Recent News

April is National Poetry Month. To mark the occasion, we asked Mark Abley, an MQUP acquisition editor and a poet himself, to reflect on how poetry fits into the press’s list.

Exactly twenty years ago, MQUP’s executive director, Philip Cercone, announced the birth of the Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series. It was a departure for the … Read More >

As we enter the new year, we’re gearing up for a new catalogue. Right on cue, the two poetry collections for Spring 2018 have arrived. Broaching the darker subjects of death and mental illness in respectively unique ways, Aidan Chafe’s Short Histories of Light and Sarah Tolmie’s The Art of Dying are the latest additions … Read More >

Writer, potter, painter, and poet Benjamin Hertwig is embarking on a tour to launch his latest collection of poetry, Slow War, over the first two weeks of October. Hertwig will make four Canadian stops, including Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Montreal.

We are pleased to share that MQUP poet Margo Wheaton is a Canadian Authors Association 2017 Literary Award-winner.

The Unlit Path Behind the House (Spring 2016) won the Canadian Authors Fred Kerner Book Award. It was also a finalist for two other 2017 awards: the League … Read More >

As National Poetry Month comes to a close, we’re looking back at all the titles in our Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series we’re proud to have published over the last twelve months. Launched in 1998, the series is named in honour of the late Hugh MacLennan, acclaimed Canadian novelist and a poet … Read More >

Be sure to check out the current issue of Vallum magazine for an in-depth review of Margo Wheaton’s latest poetry collection The Unlit Path Behind the House.

The full review by Bill Neumire can be found in the 3:2 “THE WILD” issue (print or digital) of Vallum.

Below is an excerpt taken from … Read More >

We are very excited to announce that Trio, a collection of 120 sonnets and part of our Hugh Maclennan Poetry Series, has been shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial award. Congratulations to Sarah Tolmie for this well-deserved honour.

The Pat Lowther Memorial Award has been awarded annually since 1981 by The League of Canadian Poets (LCP), and is awarded to a … Read More >

Open Book Toronto journalist Devyani Saltzman caught up with author of Blindfold, John Asfour:

"Being at Blue Met also gave me the chance to meet fantastic Lebanese-Canadian poet John Asfour. John read from his latest collection, Blindfold on Thursday. It was a wonderful intimate gathering and John, who lost his sight at … Read More >

To close poetry month, MQUP presents an excerpt from Singing from the Darktime by S. Weilbach,  a compelling picture of a rural childhood in Germany at a time when the world was about to change.

By 1937 Hitler's power was beginning to penetrate the peaceful agricultural village in the Rhine Valley where … Read More >

Listen to Blindfold discussion and excerpts on RCI.

Blindfold is written by poet John Asfour. Blinded by a grenade in Lebanon as a teenager, Asfour came to Canada armed with James Joyce’s words, “For the eyes, they bring us nothing. I have a hundred worlds … Read More >