“The Porcupine's Quill published my first book in 1993. Back \ then,`acid-free Zephyr Antique Laid' and `folded and sewn into signatures in the\ traditional manner' were meaningless to me. I was simply delighted to be\ published. Two books and a dozen years later, I now see a book as more than just\ the story it contains. It's a physical object. When I hold a page of Bad\ Imaginings to the light, the pattern and texture of the paper remind me what\ paper really is — pounded fibres. I think of papyrus. I think of a cart full\ of rags. If I open the book in the middle of one of its signatures, I can touch\ the actual threads that hold the pages together. On the cover is a painting, not\ an image from a digital photobank. What a beautiful, tactile thing! The\ Porcupine's Quill is one of a very few presses in this country committed to the\ art of the book. Congratulations to Tim and Elke for their long service to beauty\ and permanence.” —Caroline Adderson
"; testimonials[1] = "“A healthy literature needs its small presses. Everyone knows that.\ Especially, it needs small presses that specialize in first books by unknown\ young writers. Everyone also knows that. It's common knowledge that first books\ in this era are likely to be story collections. Therefore, a conscientious\ publisher with national outreach who brings out attractive books with challenging\ content and hires committed editors to find first books of stories is performing\ the traditional role of the publisher: putting discovery ahead of profit.\ Everyone knows that, but rarely acknowledges it.
\ \It is also suicidal. First books of stories don't sell, and if they do, the\ second book will go to a commercial publisher. Everyone knows that. Literary\ publishing is thus in permanent trouble, but everyone already knew that.
\ \But what everyone knows doesn't tell the full story. The even dirtier little\ secret that first-time authors, even those with story collections, are in\ relatively good shape. That is, relative to `mid-list' authors in late- or\ mid-career with significant publications, positive reviews but modest sales, who\ have never `broken through' to the inner circle of publishing royalty-first\ timers are enviably situated. The future is on their side. It's the old-timers\ who really need small presses, because for them there will be no second acts. The\ small press becomes their commercial press.
\ \Speaking personally, without Porcupine's Quill and a few scattered\ anthologies, my best life's work, four volumes of stories, would already be dead\ and forgotten. PQL gave them second breath. If they go down a third time, no one\ can save them. But books are hardy and float like cork; a few hundred of my PQL\ volumes are lodged in libraries and on the Internet, there may be some in\ scattered bookstores and even in people's homes. If they survive at all, they owe\ their life to the EMS team from Erin, Tim and Elke Inkster, and of course, John\ Metcalf.
\ \The rest, dear reader — and this is no literary affectation — is up\ to you.” —Clark Blaise. Bangalore, India, 8 August, 2005
]"; testimonials[2]= "“In my sixteen years of reviewing Canadian literature for the Toronto\ Star, I have found that the Porcupine's Quill has upheld the most consistently\ high level of excellence in writing and publishing of any of the literary presses\ in this country. Its output alone would put Canada on a firm international\ footing in contemporary world literature.” —Philip Marchand
"; testimonials[3] = "“Tim and Elke are like imaginary people to me, living and working in a\ universe parallel to my own, a wonderful universe that they have created and\ maintained and some people were invited in, like myself, and others enjoyed what\ came out. Though I never met Elke or Tim, I have strong pictures of them and the\ other folks, that involve papers and bits of paper with notes written in liquid\ ink, and there are other inks in pots and cardboard boxes. There are ledgers with\ post-it notes. There are computers I suppose but they are in half light. And\ after the winter, there are Adirondack chairs and wine and the dog and sun\ slanting through hot leaves, and grass worn down between destinations and other\ grass grown too long under the sturdy feet of the chairs. There is hope and\ discouragement and disbelief and perseverance and all for their writers and their\ wonderful books. And a sense of living in a golden age and then the worst of\ times. But its worth it and we thank you all, and it ain't over yet!”\ —Susan Kerslake
"; testimonials[4] = "“Dear Elke and Tim,
\ \Porcupine's Quill: such a perfect name for a publishing house, especially one\ that produced books of such sharpness and elegance and strength, books that got\ under the skin, books that got their hooks in you and didn't let you go. How glad\ I am to have published my first book with you. Congratulations on all that you've\ built, and on a well-earned retirement.” —Annabel Lyon
