Small Press Saturday: Book*hug Press
The cover of We, Jane by Aimee Wall.
Happy Saturday!
Straight up, it has been a hell of a week. I’ve been trying to avoid the news and social media as much as possible as Alberta copes with COVID-19 and the imminent collapse of our health care system. It’s depressing and distracting. My avoidance techniques have included cooking, listening to audiobooks, working, and writing a couple of things for the Butterflies & Aliens Library. Talking about all things bookish is a welcome escape.
This Saturday, I am thrilled to introduce you to Book*hug Press. They were founded in 2004 by Jay Millar and were originally called BookThug. In 2018, they changed their name due to the negative and racist connotations of the word “thug.” When controversy struck about their name, rather than hiding or defending the name, they recognized the problem, owned the mistake instead of deflecting, and made a temporary change to Book*hug Press. The name became permanent when they received positive feedback.
Cover for You Are Eating an Orange. You Are Naked. by Sheung-King.
I love their tagline of being “a radically optimistic Canadian independent literary press.” So often CanLit is labelled as sombre or depressing, so this is a fresh take on looking at CanLit. Of course, many of their books do look at heavy subject matter and this isn’t a blanket statement that all their books are happy, but I really like the angle. We need all the radical optimism we can get.
Book*hug Press publishes innovative and contemporary literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and literature in translation. The voices they publish are diverse and strong, and include authors Shani Mootoo, Andre Alexis, Johanna Skibsrud, and many more. Their books have also won awards and been nominated for awards. Their award nominations and/or wins include the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the International Booker Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Awards, CBC Canada Reads, and many more.
Just this month, they were able to announce that We, Jane by Aimee Wall was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. This is an extremely timely and relevant novel about female relationships, rural life, and abortion. Given the backward steps of Texas recently, this read is more important than ever.
One of their recent releases that I am very interested in reading is Talking Animals by Joni Murphy. I love books that are reflections of humanity told through the perspective of animals and this press blurb sold me on it:
“Come for the cover, which depicts a thoughtful alpaca, and stay for the tale of intrigue, climate change, and metropolitan doom—all in a world without humans. Sounds nice right now!” —Vulture,”29 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer” 2020
Covers for Talking Animals and Double Teenage by Joni Murphy.
I loved Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton and The Council of Animals by Nick McDonell (both published by major American publishers) and I anticipate that I will be adding Talking Animals to this list of favourites.
Cover for In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale.
Hopefully, you have enjoyed meeting Book*hug Press and I hope you will spend some time this weekend checking out their website and their incredible list of books. Your next great read might be found in their list.
Happy Reading!
– Stacey
Find Book*Hug books at your local Canadian indie bookseller!
Book*hug books, including Double Teenage, are also available on their website
