Chaudiere Books originally came together between Jennifer Mulligan and rob mclennan in late 2004. Mulligan had been listening to mclennan grumbling for years about the lack of a solid Ottawa-based literary publisher actively seeking the work of writers around town to help develop and foster the writing the way Arsenal Pulp in Vancouver, Turnstone Press in Winnipeg and Vehicule Press in Montreal had already been doing for decades.

With the help of Anita Dolman, and later, Carmel Purkis, they hammered together a series of ideas and a business plan to get the press moving, with the idea that their press, named Chaudiere Books to keep links not only historically and geographically but literary, would publish four books a season of poetry, fiction and eventually non-fiction starting fall 2006.

Currently the press is headed by Mulligan and mclennan, who both have strong ties not only to Ottawa itself, but to the Ottawa Valley, with one from Irish Pontiac in Quebec, and the other from Scottish Glengarry in Ontario, and the press currently has a large number of friends and family around to help with production, promotion, copy editing, distribution and general press business to keep the business afloat.

Read more about the history of our name ...