Books Start Here

Books Start Here

Stakeholders in the Nova Scotia book trade have launched the Books Start Here campaign to grow their industry in the province. The campaign’s two main goals are to communicate the news that there is a vibrant local publishing industry ready to grow, and to convince the provincial government to support the industry at levels matching other provinces. 

A Books Start Here event will be held on Thursday, March 17 from 7-9 p.m. at the Fountain Commons on the Acadia University Campus in Wolfville, and is hosted by the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association with support from Acadia’s English Department and the Vaughan Memorial Library. This event is free and open to all members of the public who are interested in learning more about our regional book trade.

Attendees will hear from authors, publishers, booksellers, and librarians, including Maggie Neilson (academic librarian/director of One Book Nova Scotia), Ami McKay (author of The Birth House and Jerome: The Historical Spectacle), Errol Sharpe (author/publisher, Fernwood Publishing), and many others.

Andrew Steeves (author/publisher, Gaspereau Press) will moderate a panel called "Local publishing and the ecology of the book" featuring panelists Andy Brown (publisher, Conundrum Press), Hilary Drummond (bookseller, The Box of Delights Bookshop), Alexander MacLeod (author of Light Lifting and English professor at SMU), and Ben Anderson (Horton High School student, avid reader, and Box of Delights Employee).

Several regional publishers will also be in attendance with books on hand for viewing and purchase, including Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press, Formac Lorimer Books, Conundrum Press, Gaspereau Press Printers & Publishers, and Fernwood Publishing.

Books Start Here’s organizers hope to encourage the provincial government to include measures in the 2016 budget that implement promises of consultation and support made in the 2015 budget. Publishers are looking to expand production, marketing and sales, generating more local jobs and higher profiles for Nova Scotia authors across Canada and internationally.

The Books Start Here campaign launched at a free public event in February at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, attracting more than 200 people. Canada’s new poet laureate, George Elliott Clarke, lent his support to the event, as well as several other Nova Scotia authors and illustrators. A second successful event was held in Mahone Bay on February 24.

Go back