ICR wins second prize in national book design competition

At the River’s Mouth: Writing Migrations by Daphne Marlatt, a book designed by Robert Bringhurst and published by the Institute for Coastal Research (ICR) at Vancouver Island University (VIU), has won second prize in the prose non-fiction category of the Alcuin Society’s 28th Annual Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada.

The award ceremony will take place in Vancouver on Thursday, October 21.

This award is a significant achievement for the ICR’s small publishing program championed by ICR Acting Director Dr. Bill Pennell. At the River’s Mouth competed with the best-designed books from major Canadian publishing houses such as Doubleday Canada and Douglas & McIntyre.

At the River’s Mouth is the fifth book in ICR’s publishing history. Each year, the ICR publishes lectures from the popular Ralph Gustafson Distinguished Poets Lecture Series held annually on VIU’s Nanaimo campus in October.

Marlatt, in her October 2008 Ralph Gustafson public lecture that blended words with water, spoke of her multiple migrations, both literal and literary, to the fishing community of Steveston, at the mouth of BC’s Fraser River.

VIU Creative Writing & Journalism department publishing students Andrew S. Brown,


Heather Burke, Louise Hamilton, Linda Hildebrand, and Jenn Nahrgang, under the direction of professor Rhonda Bailey, worked with Bringhurst to produce At the River’s


Mouth in the spring of 2009.

Bringhurst designed and set the Marlatt lecture using Seria, Scala and Scala Sans typefaces with Japanese hiragana glosses. At the River’s Mouth was printed on a special making of Rolland’s Zephyr Antique Laid paper with handmade paper for the cover. The book is 64 pages in length, and measures 11 x 18 cm (4.5 x 7 in.), a size that slips neatly into a pocket.

Describing At the River’s Mouth, the Alcuin Society judges said, “the detail and precision in executing the design are evidence of a highly sophisticated typographer at work. There are sometimes three typefaces on a page; many of them not traditionally used. The key is making the highly technical look effortless. The illustrations are well integrated. In every way, this is a beautifully designed jacketed paperback.”

This year’s judges selected 30 winning titles for the 2009 Alcuin Society book design awards. The books were chosen from 252 Canadian entries published in 2009, from nine provinces and 108 publishers.

The Alcuin Society (www.alcuinsociety.com) is a Vancouver-based non-profit society for the support and appreciation of fine books.

VIU’s Institute for Coastal Research (ICR) has an interdisciplinary research mandate focusing on coastal communities of British Columbia, the Pacific North, and beyond. Though a relatively new research centre, it is synthesizing the bonds between local and academic communities and industry through discussion and research. The aim is to foster interdisciplinary research involving the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities as they relate to coastal study, research and activity. For more information, visit www.viu.ca/icr/index.asp.