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Frontenac House
Founded2000
FounderRose and David Scollard
Country of originCanada
Headquarters locationOkotoks, Alberta
Key peopleNeil Petrunia, Terry Davies (Owners). Micheline Maylor, John Wall Barger (Editors).
ImprintsFrontenac House Poetry
Official websitehttps://www.frontenachouse.com/

Frontenac House is an independent publishing house located in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada, founded in 2000 by Rose and David Scollard.[1] The publishing house focuses on poetry, but has reached into other genres as well, including fiction, photography, Children/YA books, and non-fiction. Since its founding in 2000, the press has published over 120 original titles.[2]

Poetry

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Frontenac’s first publication was a YA novel, The Grass Beyond the Door, by Cicely Veighey.[3] Frontenac then focused on their prime area of interest--Canadian poetry—which began with the "Quartet 2001 of four poetry books."[4] Each year since then, the company has published a set of four Quartet poetry titles.[5] In 2010, to celebrate 10 years of activity, Frontenac published a Dektet of 10 titles. Since 2021, Frontenac House has also released titles in the spring of each year, publishing authors such as Barry Dempster, Natalie Meisner, and Keith Garebian with this expansion.[6]

Frontenac House has been recognized for its contribution to Alberta publishing, winning Alberta Publisher of the Year in 2006,[7] as well as the BPAA Robert Kroetsch Award of Poetry as recently as 2021 for work on Lisa Richter’s Nautilus and Bone.[8][9] Local magazine Alberta Views has also noted Frontenac’s role as an important Canadian poetry publisher.[10]

Diversity

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Frontenac has deliberately pursued diversity among its writers in subject matter, writing technique, gender orientation, and social and political attitudes. Geographically, the company has published a relatively high number of Alberta-based poets, but has also produced books by writers living in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and as far afield as San Francisco and Paris. Attention is given to developing new and previously unpublished writers, although writers who had already received high levels of recognition for their work have also been included on the list.

Titles

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In recent years, Frontenac House has expanded their mandate beyond poetry to publish art books, aviation history, and political satire. Some of the recent titles published by Frontenac House include:

  • This Was Our Valley[11] by Shirlee Smith Matheson and Earl K. Pollon, a history of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam that went online in 1967 and subsequently started the erosion of the banks, loss of forestry, and damage to fish and wildlife habitats – effects that continue to be experienced. This Was Our Valley was the Winner of the Alberta Culture Non-Fiction Book Award.[12]
  • A Brush With Depth[13] by Rick Sealock and Christina Vester featuring wild and wacky illustrations for Sealock’s clients as varied as Rolling Stone, Texas Monthly, The Washington Post, Natural Health Magazine, and GQ Magazine. The book Won the 2021 BPAA Book Illustration Award.[14]
  • Borderlands[15] by Mark Vitaris, a photographic discourse on the country that straddles the forty-ninth parallel from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the grasslands of Saskatchewan and to the western Dakotas. Borderlands won the BPAA Regional Book of the Year Award in 2021,[16] and was a Finalist for the High Plains Book Award - Art & Photography that same year.[17]
  • This Wound is a World[18] by Billy-Ray Belcourt—a call to turn to love and sex to understand how Indigenous peoples shoulder sadness and pain like theirs without giving up on the future. This Wound is a World won the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize[19] and was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award[20] and the Governor General Award for Poetry in the same year.[21]

Authors

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Frontenac has published authors including Leslie Greentree, Shirlee Smith Matheson, Micheline Maylor, Billy-Ray Belcourt, and founder of the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, Sheri-D Wilson.

Executive

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Owner and Publisher, Neil Petrunia, has a degree in Creative Writing from York University. He was a sessional instructor of design technology at Alberta University of the Arts for over 20 years. He has designed most of Frontenac’s books. Terry Davies, Owner and Managing Editor, has been a professional writer, editor and college instructor for over 30 years. Acquisitions and Senior Poetry Editor, Micheline Maylor, was Calgary’s Poet Laureate from 2016 to 2018,[22] the winner of the Lois Hole Award for Editing in 2020,[23] and the winner of BPAA's Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry in 2022.[24] In 2022, Micheline Maylor was also awarded the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for her contribution to the Albertan literary scene. [25]

References

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  1. ^ ""Books and Literature", Calgary Herald, September 15, 2008, D1". Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
  2. ^ "Frontenac House Ltd. |". Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  3. ^ "The Grass Beyond the Door | Frontenac House Ltd". Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  4. ^ From a Callbox, Bob Stallworthy, Frontenac House, 2001, ISBN 0-9684903-1-X; Pattern of Genes, Rosalee van Stelton, Frontenac House, 2001, ISBN 0-9684903-2-8; Static Mantis, Arran Fisher, Frontenac House, 2001, ISBN 0-9684903-4-4; and Swallowing my Mother, Catherine Moss, Frontenac House, 2001, ISBN 0-9684903-3-6
  5. ^ "Cutting-edge poetry", Ffwd, March 27, 2008
  6. ^ "Poetry | Frontenac House Ltd". Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  7. ^ "Alberta Book Publishing Awards". Book Publishers Association of Alberta. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  8. ^ Richter, Lisa (2020). Nautilus and Bone. Frontenac House Poetry. ISBN 9781989466124.
  9. ^ 2020 Alberta Book Publishing Awards, retrieved 2023-08-25
  10. ^ Osenton, Evan (January–February 2008). ""The Greatest Decade for Alberta Publishing"" (PDF).[dead link‍]
  11. ^ This Was Our Valley Shirlee Smith Matheson and Earl K. Pollon, Frontenac House, 2019, ISBN 978-1-927823-77-4
  12. ^ This was Our Valley. Frontenac House Limited. 2019.
  13. ^ A Brush With Depth, Rick Sealock and Christina Vester, Frontenac House, 2020, ISBN 978-1-927823-69-9
  14. ^ 2021 Alberta Book Publishing Awards, retrieved 2023-08-25
  15. ^ Borderlands, Mark Vitaris, Frontenac House, 2020, ISBN 978-1-989466-07-0
  16. ^ 2021 Alberta Book Publishing Awards, retrieved 2023-08-25
  17. ^ Gazette, CARA CHAMBERLAIN For the (2021-09-08). "High Plains Book Awards Finalist: 'Borderlands' by Mark Vitaris". Billings Gazette. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  18. ^ This Wound is a World, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Frontenac House, 2017, ISBN 978-1-927823-64-4
  19. ^ Fox, Porter. "Shelf Awareness for Monday, June 11, 2018". www.shelf-awareness.com. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  20. ^ League of Canadian Poets (March 2018). "2018 Gerald Lampert Memorial Award Shortlist" (PDF). Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  21. ^ "GGBooks events". Governor General's Literary Awards. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  22. ^ "Calgary Poet Laureate | 2016 – 2018: Micheline Maylor". Calgary Arts Development. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  23. ^ "U of A leads at the Alberta Publishing Awards - Quill and Quire". Quill and Quire - Canada's magazine of book news and reviews. 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  24. ^ "2022 Alberta Book Publishing Awards winners announced - Quill and Quire". Quill and Quire - Canada's magazine of book news and reviews. 2022-09-17. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  25. ^ "Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Medal Recipients Announced". writersguild.ca. Retrieved 2023-09-17.
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