Thirty years of above/ground press. Photo provided.
When I call rob mclennan for this interview, he’s folding and stapling chapbooks in front of the TV, something he’s been doing for 30 years.
On August 12, veteran chapbook publisher above/ground press (owned and operated by mclennan) will celebrate 30 years in operation and nearly 700 chapbooks published. Adding in single-sheet broadsides and a quarterly journal, they’ve published about 1,300 items.
The anniversary event will feature readings and new chapbook launches by:
Jennifer Baker (Ottawa)
Nina Jane Drystek (Ottawa)
Amanda Earl (Ottawa)
Adrienne Ho Rose (Iowa City, IA)
Sophia Magliocca (Montreal)
Karen Massey (Ottawa)
Jérôme Melançon (Regina)
Monty Reid (Ottawa)
Grant Wilkins (Ottawa)
rob mclennan. Photo by Pearl Pirie.
above/ground press’s very first event—a launch of one of mclennan’s poetry books and an anthology of 40 Canadian poets—took place on July 9, 1993. Even after 30 years, above/ground press continues to publish 60–80 titles a year, all poetry, although mclennan started a prose series in 2020 and has published 18 prose titles to date.
Nina Jane Drystek, Adrienne Ho Rose, and Sophia Magliocca are publishing with above/ground press for the first time. All authors, except Magliocca, are from Ottawa or grew up here.
“It’s just going to be a solid night of readings. I mean, that’s good, right?” says mclennan. “And 30 years… the average length of a chapbook press is seven years, and most presses do four or six titles a year.”
In the fall, Invisible Publishing will publish the third best-of-the-decade anthology of above/ground press’s many releases.
The above/ground press 30th-anniversary party and chapbook launch take place downstairs at the Clocktower Brew Pub (575 Bank St. in the Glebe) on Saturday, August 12. Doors at 7:30pm, $10 entry (bring cash!). Find out more about the event here.
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