It has been 50 years since a once-small, independent publishing company began to make its mark in Toronto. House of Anansi Press has promoted new Canadian authors since 1967—a time when individuals were questioning what Canadian literature even was.
House of Anansi Press was co-founded by University of Toronto graduates Dennis Lee and David Godfrey. The two of them were young writers, frustrated over the lack of Canadian content on bookshelves at the time.
In an interview with a literary magazine called Canadian Forum, Godfrey guessed that only about 2 per cent of books in stores were actually Canadian. He believed that new voices in fiction were still missing in Canada.
“The real need is in fiction for parti-pris novels,” said Godfrey. “First novels of young people who have a different way of seeing things or putting it down or something interesting to say.”
The year 1967 marked the 10th anniversary of the Canada Council for the Arts—a council created to fund and promote Canadian art. In Canada’s centennial year, the Council began to focus on publishing, giving House of Anansi enough funds to kick-start their press.
In their first year, they managed to publish four collections of poetry. One of those collections was a re-issue of budding writer, Margaret Atwood’s The Circle Game. The company continued to publish what they could out of Godfrey’s downtown Toronto home. By 1969 the press published one-third of all Canadian novels that year.
Atwood and her then-husband Jim Polk joined the press in 1970. Polk became the new editor while the two co-founders left to pursue other interests. With House of Anansi, Atwood published her first book on literary criticism called Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. This book went on to be taught in schools as it shaped the way Canadians viewed themselves culturally.
Margaret Atwood discusses her book, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, in a 1972 interview with Adrienne Clarkson on CBC’s program, Take 30. Credit: CBC Digital Archives.
In a 1973 interview on the CBC program Impressions, Atwood discussed her book and how Canadian literature was struggling to survive. She metaphorically said that “Canadian literature is about a guy hanging on a bridge trying to climb up.” Atwood also commented on the interconnections between literature and culture.
“I don’t think literature exists within an ivory tower,” said Atwood. “But literature is produced by a culture, it exists within a culture.”
Margaret Atwood’s 1973 Interview with Ramsay Cook on CBC’s Impressions. Credit: CBC Digital Archives.
The publishing company landed in the hands of philanthropist and businessman Scott Griffin in 2002. About 35 years after its inception, House of Anansi began to grow significantly, publishing books that won big awards like the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Griffin Poetry Prize.
Jody Mason is a professor of Canadian literature at Carleton University who researches institutions of literature in Canada. She believes that while House of Anansi’s role in publishing has changed, it is still committed to publishing unique, Canadian voices.
“I think that at the time it was on the edge of publishing, taking incredible risks with young writers who were involved in the press in a very intimate way,” says Mason. “Now if you look at the Anansi webpage you see that it has most certainly become associated with the big novels…and that’s how it’s been able to retain its place.”
Mason says that right now, the Canadian publishing market is dominated by a multinational one but House of Anansi is one of the few exceptions to that rule. She believes it serves as an inspiration to young writers who are also interested in small-press publishing.
Today, House of Anansi publishes in both print and e-book editions. The company has eight different imprints and 224 award-winning books listed on their website.
In a blog post on House of Anansi’s 50th celebration website, a preface written by Margaret Atwood for her book, Survival, is posted. She wrote it five years ago, in celebration of Anansi’s 45th anniversary.
“It’s incredible that the House of Anansi has itself survived for forty-five years,” wrote Atwood. “I hope it will persist for another forty-five years…and that reading of books will still take place then, and that readers will continue to find such reading an enjoyable and meaningful way to spend time. For if so, the human race will also have survived.”
Descriptions of sources can be found here.