ECW Press
Encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with Extreme Championship WrestlingExtreme Championship WrestlingExtreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
or ECW (WWE).
ECW Press is a North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n small press
Small press
Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...
book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
publisher located in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker
Robert Lecker
Robert Lecker is Greenshields Professor of English at McGill University, where he specializes in Canadian literature. Lecker was the co-editor of the critical journal Essays on Canadian Writing from 1975-2004, and the copublisher at ECW Press from 1977-2003...
in 1974 as a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
named Essays on Canadian Writing. Five years later, ECW published its first books - trade and scholarly titles. It started with two principal series - the Annotated Bibliography of Canada's Major Authors (ABCMA) and Canadian Writers and Their Works (CWTW). Through the 1980s ECW upgraded its typesetting facilities, published reference titles, and began to service third-party clients, creating books for corporations to use for promotional purposes and events such as anniversaries. In the 1990s ECW re-commenced trade publishing, and expanded its scholarly and reference lines for high school and public libraries.
As the company grew, its publishing mandate widened, and Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
recognized ECW Press as one of the fastest growing and most diversified independent publishers in North America. ECW now publishes literary fiction
Literary fiction
Literary fiction is a term that came into common usage during the early 1960s. The term is principally used to distinguish "serious fiction" which is a work that claims to hold literary merit, in comparison from genre fiction and popular fiction . In broad terms, literary fiction focuses more upon...
, poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, and mysteries
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
, as well as non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
, professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
, business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, personal finance
Personal finance
Personal finance is the application of the principles of finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit. It addresses the ways in which individuals or families obtain, budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account various financial risks and future...
, sports, true crime
True crime
True crime is a non-fiction literary and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people.The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to...
, humour, popular science
Popular science
Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by scientists as well as journalists, and is presented in many...
, and travel
Travel
Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...
. No longer just Essays in Canadian Writing, ECW came to stand for Entertainment. Culture. Writing.
ECW books have won the Governor General's Literary Award
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
, the Arthur Ellis Award
Arthur Ellis Awards
The Arthur Ellis Awards are a group of Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada for the best Canadian crime and mystery writing....
, the Archibald Lampman Award
Archibald Lampman Award
The Archibald Lampman Award is an annual Canadian literary award, created by Blaine Marchand, and presented by the literary magazine Arc, for the year's best work of poetry by a writer living in the National Capital Region.- History :...
for Poetry, the Heritage Toronto Award, and the Independent Publisher Book Award
Independent Publisher Book Award
The Independent Publisher Book Awards , launched in 1996, are designed to bring increased recognition to titles published by independent authors and publishers...
. They have also been nominated for Canada Reads
Canada Reads
Canada Reads is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC.-Overview:During Canada Reads, five personalities champion five different books, each champion extolling the merits of one of the titles. The debate is broadcast over a series...
and the Trillium Book Award
Trillium Book Award
The Trillium Award is given annually by the government of the Province of Ontario and is open to books in any genre: fiction, non-fiction, drama, children's books, and poetry. Anthologies, new editions, re-issues and translations are not eligible. Three jury members per language judge the...
.
ECW continues to publish around 50 new titles a year, and has published thousands of books distributed throughout the English-speaking world and translated into dozens of languages.
Literary fiction
- Jonathan Bennett, Entitlement
- Tony Burgess, Pontypool Changes Everything
- Trevor ClarkTrevor ClarkTrevor Clark is a Canadian novelist and short story writer.-Biography:Clark was born and raised in Toronto. He hitchhiked to San Francisco at 17, later dropped out of a journalism program, worked around Alberta for a year, and hitchhiked twice more through the USA before returning to school. He...
, Born To Lose - Joey ComeauJoey ComeauJoey Comeau is a Canadian writer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is best known for writing the text of the webcomic A Softer World and for his novels Lockpick Pornography and Overqualified. His work is difficult to classify by genre...
, Overqualified - Jon Paul FiorentinoJon Paul FiorentinoJon Paul Fiorentino is a Canadian poet, novelist and short story writer.Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he currently teaches at Concordia University, is editor-in-chief of Matrix magazine and founded Snare Books , a Canadian publishing Company....
