Message From the Director
Is it fearlessness or folly to stay in the eye of the storm? The world of scholarly communication is in an uproar, everything seemingly known about how its constituent parts work together is suddenly unknown and some say the model is irrevocably broken. At the very same time that digital technology enables university presses to reach a truly global audience for their books, so too is the value of university presses being radically yet methodically questioned. It would be disingenuous to say UBC Press is not as rocked and swayed by all of this uncertainty as are our colleague presses across Canada and beyond. We are.

And yet there is an air of calm and purpose to our daily work, an unbroken clarity about what lies at the centre of everything we do: authors, their words, and our transformative relationship with both. This is the eye, figuratively and literally, that enables ideas and arguments to be finely honed, textually and visually polished, and presented to their audience. It is both a place and a time before a work meets its ineluctable fate: to be sold, read, reviewed, lauded, contested, and nominated for awards or not—in other words, to be made public. To linger in the eye, to not always hurriedly rush toward to the extremes of what a storm offers is in itself a challenge, but the privilege of publishing books of exceptional merit, books that change things, the inevitable reward. 

Even a quick visit to this website will reveal how often UBC Press authors and their books garner accolades, are nominated for and win awards, and are recognized by the peers for their meaningful contribution to Canadian scholarship and the exchange of intellectual ideas more broadly. You’ll also note that books are available in a range of print and digital formats and that there is a wealth of information available to help you learn more about UBC Press’s list in general and each book and author more specifically. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of the UBC Press staff—a talented and enormously dedicated group of people.

Melissa Pitts
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UBC Press is the Canadian agent for several international publishers. Visit our Publishers Represented page to learn more.
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