Coach House Books

Coach House Books Tucked away on Toronto's bpNichol Lane, Coach House has been printing & publishing innovative poetry, fiction, drama & nonfiction since 1965. It’s true.

https://linktr.ee/chbooks There’s a laneway in downtown Toronto named after a poet: bpNichol Lane. Tucked away on that back alley is a crumbling old garage—a coach house—and inside it are two Heidelberg printing presses, an Autominabinda binder, and a big guillotine-like cutter. Passing through those machines is a gorgeous, antique-colored laid paper called Zephyr. And on that paper sits some of t

he most intriguing lines and sentences you’ll ever encounter.

“To say that Coach House ‘publishes’ books would be to diminish the magic of what really happens within the old brick walls on bpNichol Lane,” says The Globe and Mail of our publishing program. Our books are handsome, but they’ve got personality and wit too—they are, like our building, a little off the beaten path: innovative poetry, brazen fiction, provocative nonfiction. Every one of our books is a little portable piece of bpNichol Lane’s magic. For a taste, try out Christian Bök’s bestselling, Griffin Prize–winning EUNOIA, or a New York Times’ Top 100 selection, LISA ROBERTSON'S MAGENTA SOUL WHIP. Or the internationally acclaimed ALL MY FRIENDS ARE SUPERHEROES by Andrew Kaufman. Or MY WINNIPEG, by visionary filmmaker Guy Maddin. We’ve got a swath of award nominations to our name—Griffins, Trilliums, Commonwealths, Lambdas, and more—and a stockpile of laudatory press, like NewPages’ claim that our books offer “a reason to read. A reason to write. A reason to believe in poetry.” Heck, Bookforum called us “the most esteemed literary house in Canada.” But we don’t let it go to our heads; we, and our Heidelbergs, just keep on beavering away in our little coach house to bring you the most unexpected, delicious, carnival-ride-like books we can find. Visit us at www.chbooks.com.

Featuring Martin Vaughn-James’s THE CAGE (1975) in our continued celebration of 60 years of Coach House. In 1975, when C...
08/10/2025

Featuring Martin Vaughn-James’s THE CAGE (1975) in our continued celebration of 60 years of Coach House.

In 1975, when Coach House first published Martin Vaughn-James's groundbreaking visual novel The Cage, the term 'graphic novel' hadn't yet been coined. Rumour has it that Vaughn-James figured it was a cross between a book and a movie and called it a 'boovie.' Luckily the term didn't stick, but the genre did. Maybe because the totally bonkers labyrinth of a world The Cage created showed a new way forward for storytelling. Coach House Books reissued it in 2013, with a foreword by Seth.

Head to our blog to learn more about every archive title featured so far, or to read an excerpt from and purchase a copy of the 2013 reissue!

We’re through the height of summer and the crew at Coach House Books has wrapped up our last month of reading with recom...
08/06/2025

We’re through the height of summer and the crew at Coach House Books has wrapped up our last month of reading with recommendations over on our blog! Swipe to see what books we’ve been spending our time with lately, and read all of our recommendations in full at chbooks.com/blog. 📝

Happy Women in Translation Month! Until August 31, save 20% off all Coach House Books translations written and/or transl...
08/04/2025

Happy Women in Translation Month!

Until August 31, save 20% off all Coach House Books translations written and/or translated by women. All month, we'll be featuring some of our favourite translated works on our socials, including reader favourites and backlist gems.

Discount automatically applied at checkout. Book orders made during the sale are also eligible for free Canadian shipping! 📚📚📚

Looking back on Victor Coleman’s Corrections (1985) as this week’s exploration of the Coach House archive:Victor Coleman...
08/03/2025

Looking back on Victor Coleman’s Corrections (1985) as this week’s exploration of the Coach House archive:

Victor Coleman was an integral part of Coach House Press of yore. In 1985, looking back on nine books of his poetry, he decided not to collect them but to correct them. Corrections, then, contains revisions of six of his books – and, of course, a correction page, which further corrects the corrections.

