TouchWood Editions is an independent book publisher based in Victoria, BC, Canada. We are a small team of creatives who share a big love of eating, drinking, exploring the region, and diving into stories that expand and deepen our worldview. Our best work happens when creating beautiful books on topics that ignite our passion: food and wine, regional history, art and photography, gardening and pet
s, house and home, and quality literary fiction titles. Individually and collectively, we value how these topics speak to our sense of belonging and place. In this spirit, we gratefully acknowledge that the land on which we live and work is within the traditional territories of the Lkwungen (Esquimalt, and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia’new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples. The roots of TouchWood Editions reach back to 1984 when Marlyn Horsdal and Michael Schubart started Horsdal & Schubart (H&S), a small publishing company based on Salt Spring Island. Their goal was to carry on the legacy of Gray’s Publishing, one of British Columbia’s earliest book publishers, by publishing similar types of books. H&S published mainly non-fiction titles: history and biography, often favouring nautical books, and always authored by writers from western and northern Canada. In 2000, H&S was purchased by current owner, Pat Touchie, and renamed TouchWood Editions. We continued to build our reputation on producing quality books of cultural and historical significance to BC, specifically Vancouver Island and BC’s west coast. Our backlist is anchored by titles that recount the true stories of BC historical figures and events. Some of these legacy titles include Heart of the Raincoast (1998), Voyages of Hope: The Saga of the Bride-Ships (2002), and Stella: An Unrepentant Madam (2005), among others. For example, we recently published Boom & Bust: The Resilient Women of Historic Telegraph Cove (which received Honourable Mention for the 2019 Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing), Victoria Unbuttoned:A Red-Light History of BC’s Capital City (2021), Craigdarroch Castle in 21 Treasures (2021), and E. J. Hughes: Canadian War Artist (2022).
