuits though - Andrew recently set one of Carmine Starnino's poems to music. Visit the Vehicule Press blog to listen to Carmine Starnino's poem 'Shag' from This Way Out adapted and performed by Andrew Steinmetz.

Don McKay and The Muskwa Assemblage

Don McKay is one of Canada’s most celebrated poets. Last year, Gaspereau Press released a short book of his poetry called The Muskwa Assemblage, a reflection on a visit he made to the Muskwa-Kechika wilderness of northern British Columbia.

Making the book was an adventure as well, as it was the first time that we have produced a trade publication that was printed letterpress, inside and out. Gary also produced a handmade paper for the book jacket here as the press – also a first. I had a good chuckle last fall when I had to explain to the patient but perplexed editor from The Walrus that, no, we couldn’t provide him with a ‘cover image’ to run with their review of the book because we hadn’t made the paper yet and didn’t quite know what the jackets would look like. In fact, I said, we still had to build some of the papermaking equipment. It seems that’s not an excuse they hear every day.

Finally finished, the book won an Alcuin award for book design last week. Tra-la!


from The Muskwa Assemblage
Don McKay

Cladonia borealis: aka
Red pyxie-cup lichen, aka little stoplights
clustered on a stump. Pause here,
hiker. Consider such symbioses
as these creatures so ingeniously
accomplish in their fungal-algal
love-and-death affair.
     And spare another moment
for the first frail
single-celled companionships
cultured in earth’s ancient amniotic
oceans. Think
of the mother of the
mother of the mother-to-the-nth
of thought.

Copyright © Don McKay, 2008

Gaspereau Press Wins Six Alcuin Design Awards

Six books designed by Gaspereau Press co-owner Andrew Steeves have been recognized in the Alcuin Society’s 27th annual juried book-design competition.

Four of the six winning titles are trade books which were published by Gaspereau Press in 2008. The remaining two books were designed for Anchorage Press, a private press operated by photographer Thaddeus Holownia in Jolicure, New Brunswick.

The Alcuin Society was founded in 1965 and promotes the appreciation of fine book design in Canada. This year’s judges – Alan Stein, Frank Newfeld and E.A. Hobart (Zab) – examined 233 books published in Canada in 2008. A total of 32 awards were granted in eight categories: Children’s, Limited editions, Pictorial, Poetry, Prose fiction, Prose non-fiction, Prose non-fiction illustrated and Reference. The winning books will be exhibited internationally at the Frankfurt, Leipzig and Tokyo book fairs, and at locations across Canada.


SECOND PRIZE - PROSE NON-FICTION
Wisdom & Metaphor by Jan Zwicky

This is a redesigned hardcover edition of Zwicky’s award-winning book of philosophy. The original version also won an Alcuin award for design in 2003. Designed by Andrew Steeves and printed and bound at Gaspereau Press.



SECOND PRIZE - POETRY
The Muskwa Assemblage by Don McKay

This letterpress-printed poetry book is the first book which employs a jacket paper handmade by Gary Dunfield at Gaspereau Press. Designed and handprinted by Andrew Steeves at Gaspereau Press.



SECOND PRIZE - PROSE FICTION
That Tune Clutches My Heart by Paul Headrick

Set in the 1940s, this short novel follows one girl’s high school experience as recorded in the pages of her personal journal. The jacket features an original illustration by Wesley Bates. Designed by Andrew Steeves and printed and bound at Gaspereau Press.



THIRD PRIZE - PROSE NON-FICTION ILLUSTRATED
In Black & White by Wesley Bates

This is a luxuriously illustrated memoir by one of North America’s foremost wood engravers. Designed by Andrew Steeves and printed and bound at Gaspereau Press.

Hillbilly Papermaking, with your host Gary Dunfield

Andrew's Printshop Review

Things are getting busy in the printshop again after a bit of a break over the Christmas holiday. As usual, there are many different projects at many different stages, but my main focus at the moment is on designing the guts of new poetry books by Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen and Carmine Starnino, and the jacket for Robert Bringhurst’s Selected Poems. Kate and I are also trying to get the spring catalogue to press – which is several weeks overdue on my account. I’ve been distracted with both commercial design jobs and the production of two letterpress books.

















This week I started to print the green ‘spot’ colour on our forthcoming letterpress book, Walking, an essay by Henry David Thoreau. The printing of the text is complete, and after I print all the drop capitals and such I’ll be ready to print Wesley Bate’s three engravings from the blocks. The paper is a wonderful German sheet called Biblio. The green is PMS 443, a selection inspired by Rockwell Kent.

















Speaking of letterpress books, the printing of Don McKay’s The Muskwa Assemblage is complete, but we’re still trying to find time to make the paper for the jacket. More accurately, as I told Don, we’re still trying to find time to make the equipment we need to make the paper for his jackets. I’ll include some pictures of our papermaking process in a forthcoming post. In the meantime, Don was good enough to send us some cotton fibre to help make the paper for his book jackets – an old pair of his own blue jeans.