Arsenal Pulp Press

Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, and is noted for founding the annual Three-Day Novel Contest (now run by the 3-Day Novel Co.).

Authors who have been published by Arsenal Pulp (full books or in anthologies) include Richard Amory, Allan Antliff, Mette Bach, Tanya Barnard, S. Bear Bergman, Marusya Bociurkiw, Michael Bronski, Carellin Brooks, Clint Burnham, Nick Burns, Dreena Burton, Patrick Califia, Anna Camilleri, David Campion, David L. Chapman, David Chariandy, John Robert Colombo, Wayde Compton, Daniel Allen Cox, Ivan Coyote, Brad Cran, Amber Dawn, Larry Duplechan, Tess Fragoulis, D.M. Fraser, Jon Furberg, Hiromi Goto, William Gibson, Gabriella Goliger, Brett Josef Grubisic, Celia Haig-Brown, Matthew Hays, Gord Hill, Nalo Hopkinson, Sean Horlor, Brian Howell, Robert Hunter, George K. Ilsley, Joey Keithley, Sarah Kramer, Natasha Kyssa, Richard Labonté, Larissa Lai, Betty Lambert, Catherine Lang, Nicole Markotic, Ashok Mathur, Mark Leiren-Young, Dorothy Livesay, Michael Lowenthal, Suzette Mayr, Bridget Moran, Michael Nava, Billeh Nickerson, David Nandi Odhiambo, Stephen Osborne, Allan Peterkin, John Preston, Shaun Proulx, Andy Quan, Darlene Quaife, J. Jill Robinson, Michael Rowe, Jane Rule, Lawrence Schimel, Sarah Schulman, Sandra Shields, Jean Smith, jae steele, Louis-Georges Tin, Karen X. Tulchinsky, Michael Turner, Sylvia Tyson, David Watmough, Thomas Waugh, Cathleen With, Jim Wong-Chu, and Christine Wunnicke. The company has also published art books by or on the work of Stan Douglas, Peter Flinsch, Attila Richard Lukacs, and Ralf König.

History
Established in 1971, Scriveners’ Pulp Press Limited was one of several ventures in alternative arts and literature of the early 1970s. In addition to fiction, poetry and drama titles the Press issued a twice-monthly literary magazine, Three-Cent Pulp, from 1972 to 1978, which introduced a loyal readership to new writing and graphics from around the world. In 1977 Pulp held its first 3-Day Novel Contest, a literary marathon held over the Labour Day weekend during which registered contestants attempted to write a novel in three days. Pulp Press sponsored the event until 1991.

In 1981 the Press initiated a subscription library service, the Arsenal Collaborative Library, to serve as a central distribution point for readers, writers and publishers. Membership, which was free, entitled subscribers to free catalogues and advantageous purchasing arrangements. Arsenal, although still a literary press, gradually added literary non-fiction titles to its list in the areas of cultural, gender and multicultural studies. It also established the Tillacum Library, a Native imprint managed by Randy Fred, founder of Theytus Books, the first aboriginal book publisher in Canada; titles included Children of the First People by Dorothy Haegert, Stoney Creek Woman: The Story of Mary John by Bridget Moran, and Resistance and Renewal: The Kamloops Indian Residential School by Celia Haig-Brown. In 1988 the Press introduced a new series “Little Red Books”, compilations of quotations and anecdotes about major personalities and provocative issues. In the early 1990s Arsenal started distributing its books in the US, and its publishing programme was further developed to include books on gender studies and gay and lesbian literature as well as titles which reflected its commitment to publications about British Columbia. In 1999, it published How It All Vegan!, a vegan cookbook by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard, which became the press's biggest seller of all-time and launched a series of vegan and health-related titles by Kramer, Dreena Burton, jae steele, and others. In the fall of 2001 Arsenal Pulp Press celebrated its 30th anniversary.

The management and editorial team during its first decade of operation included Stephen Osborne, William Gregory Enright, D. M. Fraser, Jon Furberg, and Charles Tidler. In 1982, following the sale of its typesetting and printing operations, Pulp changed its name to Arsenal Pulp Press. In 1988 Brian Lam joined Arsenal following a co-op placement at the Press while studying creative writing at the University of Victoria. Lam became president in 1992 and co-owner with Stephen Osborne, one of the original founders and now editor of the literary magazine Geist.

Arsenal Pulp Press today
Currently the company is managed by Lam (publisher) and vice-president/associate publisher Robert Ballantyne.

The company's books are distributed in Canada by the University of Toronto Press, in the U.S. by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, in the U.K. and continental Europe by Turnaround Publisher Services, and in Australia and New Zealand by NewSouth Books.

Recognition
Arsenal Pulp Press has been named a finalist for the Small Press Publisher of the Year Award by the Canadian Booksellers Association in 2004, 2008, and 2010. In 2007, it won the Jim Douglas Publisher of the Year Award from the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia.