Literary Arts - Book's Collective

The Books Collective is a publisher specializing in a fascinating variety of books. Due to its diversification through its imprints, River Books and Tessaract Books, over the last 10 years this publishing house has experienced tremendous growth. Subsequently, it has released a great deal of Canadian literature covering a wide range of topics.

Established in 1992, the River Books imprint was aptly named. As one of the original imprints of the Books Collective, River Books adopts an approach to publishing whereby three "streams" publish different types of writing. River, Slipstream, and Well Written Comics exist as the three divisions within the imprint, each publishing distinctly unique works. Historically, River Books has published rather traditional work of Albertan writers. The Slipstream division was added in 1996 and began to consider books dealing with more liberal ideas. Well Written Comics continued the experimental trend, publishing books that are unique in format and presentation. Written by Dianne Linden and Gerry Dotto, Faux Paws (the first book released by Well Written Comics) is a fine example of the division's work, as it blends a comic book format with poetry.

The second imprint, Tesseract Books, has an interesting history. In 1985, Tesseract Books was launched into production, beginning with the publication of an anthology of Canadian science fiction entitled Tesseracts. The anthology was edited by Judith Merril, a renowned writer who founded Ontario Hydra, the first association of Canadian science fiction writers, in 1984. Wildly successful, the anthology was met with critical acclaim and noticed internationally, leading to another eight Tesseract anthologies. In 1994, Tesseract Books was acquired by the Books Collective and continues to be one of the most successful publishers of Canadian science fiction today.