A Note from Andrew Steeves Regarding the Future of Gaspereau Press
At the end of 2025, Gary Dunfield and I will be leaving Gaspereau Press after 28 years as printers and publishers. With our departure, the offset printing and trade bindery activities of Gaspereau Press will effectively come to a conclusion, but we are pleased to announce that the literary publishing program and the Gaspereau Press name will continue under the ownership of Keagan Hawthorne. Keagan is presently the proprietor of Hardscrabble Press, a micropress based in Sackville, New Brunswick. He intends to relocate Gaspereau Press to New Brunswick and carry on in a similar spirit there, building upon the cultural enterprise that Gary and I began in 1997.
Over the coming months, Gary and I will work closely with Keagan as he prepares to assume responsibility for Gaspereau Press. This extended transition is designed to ensure a smooth and successful change of ownership, giving Keagan sufficient time to prepare and Gary and I (along with our industry colleagues, authors, booksellers and readers) ample opportunity to share our knowledge and experience with him.
During the transition we expect day to-day operations to carry on as normal. Keagan will be joining us as Associate Editor. I will be selecting, editing and designing trade books for the 2025 publishing season while at the same time assisting Keagan as he selects and prepares books for publication in 2026. Gaspereau Press books will continue to be manufactured at and distributed from the Kentville location until late in 2025.
The last Kentville-based Gaspereau Press Wayzgoose and open house will be held on Saturday 26 October 2024. After that, the Gaspereau Press Wayzgoose, in whatever form it ends up taking, will be held in Sackville, New Brunswick.
And what will happen to Gary and I? Gary wishes to retire, which is why he initiated the winding-up of our partnership and the sale of the business. I considered the option of buying Gary out and carrying on as sole owner, but decided that the challenge of re-imagining and retooling Gaspereau Press for the future was better entrusted to a fresh set of hands. My own post-Gaspereau plans are still taking shape, but will likely involve some combination of freelance writing, editing, book design and teaching. I also intend to keep producing fine letterpress books, chapbooks and broadsides under a new press name.
We will be sharing more details in coming months. Gary and I are incredibly grateful for the support that the community has shown Gaspereau Press and its authors over the years, and we are excited to see what's next for the press under Keagan Hawthorne's leadership. We hope you are too.
ANDREW STEEVES