Celebrating Forty Years of Poetry: Part One

On December 17, 1982, Heather Cadsby and Marja Jacobs incorporated Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd. When she told me about this Marja said they’d decided to incorporate first thing so that the press would be real. She added with a smile that when the lawyer who incorporated them realized they wanted to publish books he widened their scope on paper to also include stationery – “In case we wanted to make money.” But unsurprisingly, the press has never sold stationery. Ever since that date, W&W has been publishing books. Brilliant, often award-winning books. And for the first twenty-four years, all we published was poetry.

This year, the press turns forty. For National Poetry Month we’re celebrating the incredible range of books we’ve published in the past forty years. We’ve selected ten books from each decade and we’ll be profiling them with photos and a bit of a write-up. This is not every book we’ve published in those decades, not even close, but it’s a sampling of books we’ve put into the world. These are books that made a difference, that charted how the press changed over the years, that give you a sense of what we were reading and loving in each decade.   

We’re starting with 1982 to 1992.

The very first book that we published was an anthology on the topic of jealousy, which we unfortunately no longer have a copy of in the office. Marja told me once that the book was fascinating, and hard to sell. Afterwards, Heather and Marja moved to doing single author collections.

Polly Fleck, Heather Spears, Robert Hilles and Stan Rogal all appeared early on and did several collections with us. Polly Fleck was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Award for poetry for her second book with the press, while Heather Spears brought the press its first Governor General’s Award for poetry with her wonderful book The Word for Sand. Richard Lush appeared early and was a great supporter of the press, as was, and still is, Kevin Irie. Bev Daurio, a brilliant poet, also had her own publishing company, The Mercury Press. Martin Singleton left us much too early, dying tragically young. George Miller was renowned for teaching poetry – I heard many stories about his workshops – and Michael Redhill went on to be an award-winning author after his debut collection, Impromptu Feats of Balance.

1984, Polychronicon, Polly Fleck

1987, Sancho, George Miller

1987, If Summer Had a Knife, Bev Daurio

1987, A Grass Pillow, Richard Lush

1988, The Word for Sand, Heather Spears

1989, Range of Motion, Martin Singleton

1990, Impromptu Feats of Balance, Michael Redhill

1991, Finding the Lights On, Robert Hilles

1992, Burning the Dead, Kevin Irie

1992, Sweet Betsy from Pike, Stan Rogal