5 February 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Prominent Nova Scotia writers shared their views about the value of local book publishing at the Books Start Here campaign launch event at a packed event Thursday evening.
A standing-room-only audience of 200 at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic heard writers praise the role Nova Scotia publishers have played in getting their books into print and achieving success at home and internationally.
Authors Sheree Fitch, Stephen Kimber, and Michael de Adder were among the nine speakers. Several dozen other writers included Canada’s new poet laureate George Elliott Clarke attended the event.
Nova Scotia publishers are ready to grow, and are looking for investment from the provincial government under the creative industries initiative announced in spring 2015. Publishers are proposing that the province match measures already in place in other provinces, particularly Ontario, Quebec and BC.
Nova Scotia’s 14 professional book publishers, including Pottersfield Press, Nimbus, Fernwood, Formac and University College of Cape Breton Press, have joined in the Books Start Here campaign. Representing sales of over $4 million and 40 fulltime jobs today, publishers are looking to double employment and sales over the next five years.
The campaign will continue in the coming weeks as publishers make their case to the public and to the provincial government as it prepares its spring 2016 budget.
For more information contact:
Errol Sharpe, Fernwood Publishing, 902 857 1388
Jim Lorimer, Formac Publishing 902 421 7022
