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History

Breakwater Books was founded in 1973 to showcase the vibrant literary culture in Newfoundland and Labrador. Since then, we’ve continued our commitment to Newfoundland and Labrador writers while expanding our focus to feature emerging and well-known authors from across Canada and overseas. Breakwater publishes award-winning writing in all literary genres—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, art, young adult and children’s books, as well as cookbooks, guidebooks and educational resources.

Breakwater is proud to have helped establish the literary careers of eminent writers such as Bernice Morgan, Kevin Major, Ray Guy, Mary Dalton, Tom Dawe, Trudy J. Morgan-Cole, Helen Porter, and Al Pittman. In recent years we’ve helped launch the careers of up-and-coming writers including Bridget Canning, Megan Gail Coles, Terry Doyle, Sharon Bala, Morgan Murray and Michelle Porter. We’ve published award-winning children’s authors and illustrators, including George Murray, Ellen Bryan Obed, Cara Kansala, Saqamaw Mi’sel Joe, and Adam and Jennifer Young. And we’re committed to showcasing the work of Newfoundland and Labrador’s finest visual artists, presenting works from emerging artists on many of our literary covers to publishing full-length curated art books including those by Jean-Claude Roy, Gerald Squires, Christopher Pratt, and Pam Hall.

Since the early 1980s, our backlist shows a continued commitment to work by Indigenous writers, including writers from Miawpukek First Nation, Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation, and Red River Métis writers. We have published in Mi’kmaq and released a book in all four of Labrador’s living languages—English, French, Innu-aimun, and Inuttitut. Our backlist also includes bilingual titles from and about the small but vigorous francophone population on the west coast of Newfoundland, and we’ve translated and published international writers and writers from French Canada that compliment our list and mandate.

We’ve made long-standing contributions to feminist literature through our Woman’s Almanac series, published in partnership with the St. John’s Status of Women Council. We have a particular interest in promoting the work of 2SLGBTQ+ writers, including Breakwater authors Robert Chafe, Shannon Webb-Campbell, Douglas Gosse, Paul David Power, and Berni Stapleton. We’re committed to continue representing equity-seeking communities and being vocal proponents for social justice and are actively seeking additional new work from BIPOC writers, writers with disabilities, and other authors from marginalized communities.

Works in the WWEnd Database

2011 FINTON MOON Gerald Collins

Authors Published

• Gerald Collins