, Stripmalling - Brian FrancisBrian Francis (writer)Brian Francis is a Canadian writer. His 2004 novel Fruit was selected for inclusion in the 2009 edition of Canada Reads, where it was championed by novelist and CBC Radio One personality Jen Sookfong Lee...
, Fruit - Sky GilbertSky GilbertSchuyler Lee Gilbert, Jr. is a Canadian writer, actor, academic and drag performer. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, he studied theatre in Toronto, Ontario at York University and the University of Toronto, before becoming co-founder and artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times, a Toronto theatre...
, Brother Dumb - Derek McCormackDerek McCormack (writer)Derek McCormack is a Canadian novelist and short story writer whose work is characterized by its extreme brevity and its humorous, often distinctly queer forms of sexual darkness....
, The Show That Smells - Christopher MeadesChristopher MeadesChristopher Meades is a Vancouver author whose first novel The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark was released by ECW Press in September 2010....
, The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark - Corey Redekop, Shelf Monkey
- Emily SchultzEmily SchultzEmily Schultz is a Canadian-American fiction writer and the author of Black Coffee Night, a Danuta Gleed nominated 2002 collection of stories. A story from that collection was adapted by Lynne Stopkewich, director of Kissed. In 2005 Schultz published her first novel, Joyland...
, Joyland
Poetry
- Christopher DewdneyChristopher DewdneyChristopher Dewdney is a Canadian writer and poet.He was born in London, Ontario, and presently lives in Toronto, where he is a professor at York University. He is the long-time partner of writer Barbara Gowdy. Winner of the 2007 Harbourfront Festival Prize, he is the author of four books of...
, The Natural History]] - Robert PriestRobert PriestRobert Priest is a British born Canadian poet and children's author. He has written numerous books of poetry, several children's novels, and has often appeared on CBC radio's hit spoken word show "Wordbeat" under the alias "Dr Poetry". He is well known for his aphorisms and performance poetry...
, Reading the Bible Backwards - Stuart RossStuart RossStuart Ross is a Canadian fiction writer, poet, editor, and creative-writing instructor.Ross was born in Toronto's north end in 1959 and grew up in the Borough of North York. He began writing at a very young age and was first published at age 16 by Books by Kids . This book, The Thing in Exile,...
, Hey, Crumbling Balcony! Poems New & Selected - Jacob ScheierJacob ScheierJacob Scheier is a Canadian poet. His debut poetry collection, More to Keep Us Warm, was published by ECW Press in 2007 and was named the winner of the 2008 Governor General's Award for English poetry....
, More to Keep Us Warm - Emily SchultzEmily SchultzEmily Schultz is a Canadian-American fiction writer and the author of Black Coffee Night, a Danuta Gleed nominated 2002 collection of stories. A story from that collection was adapted by Lynne Stopkewich, director of Kissed. In 2005 Schultz published her first novel, Joyland...
, Songs for the Dancing Chicken - R. M. VaughanR. M. VaughanRichard Murray Vaughan is a Canadian poet, novelist and playwright.A graduate of the creative writing program at the University of New Brunswick, Vaughan currently lives in Toronto. He was playwright-in-residence at Buddies in Bad Times in 1994-95, and has published numerous works, including...
, Ruined Stars - Hawksley WorkmanHawksley WorkmanRyan Corrigan , better known by the stage name Hawksley Workman, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has garnered critical acclaim for his blend of cabaret pop and glam rock. Workman has released eleven full length albums throughout his career...
, Hawksley Burns for Isadora
Mystery/Thriller
- Anne Emery, Cecilian Vespers, The Sign of the Cross, Obit and Barrington Street Blues]
- Mike Harrison, All Shook Up, Wild Thing and Ruby Tuesday
- Brad Kelln, In Tongues of the Dead
- Mike Knowles, Darwin's Nightmare
- John McFetridge, Dirty Sweet and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
- Ross Pennie, Tainted
- Brent Pilkey, Lethal Rage