Guernica Editions is a Canadian independent publisher established in Montreal, Quebec, in 1978, by Antonio D'Alfonso. Guernica specializes in Canadian literature, poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Guernica's current publishers are Connie McParland and editor in chiefMichael Mirolla. Guernica Editions began as a bilingual press and in the first decade published works in English and in French. It also published many Quebec authors in English translations. They include : Nicole Brossard, Jacques Brault, Yolanda Villemaire, Rejean Ducharme and Suzanne Jacob. D'Alfonso is a bilingual writer and translator who works in English and French. In 1994 Guernica Editions moved operations from Montreal to Toronto and focused on English language books and only occasionally printed books in French. One of Guernica's significant contributions to Canadian letters is its promotion of ethnic minority writers including Italian-Canadian authors, Dutch, Arab, Greek, African-Canadian writers and others.
The Guernica Writers Series
In 2000 Antonio D'Alfonso established the 'Writers Series' a chain of monographs each devoted to a Canadian author and edited by senior Canadian academics. The Series was co-directed by Antonio D'Alfonso and Joseph Pivato. After 2010 Pivato became sole editor of this series. By 2019 this series includes over 50 volumes with monographs on such Canadian authors as Sheila Watson, Robert Kroetsch, M.G. Vassanji, Jack Hodgins, George Elliott Clarke, Nino Ricci, Alistair MacLeod, Aritha Van Herk, F.G. Paci, Al Purdy, Mary di Michele, David Adams Richards, Anne Hebert, Daniel David Moses, Caterina Edwards, Don McKay, P.K. Page, Nicole Brossard, Drew Hayden Taylor, Joy Kogawa, Gary Geddes, Kristjana Gunnars, Pier Giorgio DiCicco and others. It is now called the 'Essential Writers Series.' A number of Guernica anthologies have been used as texts in college and university literature courses. They include The Anthology of Italian-Canadian Writing, Voices in the Desert: An Anthology of Arabic Canadian Women Writers , Pillars of Lace: The Anthology of Italian-Canadian Women Writers , Ricordi: Things Remembered, Social Pluralism and Literary HistoryAdjacencies: Minority Writing in Canada and other titles.
Les Ages de l'amour by Dorothy Livesay won the 1989 Governor General translation award for Jean Antonin Billiard. Aknos by Fulvio Caccia won the 1994 Governor General award for French poetry. Island of the Nightingales" by Caterina Edwards won the 2001 Howard O'Hagan Award for Short Fiction. Remembering History by Rhea Tregebov won the 1982 Pat Loather Award for Poetry. Contrasts: Comparative Essays on Italian-Canadian Writing by J. Pivato won the 1985Bressani Prize. Keeping Afloat by M. Travis Lane won the 2002 Atlantic Poetry Award.
