Small Press Explorer
Canadian poet and small press publisher bpNichol once said, “Supporting small press is supporting literature on the cutting edge. Small press is the guardian of literary culture and free speech.” At its heart, small press is about experimentation and community-building. It began as a cost-effective means of circulating innovative, fringe literatures, and in many ways, this scrappy, humble tradition has been preserved while also inviting new approaches to the craft, from the basement-produced zine to the carefully handcrafted, formally-interested art object.
This map, while not exhaustive of the small presses currently in existence in Canada, gives a taste of the ephemera and wonder on offer across the country. Happy reading!
—Kate Siklosi, Co-Founding Editor, Gap Riot Press
| above/ground press | Ontario |
| Anchorage Press | New Brunswick |
| AngelHousePress | Ontario |
| Anstruther Press | Ontario |
| Anvil Press | British Columbia |
| Apt. 9 Press | Ontario |
| Arc Poetry Magazine | Ontario |
| At Bay Press | Manitoba |
| BAD BOOKS Press (an extension of BAD NUDES Magazine) | Quebec |
| Baraka Books and QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books | Quebec |
| Baseline Press | Ontario |
| battleaxe press | Ontario |
| Beautiful Outlaw | Ontario |
| Beliveau Books | Ontario |
| Bell Press | British Columbia |
| Between the Lines | Ontario |
| bird, buried press | Ontario |
| Black Dog Press | Saskatchewan |
| Blank Cheque Press | British Columbia |
| Block Party | Ontario |
| Book*hug Press | Ontario |
| Boulder Books | Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Brain Lag | Ontario |
| Breakwater Books | Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Brick Books | Ontario |
| broke press | British Columbia |
| Bywords.ca | Ontario |
| Caitlin Press & Dagger Editions | British Columbia |
| Canadian Small Change Association | Ontario |
| Canthius | Ontario |
| CAROUSEL | Ontario |
| Chalkboard Publishing | Ontario |
| Coach House Books | Ontario |
| Collusion Books | Nova Scotia |
| Crossfield Publishing | Ontario |
| Curvd H&z | Ontario |
| DC Books / Railfare DC Books | Quebec |
| DOCUMENTS in Expanded Poetics | Quebec |
| Dumagrad Books | Ontario |
| EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing | Alberta |
| Entourage Media | Ontario |
| espresso | Ontario |
| Fernwood Publishing | Nova Scotia |
| Fish Gotta Swim Editions | British Columbia |
| Floodlight Editions | Ontario |
| Freehand Books | Alberta |
| Gap Riot Press | Ontario |
| Gaspereau Press | Nova Scotia |
| Goose Lane Editions | New Brunswick |
| Gordon Hill Press | Ontario |
| Great Plains Publications | Manitoba |
| Grey Borders Books | Ontario |
| Guernica Editions | Ontario |
| Hecate Press | Yukon |
| Horsebroke Press | Ontario |
| House House Press | Quebec |
| Ice Floe Press | Ontario |
| Invisible Publishing | Ontario |
| Island Studies Press | Prince Edward Island |
| Island Studies Press at UPEI | Prince Edward Island |
| J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing Inc. | Manitoba |
| Kegedonce Press | Ontario |
| KnICH Press | Ontario |
| knife | fork | book | Ontario |
| Life to Paper Publishing | Ontario |
| Linda Leith Publishing | Quebec |
| Mawenzi House Publishers | Ontario |
| Metatron Press | Quebec |
| Milagro Press | British Columbia |
| Model Press | Ontario |
| Mother Tongue Publishing | British Columbia |
| Mythos & Ink Ltd. | Manitoba |
| n-o-b-o-d-y | Ontario |
| Nevermore Press, Ltd. / Trap Door Books | Nova Scotia |
| NeWest Press | Alberta |
| NIETZSCHE’S BROLLY | Ontario |
| No press | Alberta |
| nOIR:Z visual poetry | Ontario |
| Noun Trivet Press | Quebec |
| Now Or Never Publishing | British Columbia |
| null pointer press | Manitoba |
| Old Growth Press | Ontario |
| Opaat Press | Nova Scotia |
| Open Heart Forgery | Nova Scotia |
| Orbis Tertius Press | Alberta |
| pagefiftyone | British Columbia |
| Parentheses Journal | Ontario |
| Pedlar Press | Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Pete’s Press | Saskatchewan |
| phafours press | Quebec |
| Pinhole Poetry | Ontario |
| Playwrights Canada Press | Ontario |
| Poetry inPrint | Ontario |
| POPNOIR EDITIONS | Ontario |
| post ghost press | Ontario |
| Proper Tales Press | Ontario |
| Psycho Potato Press | Ontario |
| Radiant Press | Saskatchewan |
| Radical Bookshop and Press | Alberta |
| Rahila’s Ghost Press | British Columbia |
| Raven Chapbooks, an imprint of Rainbow Publishers | British Columbia |
| Room 3o2 Books | Ontario |
| Sad Girl Review | British Columbia |
| Saffron Press Publishing House Inc. (Saffron Press) | Ontario |
| Screamin’ Skull Press | Manitoba |
| Screamin’ Skull Press | Manitoba |
| serif of nottingham | Ontario |
| shreeking violet press | Ontario |
| Signature Editions | Manitoba |
| Simulacrum Press | Ontario |
| Spacecraft Press | Alberta |
| Stelliform Press | Ontario |
| Stonehewer Books | British Columbia |
| Teama Publishing | Ontario |
| TesserActual ArteFactory | Ontario |
| The Blasted Tree Publishing Co. | Alberta |
| The Hardscrabble Press | New Brunswick |
| The Porcupine’s Quill | Ontario |
| The Soap Box Press | Ontario |
| The Stygian Society | Quebec |
| Thistledown Press | Saskatchewan |
| TouchWood Editions | British Columbia |
| Undertow Publications | Ontario |
| Vallum Magazine / Vallum Chapbook Series | Quebec |
| Véhicule Press | Quebec |
| Vocamus Press | Ontario |
| West of Canon | Ontario |
| Whispering Wick Chapbook Press | Ontario |
| Wolsak and Wynn Publishers | Ontario |
| ZED Press | Ontario |
Kate Siklosi, Small Press Map Curator
Kate Siklosi lives, writes and thinks in Toronto. Her criticism has been featured in various journals and magazines including Canadian Literature, JAST, The Walrus, and The Puritan. She has published five chapbooks of poetry, and her work has also been featured in various magazines and small press publications across North America, Europe and the UK. She is the co-founding editor of Gap Riot Press, a feminist experimental poetry small press.