Closer to what Northrop Frye aptly called “post-national literature,” the literature Quattro Books is unafraid of breaking the taboos surrounding origin: we are interested in publishing meaningful literature regardless of its linguistic, cultural, or national background and, in the process, contributing to a community that reflects the multiplicity and excitement of literary production in Canada.

Ours is publishing that brings to the fore established writers experimenting with new forms, as well as writers whose work is strong, yet previously invisible to readers, mostly because of linguistic, stylistic and cultural obstacles. There are, fortunately for Quattro Books, plenty of writers whose work fits our vision of open-ended literary expression.

To give voice to these writers we have, for now, established three lines of books: a poetry series, a novella series, and an international series. Regardless of the aegis of the series they are published under, all Quattro books absorb our inclusive vision. For us, a good novella or poetry collection by a Canadian author familiar to readers is just as important as a literary creation by an unknown writer who experiments with form or style.

Canadian immigrant or refugee writers need a vehicle for publication. We can be their home. Importantly, whether here for several generations, or recently arrived, most Canadians find their origins in other cultures and bring the literary traditions of those cultures to Canada with them. This import represents a deep resource, global in scope, with a potential to enrich the Canadian imagination. Works which originate in the cultures of origin of Canadians become Canadian works through translation. Once established as a commercially viable press, Quattro Books aims at becoming a venue for international literature in translation.

The collective experience of organizing and raising funds (mostly from private sources), for Toronto WordStage, the successful monthly reading series we established in January 2006, is what inspired us to start up Quattro Books.

Allan Briesmaster is the author of ten books of poetry and has been active in the Toronto literary community for many years. He was the main organizer of the weekly Art Bar Poetry Reading Series for over a decade. As a free-lance editor specializing in poetry and non-fiction, he has been involved in the production of more than 60 books since 1998: with watershedBooks (1997-2001), Seraphim Editions (2000-08), and in conjunction with several other publishers, as well as through his own micro press, Aeolus House (www.aeolushouse.com).

Beatriz Hausner is a poet and the translator of some 20 works of literature, principally from Spanish into English. Her full-length poetry collection, The Wardrobe Mistress, was published in 2003. She has published several chapbooks of poetry and is a respected editor and critic. She was President of the Literary Translators' Association of Canada, one of the founders of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre, and the organizer of hundreds of literary events, including international conferences. She works as a librarian in Toronto.

John Calabro is a prose writer and has been teaching business and economics for 25 years with the TDSB. Bellecour, published in 2005 by Guernica Editions, was named by The Globe and Mail's First Fiction reviewer as one of the top 5 books in that category in 2005. LyricalMyrical Press published his collection of short stories, Somewhere Else in 2006. Aside from his experience in fiction writing and editing, Calabro brings to Quattro Books his extensive knowledge in the areas of fundraising and financial planning.

Luciano Iacobelli is a poet, playwright and visual artist. In 1986 his first play, The Porch, was staged in Toronto. In 2000 he founded Lyricalmyrical Press, a grass-roots publishing company specializing in handcrafted chapbooks. More than 80 books have appeared under this imprint, many by very young writers whose work he has nurtured throughout his career as a creative writing and literature teacher at SEED, Toronto's oldest public alternative school. Author of 7 chapbooks, The Angel Notebook, his first full-length poetry collection, was published in March of 2007 by Seraphim Editions.