"; testimonials[5] = "“When I first joined up with The Porcupine's Quill in the late 80's, I\ knew nothing about the publishing world — and now, several publishers later,\ I probably know more than is good for my mental health. What I do know for sure\ is that Tim and Elke and John set the standard. Okay, maybe not for stellar\ advances, but for artistic practice and accomplishment. For passion and nerve and\ exactitude. For reliability, and high, unwavering hopes, and hard hard work. At\ times it's been a prickly old porcupine, but one warmly embraced nonetheless and\ hugely admired, and soon — alas! — to be sorely missed.”\ —Terry Griggs
"; testimonials[6] = "“Dear Leon:
\ \Sorry to be so late in replying to your letter about commemorating my\ relationship with Porcépic and also Porcupine's Quill. I look now at the cover to\ The Box Social and Other Stories. My goodness! Elke and Tim found a picture of\ the 1941 or 1940 pictures of the `At Home' at the high school. I was there but\ not on the dance floor. There's a girl I hated most on the cover. She used to\ tease me about my encroaching sideburns. She sat beside another guy who embezzled\ all the funds one year of our high school reunion. They published Boy with an `R'\ in His Hand. The hero falls twice in the lake (repetition!) I had to fight my\ publisher to even that twice. At the end of the trilogy, four plates crash to the\ floor. People still phone me at the farm because they recognize themselves in `At\ Home' sequence and schoolkids ask if they can do Alice Through the Looking Glass.\ What would I do without such generous publishers!” —James Reaney,\ Sunday, June 24, 2005
"; testimonials[7] = "“As a reader, I had already noticed how satisfying to handle were books\ published by The Porcupine's Quill. When they accepted my collected poems (Always\ Now, 3 vols.), every contact over editorial suggestions, proof-reading and design\ was consistently friendly, and constructive. The feel of each published volume in\ the hand was a pleasure: firmness, but easily opened (with no spine-cracking)\ — a production job of high quality. I feel indebted to and grateful for The\ Porcupine's Quill.” —Margaret Avison
"; testimonials[8] = "“I can't as the expression has it, say enough about Tim and Elke. I\ can't say enough because some of it would probably stray towards whingeing about\ this or that, namely why didn't Tim butter me up a bit more when I felt I needed\ it. Fact is, of course, that buttering up wasn't Tim's thing, and eventually I\ got the message on that and stopped whingeing. A foolish complaint anyway,\ really. what Tim and Elke DID was only to produce the finest-looking and\ longest-lasting (all that hand sewn classiness) and best-edited (with Doris\ Cowan's help, but they need to be credited with the good taste to bring her on\ board) small-press books in the country, on the continent probably. The two books\ they did for me outshine any other of my collected-poetry-works in every respect\ for which they were responsible. I think it's much more than `too bad' or `a\ great pity', etc, that they're leaving the scene, it's an unredeemable loss to\ this country; and all I'll add to that is — MAYBE SOMETHING CAN BE DONE TO\ PERSUADE THEM TO STAY.” —Don Coles
"; testimonials[9] = "“I would like to send a message of gratitude to Porcupine's Quill and to\ John Metcalf who has given so much energy to writing over the years. The result\ has been a certain brightness, a liveliness and severity, a commitment to what is\ not fake in writing, that has entered out literature and that I hope will stay\ there. Thank you” —Alice Munro, June 12, 2005
"; testimonials[10] = "“I am quite shocked to learn that the Porcupine's Quill will be\ curtailing its operations. This does not bode well for the literary presses of\ Canada or for emerging and established creative writers. Tim and Elke have been\ an inspiration to me in their standards of excellence in the design of books of\ fiction, non-fiction and poetry over the past several decades. I am saddened that\ this is happening to one of the finest literary publishers in the country. I have\ followed the progress of the Porcupine's Quill from its very beginnings in the\ early seventies and have often visited Tim and Elke in Erin and marvelled in how\ they assembled books from the printed pages to the actual binding, done with such\ an intense labour of love. If the latter term has any meaning it most\ emphatically applies to the dedication that this wonderful couple have shown to\ the craft of printing literary titles. I am left speechless at the thought that\ the Porcupine's Quill will no longer exist. That this is going to happen is a\ horrific injustice, not only to the DNA and intellectual properties of the Muse,\ but to the very spirit that constitutes vibrant works of the imagination.”\ —Joe Rosenblatt
"; testimonials[11] = "“Dear Friends,
\ \I would first like to congratulate Porcupine's Quill on its recent Libris\ Award nomination in the Small Press of the Year category. So it is tinged with\ regret that this nomination comes along with the disheartening news that, after\ 35 years, Porcupine's Quill is to begin curtailing operations in order to survive\ in the current literary marketplace.
