Who We Are

BlankSpace Publications is a collective of writers, artists, teachers, publishers and academics with an interest in the unconventional and a taste for the visceral. Our editors are scattered across Canada but our main bases of operation are in London and Hamilton, Ontario. We publish books in the categories of general fiction, young adult, adolescent, and poetry. Our interests are eclectic. Our intent is to collect fiction and literary non-fiction (etc.) that is extremely innovative in presentation and subject matter. The books we publish should have longevity, but should also pique the interest of both seasoned and reluctant readers. We regard ourselves as a collaborative enterprise, where artists and writers can come together to produce unique projects for an ever-changing audience.

General Interests

Tangible examples of our thematic interest would be stories on counterculture (or anything counter-), dystopias, graphic novels on yet-to-be-represented subjects, (post)modern horror and gothic, satire, hyper-realism (or just plain old realism), hyper-fantastical(ism), stories written from unique perspectives, stories with well-developed but strange casts of characters, stories that make the familiar unfamiliar——the visceral, the contentious, the unabashed, the new. Simply put we're looking for narratives that are not merely repackaging the same old conventions of storytelling and plot design——unless they are doing so in innovative, provocative ways. We want books that take chances on form and content. We want books that people will read.

Education Mission

Although we publish a wide range of genres that will appeal to both younger and adult audiences, part of BlankSpace’s mission is to provide educators with provocative material with which to teach their classes. We aim to publish books that interrogate curriculum standards in creative ways while avoiding what Phillip Marchand in Ripostes calls “the curse of the duty read” when it comes to Can Lit. 

Providing [    ]Space for New Authors

The name BlankSpace denotes a few things. It epitomizes our emphasis on innovation——a tabula rasa space of malleability and experimentation. Mainly it embodies our mission to provide space for new writers who have great work but find it impossible to be acknowledged by even the smallest of presses, whose mandates tend to be trained on established authors and/or conventional methods of story-telling. Although it is recommended that applicants be able to demonstrate some kind of involvement in the arts, we do not believe that lack of a substantial publication record should disqualify applicants from serious consideration. We would like to hear from both new and established authors who meet the above criteria and fit our trajectory. If you are unsure whether or not your work will fit with our “trajectory,” you can always send a solicitation letter for a quick response. Getting to know what we publish is always a good idea before applying. Check out our catalogue. If something interests you, digital downloads are available at a fraction of the paperback cost.

Leave Your Mark

If you have taken the time to read this far then you must also take the time to contribute to our Wikipoemia experiment. Our poetic tastes are largely disingenuous and ironically oriented (post-humane, as we call it), so avoid writing cloyingly sentimental effusions about the landscape.

Click to see editor profiles.

Jeffrey Douglas

B.A., B.Ed., OCT, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate (English, McMaster)

General Editor

Thomas “Squirrels of Pain” Barnes

B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (English, UWO)

Editor, General Fiction and Young Adult

Carolyn Dineen

B.A., M.A. (English and Cultural Studies, McMaster)

Illustrator and Editor, Adolescent

Dave Boylan

B.A., M.A., Ph.D. Candidate (English, McGill)

Editor, General Fiction

Sarah Dolson

B.A., M.A. (English), OCT, B.Ed. (French and English, Brock)

Editor, Young Adult

Kyle Malashewski

B.A., M.A., Ph.D. Candidate (English, Waterloo)

Technical Editor, Editor of General Fiction