In Praise of the Mayfly Part 2 • by Jim Johnstone • 1

Hamilton Arts & Letters       In 2015, Mark Laliberte commissioned me to survey Canadian micropresses for Carousel magazine. The resultant article, “In Praise of the Mayfly,” spoke to the fragility, inventiveness, and resilience of the small press economy, while also highlighting some of the creators who were making book objects on a consistent basis. As an organizing principle, I chose to feature six presses that were representative of the community on an operational, as well as geographical, level. But like the mayfly that served as a metaphor in that feature, much has changed since. Two of the six presses featured in the original article have folded, and while the others are still relevant, a new crop of small press impresarios have emerged to serve the needs of the literary community in original and exciting ways. So consider the second installment in my look at the key micropresses in CanLit, below, to be an update. Read on and you’ll find publishers like Gap Riot, Rahila’s Ghost, and Knife | Fork | Book rubbing shoulders with stalwarts like above/ground press, which has published hundreds of the nation’s most recognizable poets in its iconoclastic run. While it’s impossible to give a complete picture of what’s happening in a literary community at any given time, this my attempt to fill in some of the gaps I missed the first time, while spotlighting new faces that have become major players in Canada’s small press game in the last half-decade.  [  >>>>>   FORWARD ]   + [Distillate © HA&L + Jim Johnstone {from the Greek bios} -- the course of a life.]