FRANK ROBINSON AND DAVID REISS SERIES

While many small presses reflect the personality of the printer, in the case of Talonbooks it was design that dominated. 'During my years with Talon from the late 60s to the early 80s,' Hay recalls, 'David Robinson was the beating heart of this small regional enterprise that grew into a nationally recognized publishing house. Success has many fathers and Hay's crucial role was downplayed when he left to work in Los Angeles. David Robinson became very enthused when Hay also brought Michel Tremblay into the fold. Gordon Fidler was keen on continuing on operating a capricious old press that worked well for a few hundred poetry books. Soon Talon started receiving orders for hundreds of copies, mainly for drama courses at universities. It was Hay who approached David and Gordon about publishing James Reaney ( Colours in the Dark) and George Ryga ( The Ecstasy of Rita Joe) from his father's garage. It is seldom cited that he had business partners almost from the get-go: most importantly Peter Hay (Talon's mostly unpaid drama editor until 1980) and Gordon Fidler (a printer, until 1976) who was a co-owner/proprietor with Robinson.

was founded in 1973, David was already figuring out the new lay of the cultural land.

FRANK ROBINSON AND DAVID REISS SERIES

For this activity alone, he merits a place in Canada's Publishing Hall of Fame, should there ever be one, although it was actually colleague Peter Hay who conceived of a series of Canadian plays in 1969 after Hay had published Beverly Simons' Crabdance.Д«y the time the Association of Book Publishers of B.C. He prided himself on his judgments as a literary impresario-and he proceeded to excel at publishing the country's foremost playwrights, taking particular care with the design of his books. Far more importantly, David not only esteemed and respected artists, stroking their egos to gain their allegiance to his imprint, he was a sublime adjudicator of talent. He was known to have boasted to at least one protege, 'I f- the people I publish and I publish the people I f-.' Such was the temporary zeitgeist. Lewis Robinson, head of UBC's geography department from 1953 to 1968, David was motivated by his contacts within the fields of literature and theatre. Similarly, Talon emerged in conjunction with bill bissett's blewointmentpress and Jim Brown's Very Stone House.ДЄlthough he was the son of J. In the same year, the first issue of Georgia Straight was produced by a collective. By 1967, he had published Talon's first book, fireweed, by Ken Belford, while attending the University of British Columbia.

authors) the precocious David Robinson co-founded a literary magazine called Talon in 1963 while he was a student at Magee High School in Vancouver. With the encouragement of an exceptional English teacher named Harry Locke (also a formative influence on several B.C. Robinson, David Norman (JanuNovember 24, 2020).

Frank robinson and david reiss