Two titans in the realm of Canadian Jewish publishing have been named as co-publishers of the New Jewish Press, an ambitious venture by the University of Toronto’s Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies to produce original Jewish-themed books for the general reading public.
The New Jewish Press “is a logical extension of the Centre’s core mission, which is to bring Jewish studies to the broader community,” said co-publisher Malcolm Lester, a book-trade veteran whose previous credits have included such celebrated works as None Is Too Many, The Riot at Christie Pits and A Good Place to Come From.
Until recently, the other co-publisher Andrea Fochs Knight was managing editor of the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs and had previously worked with Lester at Malcolm Lester Books.
The New Jewish Press may launch its first four or five titles in October 2016 with production of another eight or 10 titles in 2017, she said.
“The range of titles will be fiction, non-fiction and literary non-fiction. They’re not aimed at a scholarly audience. They won’t be full of footnotes. Our goal is to bridge the academy and the community, as we say, to produce books that are of interest to scholars and also be accessible to the public.”
The new publishing venture is based on “a different model,” she continued, “in that it has many of the characteristics of a trade house but it’s operating within the university. It’s a model that’s funded partly by donations – it’s not entirely dependent on book sales. So, in that sense, we’ve opted to avoid some of the pitfalls that a new trade house might face.”
The co-publishers concur that the new venture will be a “niche publisher” that will seek out specific kinds of titles, such as in the field of Canadian Jewish history, that large publishing companies may not care to produce.
Donors who wish to assist the New Jewish Press will receive tax receipts from the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies. However, donors may not underwrite publication of a specific title. Final decisions about what titles to publish will be made by an editorial committee consisting of the two co-publishers and professors Anna Shternshis, Doris Bergen, David Novak and Harold Troper.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be working with the Centre on this timely new publishing venture,” said Lester, while Fochs Knight said she was excited at the prospect of bringing “a broad new range of Canadian Jewish voices” into print.
