Small Press Saturday: Fernwood Publishing

Cover for A Love Letter to Africville by Amanda Carvery-Taylor

Saturday is here again, Canadians are reeling from the discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children near Kamloops, British Columbia, the government of Alberta is making questionable decisions around the school curriculum, COVID-19, and public health restrictions, and we have another Canadian small press to share with you!

Founded in 1991, Fernwood Publishing is based in Black Point, Nova Scotia, with an office in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They started out as primarily an academic publisher, but have evolved over the years to become a publisher that, while still focussing on academic social sciences type books, has also expanded to reach more general readers who are interested in social change and social justice.

Fernwood also has a literary imprint called Roseway, together comprising a political publisher with the mandate to publish books that enlighten and inform. Critical readers are their target market, and one of their main goals is “to give dissent a voice.”

You won’t find fluff or escapism in a Fernwood or Roseway publication, but you will find challenging books that might disturb your comfort zone, interrupt your status quo, and introduce you to new ways of thinking. I think my favourite passage I found on their website is on their submissions page and it is this:

“Our books present a critical analysis of society—recognizing the roles of capitalism, patriarchy, racism, homo/transphobia, and other sites of oppression and exploitation in the creation and perpetuation of social problems, such as poverty, violence, and climate chaos. Our books challenge existing norms and propose alternatives.”

Personally, I am totally behind this and have found several Fernwood books making their way onto my wishlist. Given the current state of my home province and home town, Stampede: Misogyny, White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism by Kimberly A. Williams is very high on that list. This book is an intersectional feminist analysis of the gendered and racialized dynamics of the contemporary Calgary Stampede. It is sure to be compelling and educational.

So, while summer is here and summer reading is often equated with light and fluffy, you might want to mix up your summer and introduce some dense and thought-provoking titles from Fernwood to your summer reading queue. Your brain will appreciate it.

Happy Reading!

– Stacey

Pick up a Fernwood/Roseway book at your local Canadian indie bookseller!

Cover for Land-Water-Sky / Ndè-Tı-Yat’a by Katłıà 

Covers for Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present by Robyn Maynard and Stampede: Misogyny, White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism by Kimberly A. Williams.