{"id":134942,"date":"2025-10-20T23:54:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134942\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T23:54:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:54:28","slug":"storied-poetry-publisher-brick-books-merges-operations-with-upstart-assembly-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134942\/","title":{"rendered":"Storied poetry publisher Brick Books merges operations with upstart Assembly Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Run by publisher Alayna Munce (pictured), Brick Books is one of few poetry-only presses. It is set to merge with Assembly Press.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old Kingston, Ont., poetry press Brick Books is set to merge operations with Prince Edward County\u2019s Assembly Press, as both attempt to secure financial stability in a tumultuous era for independent publishing houses.<\/p>\n

The two presses announced Monday that they will remain editorially independent but share back-end operations.<\/p>\n

Brick Books, run by publisher Alayna Munce, is one of the world\u2019s rare poetry-only presses and has been in business since 1975. Assembly Press was launched in just 2023 and is helmed by Leigh Nash, a veteran publisher and editor with such publishers as House of Anansi Press, Invisible Publishing and Coach House Books. <\/p>\n

Fifty years ago, national pride supercharged anglo-Canadian publishing. Could it happen again?<\/a><\/p>\n

Long back catalogues such as Brick\u2019s can help stabilize a publisher\u2019s revenue flows and enhance eligibility for government grants, which can be make-or-break in today\u2019s industry. The merger will also mean a greater diversity of genres the combined organization can put on the market \u2013 Assembly publishes fiction and non-fiction on top of poetry \u2013 which can hedge against changing consumer tastes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis merger is the best path forward for both presses to continue to be innovative, independent and flexible while retaining our individual identities, and it will absolutely allow us to operate more competitively in the trade market,\u201d Nash said in a press release. <\/p>\n

Independent book publishing flourished in Canada five decades ago, buoyed by a surge in cultural nationalism and fresh government supports. Rising overhead costs and competition from multinationals have since made business tough for indie houses, which data provider BookNet says represent just 5.3 per cent of Canadian book sales. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Run by publisher Alayna Munce (pictured), Brick Books is one of few poetry-only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[4320,4309,4321,359,9,4302,4322,995,4301,4314,4315,4311,4303,4300,179,2597,18,117,440,4313,4307,4333,4304,4305,3428,19,17,4310,3521,3136,4323,4306,4328,4329,4331,4326,4330,4324,4327,430,4317,4318,790,4316,4325,4308,82,4319,4312,4222,66,4332],"class_list":{"0":"post-134942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-books","12":"tag-breaking-news","13":"tag-breaking-news-video","14":"tag-british-columbia","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-eire","25":"tag-entertainment","26":"tag-environment","27":"tag-federal-government","28":"tag-foreign-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail","30":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","31":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","32":"tag-government","33":"tag-ie","34":"tag-ireland","35":"tag-life-news","36":"tag-lifestyle","37":"tag-local-news","38":"tag-manitoba","39":"tag-national-news","40":"tag-new-brunswick","41":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","42":"tag-northwest-territories","43":"tag-nova-scotia","44":"tag-nunavut","45":"tag-ontario","46":"tag-pei","47":"tag-photos","48":"tag-political-news","49":"tag-political-opinion","50":"tag-politics","51":"tag-politics-news","52":"tag-quebec","53":"tag-sports-news","54":"tag-technology","55":"tag-travel","56":"tag-trudeau","57":"tag-us-news","58":"tag-world-news","59":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}