The Porcupine's Quill
Celebrating thirty-five years on the Main Street
of Erin Village, Wellington County
Awards & Acclaim: 2005
So Beautiful by Ramona Dearing‘In her first book Ramona Dearing has shown us her ability to almost effortlessly touch the core of what matters. She is a funny and serious writer, a writer who asks all the right questions while being smart enough to never pretend she owns the answers.’ -- Danuta Gleed award judges’ citation
2005—Winterset Award,
Shortlisted
2005—Danuta Gleed,
Runner-up
2004—Globe Top 100,
Commended
Lines of Truth and Conversation by Joan AlexanderAlexander writes with a brash, comic, and socially sensitive touch that recalls Carol Shields. This isn’t hip, trendy, urban writing. It is unflinching, vivid, and frequently domestic. Nino Ricci described the collection as possessing ‘an unbridled urgency and wit.... At once eccentric and precisely observed, they seem to hum with the energy of everything in life that is unreasonable and can’t quite be contained.’
2005—Globe Top 100,
Commended
Always Now by Margaret Avison‘These are poems steeped in the Bible, but always imbued with genuine emotion and insight into contemporary life and without a tinge of self-righteousness.’
2005—Globe Top 100,
Commended
A Lover's Quarrel by Carmine StarninoMore outspoken criticism from one of the ‘attack dogs of Canadian Literature’.
2005—Quebec Writers' Federation, Mavis Gallant Prize,
Shortlisted
The Dodecahedron by Paul GlennonThe Dodecahedron, or A Frame for Frames is a kaleidoscopic puzzle-novel ... of sorts. Twelve stories of seemingly different genres cohere into a book of astonishing literary dimension. Stewart Cole of the Quill & Quire wrote that ‘The Dodecahedron never ceases to be about people: how despite the diversity of our obsessions, convergences prevail among us. One rarely sees a book of such scope and ambition succeed so thrillingly.’
2005—ForeWord Magazine, Book of the Year (Short Stories),
Shortlisted
2006—City of Ottawa Book Award,
Shortlisted
2006—Governor General's Literary Awards,
Shortlisted
2006—Globe Top 100,
Commended
Looking for Snails on a Sunday Afternoon by Rudolf KurzEdward Gorey and Max Ernst meet Dinotopia in Wonderland.
This is a collection of fantastic etchings by artist Rudolf Kurz, a man of surreal imagination wonderful talent. Allison Sivak of the Canadian Book Review Annual writes, ‘As the evocative title suggests, Looking for Snails on a Sunday Afternoon is about spending time focusing on the disturbing and pleasurable images inside.’
2006—Der Schoenste Bucher aus Aller Welt,
Shortlisted
2005—Alcuin Society,
Commended
2004—Unisource Litho Award,
Winner
Making Light of Tragedy by Jessica GrantJessica Grant flies under the radar of realism to find targets worth writing about. These stories are profound, magical and true to life. Nothing seems impossible. It’s good to be reminded of that.
2005—ForeWord Magazine, Book of the Year (Short Stories),
Shortlisted
The Porcupine’s Quill is remarkable in Canadian publishing in that most of the physical production of our journal is completed in-house at the shop on the Main Street of Erin Village. We print on a twenty-five inch Heidelberg KORD, typically onto acid-free Zephyr Antique laid. The sheets are then folded, and sewn into signatures on a 1907 model Smyth National Book Sewing machine.
To take a virtual tour of the pressroom, visit us at YouTube for a discussion of offset printing in general, and the operation of a Heidelberg KORD in particular. Other videos include Four Colour Printing, Smyth Sewing and Wood Engraving. Photographs of production machinery used on these pages were taken by Sandra Traversy on site at the printing office of the Porcupine's Quill, December 2008.
The Porcupine's Quill would like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. The financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) is also gratefully acknowledged.