Issue 2015
Interviews

A Book Publishers’ Tale

Published September 18, 2015

Abstract

A couple of years ago I met Heather Parsons on the internet. She was studying in my Athabasca University class exploring aspects of globalization. Heather had worked for years in the Canadian book publishing industry. Currently she is Sales Representative for Heritage Group Distribution, specializing in helping book publishers reach the Canadian retail market. She proposed an MA research project using concepts from Community Studies and Social Economy to explore book publishing as a site of social transformation. She carried out her study with great success, interviewing workers and owners at Tara Books of Chennai, India as well as interviewing editors and staff of Canadian book publisher New Society Press, of Gabriola Island. Here is what Heather had to say to the Aurora about her experiences and her thoughts on publishing in an age of neo-liberalism and globalization.