BooksCanada.ca
Title
Books Canada
Description
Alfred A. Knopf Canada---familiarly known as "Knopf Canada"--has long been recognized as one of the premier Canadian publishers of literary fiction and non-fiction. Taking its name from the New York-based firm founded in 1915 by Alfred Knopf and his wife, Blanche, Knopf Canada's books have become synonymous, like those of their namesake, with outstanding literary merit and high quality craftsmanship, and are distinguished by the Borzoi logo.
In 1991, Ajai Singh "Sonny" Mehta, president of Alfred A. Knopf, approached Louise Dennys--preeminent editor and publisher of such cultural icons as Josef Skvorecky, Graham Greene, Mordecai Richler, Jeanette Winterson, Alberto Manguel, Rudy Wiebe, Ian McEwan, Italo Calvino, Michael Ondaatje, Susan Swan, Martin Amis--to create and run a Canadian arm of Knopf within the long-established offices of Random House of Canada. Louise Dennys, for many years a passionate devotee of Canadian and international writing at her renowned Toronto publishing house Lester & Orpen Dennys, possessed a vision that dovetailed perfectly with Alfred and Blanche's original commitment to publish compelling books of the highest literary merit. A champion of Canadian writers abroad, Louise was amongst the first to spearhead the sale of Canadian authors' book rights to other countries, opening up the the world to their work. Sonny saw in Louise the ideal person to establish and direct Knopf Canada.
For the first 18 months, Dennys, with one editor and one assistant, ran Knopf Canada from her Spadina Gardens apartment, while Random House of Canada made arrangements to move its editorial offices from Mississauga to downtown Toronto. Knopf Canada's first list, published only four months after its inception, included From Ink Lake, a collection of Canadian stories selected by Michael Ondaatje, Toni Morrison's Jazz, Vaclav Havel's Summer Meditations and Cronenberg on Cronenberg, the Canadian filmmaker's autobiography. The first list telegraphed the new publishing house's interest in the best of domestic and foreign writing--thoughtful non-fiction as well as fiction-- combining great literary merit and strong commercial potential. It established the imprint's commitment to bringing the best of the world to Canada and the best of Canada to the world.