\ \Porcupine's Quill has long been considered the `little engine that could': a\ small publisher located in Erin, Ontario that thrived by publishing good Canadian\ writing by great Canadian writers. Porcupine's Quill endeavoured to provide\ permanent voices to new, young writers and honoured past voices by reprinting the\ classics of Canadian literature.
\ \The Writers' Trust of Canada has enjoyed many wonderful associations with\ Canadian authors whose works were launched or supported by Porcupine's Quill\ including two previous chairs of our Authors Committee, Kim Moritsugu and Antanas\ Sileika, both of whom had books published by Porcupine's Quill. In addition,\ Elizabeth Hay was our 2001 Marian Engel Award winner and Jessica Grant was our\ 2003 Writers' Trust McClelland and Stewart Journey Prize winner. Both of these\ talented writers are Porcupine's Quill alumnae.
\ \Porcupine's Quill will, no doubt, persevere during this difficult period and\ `the engine that could' will return to normal operations in the future so as to\ continue as one of Canada's best small presses.
\ \Warm regards” —Don Oravec
"; testimonials[12] = "“Inkster, Bucolic: Tim and Elke served us wine and cheese at the back of\ the press along the riverbank. We sat in Adirondack chairs and admired the\ evening, the sunset, the river, all laminar smooth. We had ridden to Erin from\ Guelph on my husband's ancient Suzuki 750 to chat with the Inksters about my book\ and to begin an argument about whether the cover should be pink or blue. Tim\ preferred the pink.
\ \I had been spoiling for a fight, having heard dread stories of Tim's tenacity\ and fire. But when I got there, there was no fight. I said, don't you think the\ cover should be blue? Tim and Elke conferred; Rico played with the computer, and\ voilà, a virtual prototype of a blue cover. Everyone was happy. Except for the\ ride home in the rain, the evening was idyllic, a high point in a fine\ acquaintance that I have liked so much.
\ \Inkster, Vitriolic: Tim conscripted me to join him on the board of directors\ of the Eden Mills Writers Festival and it was pretty exciting. After months of\ dull, dark winter planning in the upper reaches of the Bookshelf, we sat one\ spring evening on Jenny Kitson's deck. Usually I come to parties or to meetings\ just after something interesting happens, or I leave just before dire confessions\ are made and crockery is broken. But that night at Jenny's something happened\ between Tim and another board member and I was there. A misunderstanding I am\ sure, but one that drove two men to shove back their white deck chairs and offer\ to punch each other. And they looked like they meant it. Tim has great blue eyes,\ incendiary, really, and they were blazing. At that moment, the moment between the\ time when the chairs fell back and the time that it took fists to curl, I heard\ the unmistakable sound of a 1973 Suzuki water buffalo, a two-stroke, whining its\ way down the hill toward Jenny's to take me home. I rabbited out of there and\ still don't know what happened after I left.
