Campaign

Local book publishers launch campaign to grow industry in partnership with the Nova Scotia government

About the Campaign

Nova Scotia book publishers are launching a campaign to heighten awareness of the importance of the industry in our province.

The campaign’s two main goals are:

Demonstrate the importance of a vibrant, locally-owned and controlled publishing industry in Nova Scotia

Bring attention to the need for a structured approach to government support.

The provincial government has identified book publishing as a creative industry to be supported through new investment, so the broad financial commitment is there. However, with this mandate moving from the department responsible for culture to a crown corporation tied to business development, we need government to come to the table and work with us to develop programs that respect book publishing as both a viable commercial and cultural industry.

The publishers’ plan to sustain and grow book publishing in Nova Scotia includes:

–        adopting a creative industry public funding approach similar to that which has found success in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia

–        partnering with the Nova Scotia government and other arts- and culture-based organizations to create a proper provincial arts council

–        doubling industry jobs, books and sales over the next five years

–        supporting NS writers, illustrators, designers, and investing in the people who make the success of local books possible behind the scenes, such as editors and publicists.

A community is only as strong as its ability to tell its own stories. A vibrant local publishing industry is an important component of healthy communities. To this end, we want to renew and revitalize our relationship with the provincial government in a way that addresses historical deficiencies, allows publishers to play an active role in implementing effective new programs, and puts publishers here in Nova Scotia on equal footing with our counterparts across the country.

Nova Scotia Books Start Here Launch Event

The Books Start Here campaign will be officially launched at a Local Authors Meet and Greet at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on Thursday, February 4^th at 7pm. The event is free and open to the public. In attendance will be Sheree Fitch, Lesley Crewe, Stephen Kimber, Canada’s new poet laureate George Elliott Clarke, as well as other notable Nova Scotia authors to be announced.