A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing

In 1970, Scott McIntyre cofounded what became Canadian publisher Douglas & McIntyre. In the intervening years, he has watched the rise and fall of publishers, booksellers, and book trends from every corner of the industry. He saw the founding of a significant independent Canadian publisher in British Columbia, the growth of Indigenous literature and government support for publishers, and the increasing global demand for Canadian books.

Scott McIntyre has lived the story of Canadian book publishing. Beginning his career at McClelland & Stewart in 1967, he went on to cofound his own publishing house, Douglas & McIntyre, in 1970 and made his mark on the industry amid the country’s exhilarating literary coming-of-age.

Becoming one of Canada’s largest and most respected publishing houses and among the first to embrace Indigenous issues, Douglas & McIntyre and its associated children’s publisher, Groundwood Books, published some 900 authors and 2,000 books in less than 50 years. For McIntyre, the authors always came first, and he worked closely with many important figures, including Doris Shadbolt, Wayson Choy, Richard Wagamese, Anna Porter, Will Ferguson, Doug Coupland, Hugh Brody, Robert Bringhurst, Wade Davis, and Farley Mowat.

Telling stories featuring a colorful array of characters who rebuilt the publishing world following WWII and anecdotes about how book publishing works, McIntyre touches upon the guiding philosophy and historic traditions still animating the industry today. More than the story of one publisher and his company, this is a first-person account of the buoyant period when writers, their books, and the companies who published them changed the nation.

Scott McIntyre has been influential in Canada’s fight for a better and more supportive publishing policy for over 40 years, serving on numerous cultural boards and helping shape a groundbreaking UNESCO treaty that enshrines the principle of cultural diversity within international law. A member of both the Order of Canada and British Columbia, he also holds an honorary degree from Simon Fraser University. He and his wife, Corky, live in Vancouver, BC.