Small Press Saturday: Coach House Books
Covers for The Dark Library, by Cyrille Martinez and translated by Joseph Patrick Stancila, and The Drifts, by Thom Vernon, published by Coach House.
Happy Small Press Saturday! There are so many wonderful small presses that it was hard to decide which one to showcase first. I mean, what criteria was I going to use to decide? So, I decided to make it easy on myself and go with the press whose book I read over the holiday season. I completely enjoyed it and what better way to rave about a press?
So, dear reader, I am happy to write about Coach House Books for our first Small Press Saturday post.
Coach House Books has been around in one iteration or another since 1965. You can read about their history on their website, but I want to talk about Coach House Books today. Coach House publishes poetry, fiction, and non-fiction that is literary, fresh, and challenging – both in content and style. They focus primarily on Canadian authors and champion diversity.
The press has seen commercial success with Scotiabank Giller Prizes, Governor General’s Awards, Lambda Literary Awards, Amazon First Novel Awards, and more. Even their most commercial work is innovative and they publish books that appeal to die-hard literary fans but also have a line up of titles for fans of quirky and weird fiction. The common thread is that the writing is strong, beautiful, and powerful.
The most recent book I’ve read by Coach House Books is The Dark Library by Cyrille Martinez and translated by Joseph Patrick Stancila. The cover is gorgeous and the paper is off-white, sturdy, and almost luxurious. I actually wish that I could have this one in hardcover with deckle edges, but alas, they publish straight to trade paperback. The book itself is charming and quirky and smart. The story centres around the Angry Young Book who is tired of people reading bestsellers and puts himself on desks where people who might appreciate him will find him. There is also an Old Historian, the Red Librarian, Blue Librarian, the Mauve Librarian, the Yellow Librarian, and an army of student workers who arrive to scan every book in the Great Library. With satire and wit, it explores the meaning and purpose of books and libraries in our modern world. It leans dark and cynical at times. I highly recommend it.
Up next in my Coach House reading queue is The Drifts by Thom Vernon, set during a blizzard in small town Arkansas, is a story of four different people, voices converge as the blizzard gathers force, their stories exploring memory, gender, and history. And I’d also love to read Fauna by Christiane Vadnais and translated by Pablo Strauss. It is a near-future dystopian set in a world ravaged by climate change that explores the struggle between humanity and nature. Totally my jam – I love man vs. nature stories and I always cheer for nature. Plus the cover is eye-catching (pun intended).
Cover for Fauna by Christiane Vadnais
Coach House Books also has a nonfiction line called Exploded Views. They are like novella-length essays that explore a variety of ideas and issues that are interesting and relevant. I’d like to read them all as there isn’t a single one that sounds dull – all brain food and a variety of perspectives. Sadly, I can’t speak to their poetry books as modern poetry isn’t my forte, but based on the quality of Coach House novels and nonfiction, I should probably add one of their collections to my lengthy to-be-read list.
I hope you have enjoyed this introduction to Coach House Books and hope that your next great Canadian read might be one of theirs.
Happy Reading!
– Stacey