Publishing Ecosystems: The Garbage Poems

As one of Canada’s few poetry-only publishers, Brick Books has a deep awareness of what poetry can do for us in a tumultuous political landscape, both south of the border and within Canada. In a time where LGBTQ!2S+ folks, racialized folks, Indigenous people, people who are poor, people with disabilities, and women continue to face threats to their personhood and lives, we are conscious of what poetry has been, is, and can be. Our poetry list has and continues to strive to reflect these perspectives, and our Fall 2025 list is no different.

In a climate where readers, booksellers, librarians, and other audiences are more interested than ever in “buying Canadian,” The Association of Canadian Publishers has launched a new Certified Canadian Publisher Program. Anyone who picks up a book with this seal isn’t only supporting an independent press, but an ecosystem of authors, editors, designers, printers, and distributors within Canada.

Each of our Fall 2025 books is part of this ecosystem. In today’s post, we are spotlighting the printing process of The Garbage Poems by Anna Swanson, with watercolour and gouache illustrations by April White.

From its very first page, The Garbage Poems has a highly original design: bright pink illustrated interior flaps.

The colour printing for this book opened up possibilities of deviating from our standard black endpapers. Illustrator April White created the bottle cap drawings, designer Natalie Olsen paired the illustrations with a hot pink colour to bring out the vibrancy of the book, and our printer Gauvin collaborated on the best way to bring the vision to life.

These small details can transform the experience of reading a book, and wouldn’t have been possible without the individual expertise of the people we work with.

Pick up a copy of The Garbage Poems to read what Michael V. Smith has hailed as “queer genius.”