About
Scrivener Trees in Killarney
Our Mission
scrivener (skriv'ner): from Middle English scrivein, from Old French escrivein, and ultimately from Latin scribere, which means to write
Located in Sudbury, Your Scrivener Press is a small, primarily literary, publisher with a mandate to serve the writers of Ontario’s northeast by making publishing accessible to them. We believe that a national culture is inevitably a quilt of regional accents and inflections—voices that contribute to the national fabric by manifesting their own distinctiveness. We also believe, then, that without a robust, homegrown literature the distinctive character of a region risks assimilation into the dominant regional voices that characterize—and come to be known as—Canadian literature.
Consequently, while an important goal of Your Scrivener Press is to showcase northeastern Ontario voices to the rest of the province and country, our primary purpose is to help build a visible community of writers—and readers of those writers—across our region. Success in regional publishing—especially in a region without a well-established literary history—requires more than a quality manuscript. It takes the nurturing of a community of writers who recognize themselves as such, and more importantly, the nurturing of a community of readers who recognize their writers.
We began in 1995, and by 2004 had published 14 titles. In our first 10 years we focused on poetry, with some local history as well. In 2005 we began adding short fiction to our list. Novels began appearing in 2008.
In the shorter term
A main goal over the next while is to publish up to four books a year, with the majority being literature by northeasterners, though we will consider a manuscript from outside the region whose characteristics clearly fit our list, and which can therefore be marketed primarily to the northeast.
A second goal is to become a catalyst for literary activities in the northeast, through sponsoring, collaborating with, or promoting contests, workshops, reading series, and other events fostering a growing literary self-consciousness.
Following on from the catalyst goal, we plan to develop a literary annual which will provide a place for emerging writers to get initial publications alongside more established peers from northeastern Ontario. Such a publication would also encourage critical reflection on the literature of Ontario’s northeast.
A crucial goal is to enhance our current chain of retail outlets in the northeast, making it comprehensive. Watch our Retailers' Network page for a growing list of places to buy Your Scrivener Press books.
In the longer term
While literature will remain our core publishing activity, we hope in the not too distant future to branch out into other areas of trade publishing by creating imprints enabling writers from the northeast and beyond to serve niche readers in the northeast and beyond.