The publisher, poet, and writer Mona Fertig discusses the publishing company she runs, Mother Tongue Publishing on the occasion of its fifth anniversary, the books she publishes, and more, with Joseph Planta.

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver at TheCommentary.ca.

A few weeks ago just after I had Barry Peterson on about his and Blaise Enright’s very fine book 111 West Coast Literary Portraits, I got an email from their publisher Mona Fertig. I’ve sort of admired Ms. Fertig from afar, I guess you’d have to if I live in Vancouver and she lives with her husband Peter on Salt Spring Island. It is there that they run Mother Tongue Publishing. It’s a feisty, formidable publishing house that puts out really great looking regional books of fiction, biography, poetry and the acclaimed series ‘The Unheralded Artists of British Columbia.’ I’ll get Mona, who joins me live and in person this day to tell us about this series, the artists featured and how it all came about. Mother Tongue Publishing is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and when Mona emailed me, I said if she’s ever in town and amenable, to drop by as I’d like to have her on the show to talk about this press, these past five years, and book publishing in general. In recent weeks we’ve heard news of an institution in this country filing for bankruptcy protection, so it’s not been a good time for publishing houses. We’ll reflect on that and so much more. I also ought to note that Mona published Gurjinder Basran’s Everything Was Good-Bye, the 2011 winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. That was a big success. www.mothertonguepublishing.com is the website for more. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Mona Fertig; Ms. Fertig, good morning.

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