Canongate Books
| Founded | 1973 |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters location | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Distribution | The Book Service (UK) |
| Publication types | Books |
| Official website | http://www.canongate.tv/ |
Canongate Books (often simply Canongate) is a Scottish independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh; it is named for the Canongate, an area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner Life of Pi. Canongate was named Publisher of the Year in 2003 and 2009.
Origins
Canongate was founded in 1973 by Stephanie Wolfe Murray and her husband Angus Wolfe Murray.[1] Originally a speciality press focusing on Scottish-interest books, generally with small print runs, its most major author was Alasdair Gray. In 1994 it was purchased from the receiver in a management buyout led by Jamie Byng, using funds provided by his stepfather Christopher Bland and his father-in-law Charlie McVeigh, and began to publish more general works, including the Pocket Canons editions of books of the Bible, as well as the Payback Press and Rebel Inc. imprints.[2][3] Byng is now the Publisher and Managing Director of the company.
In June 2010 it was announced that a "living archive" of Canongate Books was to be established at the University of Dundee in collaboration with the University's Archive Services, which will be used for teaching and research.[4][5]
Partners and joint ventures
Canongate once had a sister company in Australia, Text Publishing; Canongate's majority interest was sold in 2011.[6] It also has joint venture operations with the children's publisher Walker who will publish selected titles for their Young-adult fiction list.[7] Grove/Atlantic, Inc. publishes under the Canongate U.S. imprint, also under a joint venture arrangement.[8] In March 2010, Canongate and Dirtee Stank announced a joint venture agreement to publish Dizzee Rascal's memoir, although this agreement later fell though.[9]
Canongate is part of the Independent Alliance, a global alliance of ten UK publishers and their international publishing partners.[10] In 2009, the Alliance was the UK's fifth largest publisher.[11]
Enhanced Editions and Canongate also work in partnership in the production of selected books enhanced for the iPhone and iPod Touch.[12] The titles that have been released are: Dreams From My Father, The Audacity of Hope, The Death of Bunny Munro and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.
Notable authors and works
- Julian Assange – the Unauthorised Autobiography (2011). Assange's autobiography was published without his consent, and Canongate and Assange gave differing accounts of the events surrounding publication.[13][14]
- The Mighty Book of Boosh (2008) and The Pocket Book of Boosh (2009), a coffee-table style hardback and "pocket" edition of a tie-in to the TV series.
Noel Fielding (with Mighty Boosh member Dave Brown)
- The Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton (2011).
- The Death of Bunny Munro (2009), the second novel by musician Nick Cave,[15] was announced in 2008. It was published in hardback, audiobook, ebook and iPhone application formats in September 2009.
- Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives (2009), made famous by a Tweet from Stephen Fry[16] and the subject of a live show by Brian Eno.
- The Crimson Petal and the White (2002), a historical novel set in Victorian England. Faber followed this with a collection of stories, 'The Apple' (2006).
- Lanark: A Life in Four Books (1981)
- A Life in Pictures (2010)
- The Radleys (2010)
- The Raw Shark Texts (2007)
- No One Belongs Here More Than You (2007)
- Life of Pi (2001, Canongate edition 2002), the first Scottish-published book to win the Booker Prize or to sell a million copies in its first year.[17] An illustrated hardback edition was published in 2007.
- Beatrice and Virgil (2010), an allegory of the Holocaust using a donkey named Beatrice and a howler monkey named Virgil.[18]
- The People's Act of Love (2005), winner of the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year and the Ondaatje Prize.
- Trainspotting (novel) (1993), the original print run was published by Canongate.
- Dreams From My Father (1995, Canongate edition 2007)
- The Audacity of Hope (2006, Canongate edition 2007) was acquired after a series of emails between Byng and then-Senator Obama and his team.[19]
- Change We Can Believe In (2008, Canongate edition 2009)
- The Dizzee Rascal Story (2010)[20]
- What The Hell Are You Doing? (2010)[21]
- Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991, Canongate edition 2008)
- The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (1997, Canongate edition 2009)
- The Great Rock Discography, 1st ed. (1994)
- The Great Rock Discography, 2nd ed. (1995)
- The Great Rock Discography, 3rd ed. (1996)
- The Great Rock Discography, 4th ed. (1998)
- The Great Rock Discography, 5th ed. (2000)
- The Great Rock Discography, 6th ed. (2002)
- The Great Rock Discography, 7th ed. (2004)
- The Great Metal Discography, 1st ed. (1998)
- The Great Metal Discography, 2nd ed. (2002)
- The Wee Rock Discography (1996)
- The Great Alternative & Indie Discography (1999)
- The Great Indie Discography, 2nd ed. (2003)
- The Essential Rock Discography (2006)
- Lights, Camera, Soundtracks (2008)
- The End of Mr. Y (2007)
- PopCo (2004, Canongate edition 2009)
- Our Tragic Universe (2010)
- Simon's Cat (2009), the award-winning[23] animation was published in book format in October 2009.[24]
Canongate Myth Series, in which contemporary authors re-imagine ancient myths from a variety of cultures
- Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth (2005)
- Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad (2005)
- Jeanette Winterson, Weight (2005)
- Michel Faber, The Fire Gospel (2008)
- David Grossman, Lion's Honey (2006)
- Alexander McCall Smith, Dream Angus (2006)
- Victor Pelevin, The Helmet of Horror (2006)
- Ali Smith, Girl Meets Boy (2007)
- Su Tong, Binu and the Great Wall (2007)
- Salley Vickers, Where Three Roads Meet (2007)
- Dubravka Ugresic, Baba Yaga Laid an Egg (2009)
- Klas Ostergren, The Hurricane Party (2009)
- Milton Hatoum, The Orphans of Eldorado (2010)
- Philip Pullman, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (2010)
Prizes
- 2002: Life of Pi won the Booker Prize.
