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.

The Desk Set

We published Paul Headrick's first novel, That Tune Clutches My Heart, last fall. This week, we asked Paul to show us his desk and what he was working on.

I’m currently writing a novel set in a dreary Vancouver January. In ordinary circumstances I would be conveniently positioned to imbue the narrative with the telling details that give scenes strength and win belief. I would only need to glance out my window and describe what I see to get a perfectly accurate representation of a particular kind of drizzle, or of the particular colour of the North Shore mountains in the afternoon with a high overcast and a feeble sun setting.

My circumstances, however, are not quite ordinary for me, at the moment. I’m in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for a two-month writing sojourn with my wife, Heather Burt. In the mornings I set up a small desk on our terrace, which is gracefully lined with blooming potted plants that attract a fine variety of hummingbirds. Through the day I shift my desk about to stay in the shade. It’s a challenge to enter the noirish mood of my narrative as the day grows warm and I sip on iced tea, and I hear in the distance the sounds of a mariachi band playing in the town square. The photo shows me at my desk, wearing my new Panama hat, which makes me feel like a minor character in a Graham Greene novel, perhaps one of those whose willful naiveté shades into evil. My expression suggests that I’ve hit my minimum five hundred words for the day and I’m contemplating moving from iced tea to tequila.