\ \Inkster, Comic: You know when Tim is happy with you because when he phones or\ emails he says, `It's Tim the printer from Erin Village.' Often he is calling or\ writing because he has a great idea for promoting your work or the press and he\ wants you to come along for the ride. The first ride for me was the day I met Tim\ in the bar of a Toronto hotel. He had invited Mike Barnes and me to meet the\ Literary Press Group and give a short reading. I was anxious to impress the\ people who would be selling my book across the country so I bought a new suit at\ the St. Regis room at The Bay. I met Tim and Mike and shook hands and then Tim\ told me his plan to throw an impromtu birthday party for the LPG in celebration\ of the Porcupine's Quill. Mike had to blow up balloons. Tim gave me the bag of\ party hats, noisemakers and confetti because I am a mother and so he believed I\ would know how to get people into the spirit of things. And I thought, well,\ anything for literature. And I think Tim and Elke think that way, too. But maybe\ especially Tim.
\ \Inkster, Synthesis: Tim and Elke made me a beautiful book and though my other\ stuff will be published in other places, I don't think I will see the words I\ write put together as beautifully ever again. What would make them do this with\ their lives? What would make them grant that imprimatur to a few lucky writers,\ the one that says, `This book is printed on acid-free Zephyr Antique laid. These\ sheets are folded and sewn into signatures in the traditional manner.' Tim and\ Elke have given me this. They are tenacious and fiery and fearless and great\ things happen when they are at the party.” —Sandra Sabatini
"; testimonials[13] = "“I was very disappointed and discouraged to hear about the status of PQ.\ How can this have happened, I asked? And when and where and to whom will it\ happen next? And be warned, it will happen again! But the answer was all too\ evident a few years ago when politicians and the `bottom line' folks convinced\ everyone that big is beautiful, that the box stores were an answer to what was\ perceived as an inefficient system composed of far too many ineffectual little\ presses and people. Too many media folks supported the efficient, hence large,\ `business model' and attacked or dismissed what they saw as merely a cottage\ industry operated by dabblers in the serious enterprise of publishing. I could go\ on at length decrying the stupidity of those who embrace the market model and\ criticized those of us who simply love what we do, in our smallness and in our\ regions, but I'd be preaching to the converted. As deluded as we must appear to\ those who think size matters and big is best, PQ is proof that quality is more a\ factor of the heart and taste than it is the deals and machinations of the\ science. Over the years, PQ has made a huge significant contribution to Canadian\ literature and culture, to the design and printing of books in Canada, and shame\ on those who think otherwise. Damn it, this should not be happening. Shame on us\ for letting it happen. I love what Tim ad Elke have done over the years, and for\ that I am grateful. Sincerely,” —Ron Smith
"; testimonials[14] = "“I know you did your best: I adored the red endpapers — but\ why no second book? I'd always hoped for more. We had such plans...
\ \Was I too literary? Not literary enough? I've found others, don't think there\ have been many who wanted me in the front pages of their catalogues, but none\ could, in the end, compete with your typefaces, your passion for exactitude. Your\ crazy way of keeping on keeping on.
\ \Am I prose that I do not feel? Paper that I do not bleed? Didn't we have\ great reprints? I thought we'd go on forever. Who poured poison into the porches\ of your ears? Was it Metcalf? Rosenblatt? The wine-soaked figure of David\ Godfrey, rolling the oak barrels of his latest vintage across the warehouse\ floors at midnight? Was it your dream of Tuscany, if not Vancouver Island that\ led to this parting? I'll submit no longer. You'll not hear from me again\ (although if there are any royalties owing, I'll be at home).