- 2003: Canongate won Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards.[25]
- 2007: No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.[26]
- 2007: The illustrated edition of Life of Pi won a British Book Design and Production award in the Limited Edition and Fine Binding category.[27]
- 2008: The Boat by Nam Le won the Dylan Thomas Prize.[28]
- 2009: Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama won Biography of the Year at the British Book Awards.[29]
- 2009: Canongate won Publisher of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards.[30]
- 2009: Geoff Dyer's Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize.[31]
- 2009: Nam Le's The Boat won the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards.[32]
See also
References
- ↑ Lucinda Byatt, "Jamie Byng and Canongate", Solander magazine, Historical Novel Society, UK, Vol. 19, May 2006.
- ↑ Catherine Deveney, "Canongate Books - The mane man", The Scotsman, 24 October 2005.
- ↑ Iain Sharp, "Bada Byng, bada boom", stuff.co.nz, 9 July 2006.
- ↑ "University and Canongate link to form 'Living Archive'". University of Dundee. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
- ↑ "Canongate Books". Archives records and Artefacts at the University of Dundee. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Jason Steger, "Text Publishing starts next chapter", The Age, 26 June 2004.
- ↑ Catherine Neilan, "Canongate and Walker create joint young adult imprint", The Bookseller, 15 December 2009.
- ↑ Paul Rogerson, "Modest helping of Pi brings slimmer profits at Canongate", The Herald, 3 November 2005.
- ↑ Phil Miller, "Rascal teams up with Scottish publisher", The Herald, 5 March 2010.
- ↑ Independent Alliance
- ↑ Catherine Neilan, "Indie Alliance becomes 'fifth biggest publisher'", The Bookseller, 24 January 2010.
- ↑ Enhances-editions.com.
- ↑ Assange, Julian (22 September 2011). "Julian Assange: Statement on the Unauthorised, Secret Publishing of the Julian Assange "autobiography" by Canongate". Wikileaks. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
- ↑ Davies, Nick (22 September 2011). "Why we are publishing Julian Assange's (unauthorised) autobiography". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
- ↑ Catherine Neilan, "Canongate buys Nick Cave novel", Bookseller, 12 September 2008.
- ↑ "Stephen Fry's Twitter posts on David Eagleman novel sparks 6000% sales spike", The Telegraph, 11 September 2009.
- ↑ Liam McDougall, "Life Of Pi hits one million sales as Spielberg eyes movie chance", Sunday Herald, 10 August 2003.
- ↑ "Pi author plans Holocaust novel", BBC, 31 October 2009.
- ↑ "Canongate pulls off Obama coup", The Scotsman, 11 March 2007.
- ↑ "Dizzee Rascal memoir to Canongate" The Bookseller.
- ↑ "Interview: David Shrigley, artist", The Scotsman, 11 April 2010.
- ↑ "Music Reference Books by Martin C. Strong", FolkLib Index.
- ↑ Britishanimationawards.com
- ↑ Catherine Neilan, "Canongate buys Simon's Cat", Bookseller, 13 January 2009.
- ↑ "Canongate ... I liked it so much I bought the company", The Scotsman, 23 September 2003..
- ↑ Richard Lea, "Award-winning film-maker scoops short story prize", Guardian, 24 September 2007.
- ↑ British Book Design and Production Awards 2008 - Winners.
- ↑ "Former Vietnamese refugee claims Dylan Thomas Prize", CBC, 11 November 2008.
- ↑ Murray Wardrop, "Barack Obama triumphs at British Book Awards with Dreams From My Father", The Daily Telegraph, 4 April 2009.
- ↑ Alison Flood, "Obama helps Canongate become publisher of the year", The Guardian, 2 June 2009.
- ↑ Alison Flood, "Geoff Dyer wins Wodehouse prize for comic fiction", Guardian.co.uk, 29 May 2009.
- ↑ Alison Flood, "Vietnamese refugee wins Australian prime minister's award for fiction", The Guardian, 3 November 2009.
External links
- Official website
- The Branching-Out Guide to Independent Presses
- Interview with Canongate – Publisher of the Year; Lisa Glass talks to Jamie Byng
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