imPRESSive: Highlighting Canada’s Small Presses

stelliform press

Owned and operated by selena Middleton

How did the press get started? Give us a little bit of its history, including any accomplishments of which you are particularly proud.

I started dreaming of starting a press as I was finishing up a PhD in English at McMaster University. My research was on feminist ecological fictions, with a special focus on Indigenous writers’ sense of place and the emotional resonances when that sense of place comes into conflict with the ecological and personal harms of colonization. I’d started my project by reading a whole lot of “climate fiction” to see how writers were imagining the effects of and solutions to this global problem, but at that time there was a significant gap in the subgenre when it came to addressing the connections between climate change and colonization. I started Stelliform Press as a way to bring more decolonial ecological narratives, and narratives that are intersectional and justice focused under the “climate fiction” umbrella.

Since releasing our first books in 2020, we’ve published or will soon be publishing twelve books. For many of our authors their release with us was their first book-length publication. We’re proud to note that most of our books have gotten some award recognition, including by some important speculative fiction juries such as the Crawford Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and two nominations for the Ursula K. Le Guin $25,000 Prize for Fiction.

What are the press's mission/goals/mandate?

We publish speculative fiction and non-fiction that addresses environmental justice. Stelliform Press’s goal is to publish narratives that build on and expand the idea of ecology. We want to challenge the idea that “nature” is something we’re separate from, and that human beings are not a part of the ecological systems in which they live. We want to expand the idea of ecology to include emotional systems, political systems, and ways of thinking, and publish narratives that demonstrate the intricate connections between all facets of human and non-human life. Speculative fiction is a great narrative approach for tackling these kinds of foundational ideas because extrapolation is necessary to get many of us past our biases and inclinations.

What future plans and dreams do you have for the press?

Right now the press is run by one person, plus the occasional freelancer or intern, and a team of volunteers for which I am extremely grateful. I’d love to get the press to the point where I can hire another editor, and be able to afford a dedicated publicist for every book. Signing with a distributor, especially for Canada, is a goal we’re working toward. In the meantime, we’re publishing more emerging authors and planning to expand into non-fiction and graphic texts in 2024.

Is there anything else you would like readers and writers to know about the press?

For writers: we’re currently open for submissions and are very interested in acquiring more Canadian authors. We’re especially interested in BIPOC and LGBTQ2S perspectives on environmental justice and climate change. For readers: check out our books at www.stelliform.press. Our ebooks are always on sale and getting them directly from us is a great way to undercut the big online sellers who make it so hard for local booksellers to thrive. Another option is to request our books at your local library. We love to see Stelliform books on library shelves. The work librarians do in our communities is so important!