Canongate Books Explained

Canongate Books Ltd.
Country:	United Kingdom
Headquarters:	Edinburgh, Scotland
Distribution:	The Book Service (UK) Grove Atlantic (US)
Keypeople:	Jamie Byng, Publisher and Managing Director
Publications:	Books
Imprints:	Severn House Publishers

Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland.^[1]

It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner Life of Pi. Canongate was named the British Book Awards Publisher of the Year in 2003 and 2009.^[2] ^[3]

Origins

Canongate was founded in 1973 by Stephanie Wolfe Murray and her husband Angus Wolfe Murray.^[4] Originally a speciality press focusing on Scottish-interest books, generally with small print runs, its most major author was Alasdair Gray. In 1994 it was purchased from the receiver in a management buyout led by Jamie Byng, using funds provided by his stepfather Christopher Bland and his father-in-law Charlie McVeigh, and began to publish more general works, including the Pocket Canons editions of books of the Bible, as well as the Payback Press and Rebel Inc. imprints.^[5] ^[6] Byng is CEO of the company.

In June 2010 it was announced that a "living archive" of Canongate Books was to be established at the University of Dundee in collaboration with the University's Archive Services, which will be used for teaching and research.^[7] ^[8]

Partners and joint ventures

Canongate once had a sister company in Australia, Text Publishing; Canongate's majority interest was sold in 2011.^[9] It also has joint venture operations with the children's publisher Walker who will publish selected titles for their young adult fiction list.^[10] Grove/Atlantic, Inc. publishes under the Canongate U.S. imprint, also under a joint venture arrangement.^[11] In March 2010, Canongate and Dirtee Stank announced a joint venture agreement to publish Dizzee Rascal's memoir, although this agreement later fell through.^[12]

Canongate is part of the Independent Alliance, a global alliance of 10 UK publishers and their international publishing partners.^[13] In 2009, the Alliance was the UK's fifth largest publisher.^[14]

Enhanced Editions and Canongate also work in partnership in the production of selected books enhanced for the iPhone and iPod Touch.^[15] The titles that have been released are: Dreams From My Father, The Audacity of Hope, The Death of Bunny Munro and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.

Notable authors and works

Before 1994

Alasdair Gray

(1981)
A Life in Pictures (2010)

Charles Palliser

The Quincunx (1989)

Later

Julian Assange

Julian Assange – the Unauthorised Autobiography (2011). Assange's autobiography was published without his consent, and Canongate and Assange gave differing accounts of the events surrounding publication.^[16] ^[17]

The Mighty Boosh

The Mighty Book of Boosh (2008) and The Pocket Book of Boosh (2009), a coffee-table style hardback and "pocket" edition of a tie-in to the TV series.

Noel Fielding (with Mighty Boosh member Dave Brown)

The Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton (2011).

Nick Cave

The Death of Bunny Munro (2009), the second novel by musician Nick Cave,^[18] was announced in 2008. It was published in hardback, audiobook, ebook and iPhone application formats in September 2009.

David Eagleman

(2009), made famous by a Tweet from Stephen Fry^[19] and the subject of a live show by Brian Eno.

Michel Faber

The Crimson Petal and the White (2002), a historical novel set in Victorian England. Faber followed this with a collection of stories, The Apple (2006).

Matt Haig

The Radleys (2010)

Steven Hall

The Raw Shark Texts (2007)

Miranda July

No One Belongs Here More Than You (2007)

Ismail Kadare

The Ghost Rider
The Siege (2008)

Yann Martel

Life of Pi (2001, Canongate edition 2002), the first Scottish-published book to win the Booker Prize or to sell a million copies in its first year.^[20] An illustrated hardback edition was published in 2007.
Beatrice and Virgil (2010), an allegory of the Holocaust using a donkey named Beatrice and a howler monkey named Virgil.^[21]

James Meek (author)

The People's Act of Love (2005), winner of the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year and the Ondaatje Prize.

Barack Obama

Dreams From My Father (1995, Canongate edition 2007)
The Audacity of Hope (2006, Canongate edition 2007) was acquired after a series of emails between Byng and then-Senator Obama and his team.^[22]
Change We Can Believe In (2008, Canongate edition 2009)

Dizzee Rascal