📝 Read about all of our features so far together on our blog: chbooks.com/BLOG

Come celebrate the 60th anniversary of Coach House at the 2025 Wayzgoose!On Thursday, September 4, join us at Coach Hous...
08/02/2025

Come celebrate the 60th anniversary of Coach House at the 2025 Wayzgoose!

On Thursday, September 4, join us at Coach House Books (80 bpNichol Lane) from 5 PM 'til late! We'll have books, beverages, hot dogs, and a very special diamond anniversary toast at 8 PM.

Q: What is a Wayzgoose?

A: It's traditionally a party given by printers to mark the traditional end of summer and the start of the season of working by candlelight.

But we do it a bit differently! There will be free food (hot dogs and snacks), beverages (alcohol and nonalcoholic) and book sales. Meet fellow book lovers, authors, and maybe even discover your new favourite book.

Please note that the event is outdoors on mostly level pavement. There will be an accessible porta-potty.

On Wednesday, August 20th, please join us at Coach House Books (80 bpNichol Lane) for 5 à 7. We'll be joined by Andrew F...
07/31/2025

On Wednesday, August 20th, please join us at Coach House Books (80 bpNichol Lane) for 5 à 7. We'll be joined by Andrew Faulkner (author of the Coach House titles Heady Bloom and Need Machine) and Spencer Gordon (author of CH title Cosmo, and most recently A Horse at the Window from our friends )!

Stay up to date on all of our forthcoming events by signing up for our newsletter. 💌

Susan Choi declares André Alexis’ Fifteen Dogs is the last great novel she’s read, in the Observer last week: ‘A huge di...
07/30/2025

Susan Choi declares André Alexis’ Fifteen Dogs is the last great novel she’s read, in the Observer last week: ‘A huge discovery for me. I found it enthralling and totally unexpected. I don’t even want to describe it because I think readers should just pick it up.’

For Fifteen Dogs’ tenth anniversary, new paperback and hardcover editions of André Alexis’ modern masterpiece are now available for pre-order, featuring a foreword from Eileen Myles and an afterword by André Alexis.

COACH HOUSE 60th ANNIVERSARY MERCH: it's here! Celebrate our diamond anniversary in style with our new limited edition t...
07/29/2025

COACH HOUSE 60th ANNIVERSARY MERCH: it's here! Celebrate our diamond anniversary in style with our new limited edition totes and tees, both featuring laneway poetry by the late great bpNichol and text commemorating our 60th year of publishing & printing.

We love Coach House readers, and can't wait to see you at our diamond anniversary Wayzgoose on September 4th (more details very soon - save the date)! Those wearing their Coach House merch at the Wayzgoose will receive an extra special discount on book purchases made at the event! ❤️

Shop our new merch here: https://chbooks.com/Merchandise

From 1990, this week’s featured title from the Coach House archive is Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Mo...
07/27/2025

From 1990, this week’s featured title from the Coach House archive is Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet):

Long before Fall on Your Knees, Ann-Marie MacDonald wrote a brilliant play called Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), about a possible lost manuscript that might be a source for Shakespeare. A little tragic but mostly comic, this very clever play was the first in the Coach House Plays series.

Browse all of our featured titles as we continue to celebrate our 60th anniversary over on our blog: chbooks.com/BLOG 💚

Thanks to everyone who came out to our 5 à 7 last night at the coach house! Truly a blast, with some very funny & joyful...
07/23/2025

Thanks to everyone who came out to our 5 à 7 last night at the coach house! Truly a blast, with some very funny & joyful readings. If you missed it, you can learn more about Susan Holbrook and Nasser Hussain's books (of prose and poetry) on our site, and join us for our next 5 à 7 on Tuesday, August 26th! We'll be listening to Tamara Faith Berger & Pasha Malla.

Address

80 BpNichol Lane
Toronto, ON
M5S3J4

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+14169792217

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