Canadian publishing was hit late Monday by news that D&M Publishers Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection.
A brief announcement issued from the company’s Vancouver offices said that D&M management will work with the Bowra Group to find an investor or purchaser for its assets and that the company intends to continue operations while restructuring.
D&M has three imprints: Douglas & McIntyre, Greystone Books and New Society Publishers. Monday’s announcement noted that New Society is a separate legal entity, has not filed for protection and will continue its business as usual.
D&M is one of Canada’s largest independent houses and celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2011. It is known for producing high quality books on art and architecture, politics, native and Canadian culture, food and the environment, including many award-winners. This year, Greystone Books' nonfiction title by Candace Savage A Geography of Blood: Unearthing the Memory from a Prairie Landscape, published in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation, has been shortlisted for the $60,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
D&M has provided Canadian sales and marketing for Farrar, Straus and Giroux since 1997. D&M books are distributed in Canada by HarperCollins Canada.
The company was founded by Jim Douglas and Scott McIntyre in 1970. When Douglas retired in 1980, McIntyre became president, CEO and majority shareholder. In 2007, majority shares were sold and Mark Scott became president, while McIntyre remained as chairman and CEO. He stepped down from that role in July 2012, and Trena White was appointed publisher working with Jesse Finkelstein as COO.
