Fonds MsC 55 - Nightwood Editions fonds

Nightwood Editions is a literary publisher that came into existence in 1983, when David Lee and Maureen Cochrance purchased blewointment press, renamed it and moved it from Vancouver to Ontario. Founded in 1963 by the poet bill bissett, blewointment began by publishing mimeographed magazines of experimental poetry and, within a few years, books that extended the boundaries of language and visual image, including work by bpNichol, Steve McCaffery, Andrew Suknaski, Lionel Kearns and d. a. levy. Post-1983, as Nightwood, the press published a wide assortment of titles, in subjects as diverse as jazz music, poetry, fiction and film. In the early '90s, Governor General's Award-winning children's illustrator Kim La Fave acquired the press and added a line of children's titles with west coast themes. Silas White took over in 2000 and expanded the mandate of publishing critically acclaimed and award-winning poetry and fiction by new writers. In 2003, Nightwood joined forces with Junction Books, a Toronto chapbook publisher, and in 2004 acquired Bluefield Books. In 2005 the press came full circle with its relaunch of the blewointment imprint. Books under the blewointment name maintain bissett's original commitment to grassroots and innovative poetry.