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By Claudio D’Andrea
Writing a book is a collective effort. There may be one name on the cover but a lot of hands and great minds go into its production.
In publishing my first book Stories in the Key of Song with Black Moss Press, I have come to realize how lucky we are to have one of the oldest literary presses in Canada right here in Windsor. I follow in the footsteps of some 200 new authors and more than 600 first editions that Black Moss Press has produced since its humble beginnings in 1969 — 55 years ago.
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Consider: Joyce Carol Oates, Al Purdy, Earle Birney, Patrick Lane, bpNichol, Paul Vasey, Eugene McNamara and Black Moss Press founder and publisher Marty Gervais, among many more writers.
In an industry beset by economic and technological challenges over the years, this press that Marty and his wife Donna began has survived and thrived. They started it as a magazine of mostly poetry from the attic apartment of their home on Dougall Avenue when Marty was a university student before he started working at the Star. At the time, he would borrow money to publish other people’s work.
“But I believed in it. I thought it was important their voices get heard,” he told the Star in 2019.
What’s impressive about publishing with Black Moss Press and working with Gervais and his team is the pride that he feels for the authors he publishes.
His passion for the printed word has not dimmed over time. Gervais is an award-winning poet, historian, journalist and photographer and he has been a beacon to writers in Windsor and Canada. Among his many achievements was founding the groundbreaking Editing and Publishing Practicum course at the University of Windsor where he taught a new generation of students who have produced books.
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One of his university colleagues, Andre Narbonne, published two books with Black Moss Press including the novel Lucien & Olivia which was longlisted for the prestigious 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
“Gervais’ genius for cultivating a community of talent puts him at the forefront of the Canadian literary scene,” Narbonne said.
Black Moss Press’s first book was McNamara’s The Dillinger Poems in 1971. He was a professor at the University of Windsor when I was a student in the 1980s and left a lasting legacy in his writing and teaching when he died at the age of 86 in 2016.
Another prominent writer who published under Black Moss Press, Rosemary Sullivan, has enjoyed a celebrated career as a writer of fiction and history, and in academia. She is a Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence winner and has won such prestigious honours as the RBC Charles Taylor Prize for Non-Fiction and the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction for her book Stalin’s Daughter. She has also written works about Gwendolyn MacEwan and Margaret Atwood. One of her recent books is the “cold case investigation” The Betrayal of Anne Frank.
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An Officer of the Order of Canada and Governor General of Canada winner and professor emerita at University of Toronto, Sullivan is effusive in her praise about Gervais and Black Moss Press.
“Marty Gervais is astonishing. Over fifty years as a publisher!!” she said. “He draws volunteers with his dedication to books and creates communities of writers. I’ve published six books with Black Moss, each of them beautifully produced. My kid’s book Molito is a lovely graphic creation.”
Black Moss Press is proud of its place on the Canadian literary landscape for the last half century. As it says on its website, it “remains dedicated to publishing new and innovative work by authors from across Canada.
“We publish literature and narrative poetry that chronicles and explores experiences common to the everyday lives of Canadians, the places they live and current and historical events that have had an impact on their lives.
“In the process we make literature, and poetry in particular, relevant to a wide variety of audiences and open the door to a new way of looking at the world to people who would not normally be interested in these genres.”
As one of the authors publishing under its banner and following in its long and proud history, I only hope to do justice to that great tradition.
Claudio D’Andrea is a Windsor Star staffer and author of Stories in the Key of Song, published by Black Moss Press.
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