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Esteemed Atlantic Canadian literary publisher Gaspereau Press finally has a more permanent location in Sackville’s industrial park.
Though the move from the press’s longtime home in Kentville, Nova Scotia was first announced in June 2024, official transfer and ownership didn’t move to Sackville until January 2, 2026.
Over that year and a half, owner Keagan Hawthorne has been quietly hard at work in a converted garage at his house, preparing for the press’s spring 2026 books.
“Then, when it came time to actually take possession of all of the inventory and the printing equipment that… certainly wouldn’t have fit in the garage. So we had to move to the barn, as we call it.”
Before securing the space, located at 7 Fleet Street behind East Meats West, Hawthorne spent weeks worrying he might not find a suitable location in town. He even found himself looking at options in Amherst and Moncton.
When the previous tenant moved away, Hawthorne asked the landlord if it was available.
It was a huge relief when the landlord told him it was.
“I would say we were very lucky to get this space. Commercial space is hard to come by in Sackville and Gaspereau being the kind of organization that it is, needs sort of like commercial slash industrial space.”
Hawthorne and publishing assistant Freddy Hyun Smith quickly made themselves at home, building and installing plenty of shelving and a couple of desks, before setting their sights on making the first books in the new location.
But that means they both have some learning to do.
“ We, mostly Freddy, have got this sewing machine going and so we’re sewing books,” said Hawthorne. “We have got the binding machine running, we’re still working out the kinks on how to bind books successfully. But the machine is running and all the parts are working.”
Once they’ve got it all figured out, they can get to work sewing and binding the upcoming releases, which are printed offsite, said Hawthorne.
“But then Freddie and I are going to be letterpress printing the jackets that wrap around the books, so that really tactile, beautiful paper feeling that Gasper books are known for, Freddie and I’ll be doing that work here.”
While dates haven’t been finalized, the team at Gaspereau has a pretty good idea of what their spring schedule will look like, including their first release in a couple weeks.
“It’s called Astrid, Aghast. It’s a collection of short stories by Ian Roy, who has a lot of connections to the East Coast,” said Hawthorne, “and we will be having a Sackville launch for that book in April, I believe. And it’s a fantastic collection of stories.”
The next book, a new collection of poetry from Gaspereau alumni Leesa Dean called Interstitial, will come out in late March. Other works include Perfect Weather by Jamella Hagen in April and two collections of poetry in May—Closer by Clare Goulet and Meadow Work by Michael Goodfellow.
That’s just phase one of what Hawthorne has planned for the press. Already, he’s thinking about what the future holds for Gaspereau Press.
“The second phase is we want to start a line of stationery, so letter press stationery, and the other presses that will be coming eventually are for that project,” he said. “But we need to get the book publishing program up and running first, so that’s what we’re working on now.”
Despite the hiccups along the way, Hawthorne is confident with a bit of luck everything is on track for those upcoming releases.
“We’ve been incredibly lucky to date. I’m incredibly lucky to have Freddy as an employee and we are incredibly lucky to have the space that we have to work in. So there’s a good chance the books will come out on time.”
