Tucked away in Vancouver’s Chinatown is the quaint office of Arsenal Pulp Press, which has been publishing for more than 45 years and has roughly 350 titles currently in print.
Among their ‘arsenal’ of accolades, they have a Governor General’s Literary Award, five BC Book Prizes, and seven Lambda Literary Awards for their work as one of the few consistent publishers of multicultural and LGBTQIA2+ authors and books in Canada. They are also a past winner of the Jim Douglas Publisher of the Year Award, awarded by the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia, and a five-time finalist for Small Press Publisher of the Year from the Canadian Booksellers Association.
Publishing poetry, fiction, cookbooks, non-fiction, and children’s books, Arsenal is refreshing Canadian literature with underrepresented voices and much-needed stories. With a special thanks to publisher Brian Lam for providing photos, we had the opportunity to go behind the scenes of Arsenal’s cozy office.
Meet the Team
A former creative student of the University of Victoria, Brian Lam was once an intern at Arsenal (when it was known as Pulp Press, having started in 1971 as a collective). Brian Lam, the publisher of Arsenal, part of his duty is to seek out new authors to publish by combing through manuscripts sent in, attending book fairs, and even approaching authors for new book ideas.
Associate Publisher Robert Ballantyne—office right next to Brian’s—also aids in bringing on new authors, but Robert keeps a keen eye on sales and distribution, making sure Arsenal’s wonderful books get into readers’ hands!
The list of Arsenal’s biggest selling books includes How it All Vegan! (1999) by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard, one of the first-ever vegan cookbooks published, with sales of more than 125,000 copies; and Blue is the Warmest Color, a graphic novel by Julie Maroh, which spawned a controversial film that won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Marketing Director extraordinaire Cynara Geissler can be seen packing up one of many review copies that leave the office on a daily basis. Cynara’s dedication helps ensure Arsenal’s books will be seen and read by members of the media. And she does it in a dress even more fabulous than the last one she wore.
Oliver McPartlin is Arsenal’s brilliant Production Editor who gives many of the books striking cover designs. One of his most eye-opening experiences was working on Arsenal’s first-ever children’s picture book, The Boy & The Bindi by Vivek Shraya.
The newest member of Arsenal’s family, Shirarose Wilensky, is the press’ editor, taking over from Susan Safyan. Shirarose reads every single manuscript that lands on her desk. We can’t wait to see the new and exciting things she has to bring to Arsenal.
An Eclectic Range
In 1982, Pulp Press rebranded as Arsenal Pulp Press after surviving the bankruptcy of their distributor. Arsenal is known internationally for its gay and lesbian publishing program. Their first book in this subject area—Queeries (1993), edited by Dennis Denisoff—was the first book of gay male prose ever published in Canada.
Over the years, Arsenal has published many different authors from all walks of life. A few of their notable authors are: Ivan Coyote, Sarah Schulman, Vivek Shraya, Julie Maroh, Wayde Compton, Daniel Francis, Amber Dawn, Aaron Chapman, David Chariandy, Ashley Little, Larissa Lai, Kai Cheng Thom, Catherine Hernandez, Kevin Chong, Charles Demers, S. Bear Bergman, Rae Spoon, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Thomas Waugh.
A small room at the office is dedicated to holding as many titles as it can, while many more of them are shelved around office desks. Many of the newer releases are readily available in the office. You can’t turn a corner at the Arsenal office without encountering a bookshelf stuffed full, or boxes of books directly from the printer!
The majority of copies are warehoused at the University of Toronto Press, which distributes Arsenal’s books in Canada. Arsenal Pulp books can be found all over the world through different distribution partners in the US, UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
A small but hardworking team of five, the Arsenal Pulp Press team imbues an ethos into each of their books that Canadian readers will enjoy for a long time to come.
Celebrate Arsenal Pulp Press at the Vancouver Writers Fest’s free Incite event on May 23, 2018, in Vancouver. Authors Amber Dawn, Casey Plett, and Joshua Whitehead will be reading from their new novels published by Arsenal.
Hear Kevin Chong read from his new novel, The Plague, during Read Local BC’s upcoming event, Fictional Motives, on May 30 in Vancouver.