Description

pp. 464, b/w illustrations, “In the past 60 years, Canadian writing and publishing has come of age. The Perilous Trade, subtitled “Publishing Canada’s Writers,” traces this fascinating story through numerous anecdotes and profiles of the major players involved. Roy MacSkimming, a former publisher and author himself, gives us a literary who’s who that focuses on key luminaries such as the gentlemanly John Gray of Macmillan, the forward thinking Marsh Jeanneret of University of Toronto Press, and Jack McClelland of McClelland & Stewart, perhaps the most renowned of all Canadian publishers. The author turns what could have been a dry history lesson into an often riveting read. For instance, the delirious story of Canadian publishing in the 1960s, a time when small presses seemed to bloom overnight, is told in a chapter titled “Printed in Canada by Mindless Acid Freaks.” “