\ \Love, after all,” —Marilyn Bowering
"; testimonials[15] = "“For Tim and Elke: When the Inksters first published me, in 1992, I\ learned a bit about the Zephyr Antique laid paper, the hand-sewn signatures, and\ some of the other expensive or laborious things that go into making a Porcupine's\ Quill book. I also learned that Tim and Elke's books would not degrade and\ disappear as would most books, printed cheaply on acid-laced paper. It tickled me\ to think that a couple of hundred years hence, when we'll all be forgotten, many\ of our books will still be in existence, scattered here and there, stubbornly\ taking up space on shelves or in attic boxes, now and then being taken out, maybe\ even browsed. It struck me that somewhere some future reader is going to think:\ `Look at this — published a couple of hundred years ago and still here,\ still beautiful to hold. Somebody must have cared a hell of a lot to have made\ something like this.” —Steven Heighton
"; testimonials[16] = "“Porcupine's Quill published Robin Skelton's `Limits' in the 70's, and\ little that any poet in the country has done since has topped it for lyricism and\ cross-cultural integration. Like so much of PQ's good work, it has vanished from\ print — but not from conciousness. PQ may not be vindicated in the\ marketplace, but it has kept a dream of a literature of craft alive enough for\ two generations to keep reinventing it. For this, it has more use than the entire\ Canada Council writing and publishing section. It would be wild if Tim Inkster\ could somehow get offered the gig as our next Governor General so he could turn\ it down. No point taking on a job for which he is overqualified. By publishing my\ novel `Carnival', Tim and Elke helped keep me on the lyrical path when I was\ stonewalled by social realists and deconstructionists, long enough for me to\ integrate their work into my craft. Literature takes time, and PQ has given it to\ me, and to us.” —Harold Rhenish
"; testimonials[17] = "“For Tim and Elke: Back in '95 I sent a query letter to Porcupine's\ Quill, brashly, not a bit intimidated by the name or the reputation, although of\ course I should have been. I didn't know the press very well, and Tim and Elke\ Inkster not at all. But I did know their books and admired them, from my\ bookselling days.
\ \Back in those days I assumed Erin must sprawl large upon the Southern Ontario\ map, the size of London or Kingston at the very least, because two presses which\ published admirable books were located there, Porcupine's Quill and Boston Mills.\ Order forms kept being mailed to Erin and books from Erin shipped back to my\ little shop in Toronto. Come to think of it, the town seemed even bigger than\ London or Kingston, as no order forms were heading in their direction at all.\
\ \I queried PQ about a short story manuscript, and they wrote back asking that\ I mail mail the manuscript to their editor, John Metcalf. In Ottawa. John\ Metcalf? Did I know of him. Well, of course. Who didn't? And was completely\ intimidated by the name, his reputation, his books. No way he'd be interested in\ my pathetic stories. Scared of him, is what I was. So I didn't send it.
\ \A few months went by, the stories mouldering in a three-ring binder, and\ finally I decided: goddammit, all he can do is return it, I'm a writer. I can\ take rejection. Of course I can. I'm used to it... So mailed it.
\ \John phoned in less than a week accepting the manuscript! All right! I was\ going to be published by Porcupine's Quill! I remember telling him I had no idea\ how to pronounce one of the Inkster-person's names. Elke, he said, the same as it\ looks. I don't think that I can pronounce that, I mumbled foolishly. Of course\ you can, he said, sounding a bit impatient. Luckily he had already accepted the\ book.
\ \It turned out to be surprisingly easy to say, or, perhaps, I've mispronounced\ it all these years and Elke has been far too polite to correct me. It's quite\ possible. She would be that gracious.
\ \Tim and Elke have a for making their writers feel a part of a family. Hosting\ dinner for James Reaney and Leo Simpson and myself on the night our books were\ launched at the Rivoli. Bringing other PQ authors around to meet me, encouraging\ us to get to know each other. Scheduling writers to sell books at the PQ booth\ during Word on the Street, the Small Press Book Fair, anywhere, whatever. We\ would be at the booths for an hour, two writers at a time, so would get to know\ that other writer, as well as the ones who preceded and followed us. Camaraderie.\
\ \I'd had books published before by other presses, so knew how unusual and\ amazing this was.
\ \I'd always accused my mother of having adopted me. I was so unlike her,\ didn't fit into the family. (This is a prerequisite for a writer, I've since\ decided.) So I'd been needing another family anyway, looking for one, without\ even knowing it.
\ \There are dozens and dozens of us, scores, maybe a hundred or more. I don't\ know how Tim and Elke think of us, but we writers consider ourselves part of an\ Inkster extended family. Cousins, maybe. Second cousins, at the very least.\ Kissing kin.” —Carol Malyon
"; testimonials[18] = "“Dear Tim and Elke. So many years, so many fine and beautiful books. So\ many years when Porcupine's Quill was the very backbone of the Eden Mills\ Festival. So many years of friendship, with never so much as the smallest\ argument. (Those of us may say this do not exist in the thousands.) —Leon\ Rooke
"; testimonials[19] = "“With their verve, their elan, and their passion for books, Tim and Elke\ Inkster have, over the years and against the tide, swallowed the bottom line and\ taken interesting, and savvy, risks on many excellent books, including those by\ some of Canada's most adventurous and first-time writers. Congratulations on\ three decades of publishing.” —Ellen Seligman, M&S
"; testimonials[20] = "“The Short and Happy History of my Life with the Porcupine's Quill.
\ \My first business engagement with the Porcupine's Quill was when they\ undertook to do my Collected Poems — an enormous undertaking for a small\ press. The project had previously been turned down by a large publisher who\ opined that, although prestigious, such a publication presented too great a\ financial risk.
\ \The Porcupine's Quill, however, with Stan Dragland as editor, responded\ positively. Two beautiful volumes resulted. You would know at a glance they were\ from the Porcupine's Quill. How many other publishers use such paper or pay such\ attention to detail? Too few. Our working relationship was a treat. And I would\ venture a guess that the risk they took has been repaid.
\ \A Kind of Fiction followed. Then Planet Earth. Next came our most recent\ ultra-collaborative venture A Brazilian Alphabet for Younger Readers. It was\ rather like a game of fish. Tim threw the idea at me and, ever-willing to make a\ fool of myself, I caught it. It proved to be more difficult than either of us had\ imagined. To begin with I found myself floundering in reformed and unreformed\ Portuguese. We consulted linguists, Embassy employees, all the experts we could\ find. The `Fish' came when Tim decided he would like to illustrate the book with\ 19th century engravings. I had written verses for most of the letters but he,\ alas, couldn't always match the word with an engraving. For instance, I sent him\ `G is for GATO, you call it a cat' and Tim replied, `Have you any other G's? I\ haven't a good cat.' And I would search dictionaries looking for words beginning\ with G that were appropriate for young readers. It was an intricately\ collaborative venture, providing us with intermittent amusement for a matter of\ months. As I write, this small idiosyncratic book is about to come out. Quick\ verses juxtaposed with beautiful illustrations.
\ \Just before I learned that Tim and Elke were planning to gear down, I had\ sent them a book length poem, Hand Luggage: a Memoir in Verse. Luckily for me, it\ got under the wire. It will be my last book with them. It may also be my last\ book. If so I am glad it will appear under their imprint.
\ \The thought of Tim and Elke shutting down is a blow. It is not only a great\ loss to the publishing industry, but to me personally. They have been fine\ printers, professional editors and generous friends. I shall miss them. We all\ will.” —P.K. Page
"; testimonials[21] = "\ “Routine \
\\ For Tim and Elke\
\\
`The world of publishing,' you told
\
me on my first day on the job, `is mad.
\
Well — what did you expect?
\
There is no money in it: what we've sold
\
this summer wouldn't buy you lunch:
\
which is what editors are out to — in both senses.
\
Authors? Unavoidable expenses.
\
Printers? An eccentric bunch,
\
but mostly daft (myself excepted).
\
One more thing: the public doesn't read.' \
\
All this no doubt intended to dissuade.
\
Instead, intrigued (and obstinate) I stayed —
\
and saw, against the fickle post,
\
which might bring money or disaster,
\
there was coffee at exactly ten o'clock,
\
the local gossip at the dairy, toasted
\
sandwiches in paper bags, and last
\
year's bulbs reliably emerging. And though
\
we were behind, the press would slow
\
unfailingly at four, for Simba's walk. \
\
You've been typecast (excuse the pun)
\
quixotically; on pressback, Zephyr
\
Antique laying waste forever
\
to shoddy bindings, box-stores, bills.
\
Yet I have seen this battle done
\
with neither swords nor slings — nor quills. \
\
On Friday nights you swept the shopfloor clean.
\
Against the wrack of publishing, the sanity of routine” \
\ —Amanda Jernigan, 2005 \
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