Alright, fine, after years of rob hounding me for a little write-up of broke press I’m finally gonna do it! I’m gonna do it guys!!!
The backstory: I’ve been running broke press as a chapbook press that publishes literary work of all genres by emerging and established Canadian writers since 2019. Well, kind of 2018, when I was a teenager and wanted to see how you made a book so I wrote and self published an emo book of poetry just to see if I could do it. And I could! But since then, it has become a little hub of literary wonders, specializing but not limited to poetry, with a soft spot in my heart for the long poem.
The practicalities: The broke press office has had a couple of iterations, in two different basement suites in Vernon, BC, but the formula has been the same. My laundry room serves as the print room, with my old Brother office printer spitting out the innards of chapbooks, and my kitchen table serves as my design and production lab, much to my roommate’s chagrin when the table and floor are covered in chapbook trimmings a few times each year. I outsource my cover printing, because my printer just does NOT like printing a nice gradient image! My tuxedo cat, Boone, acts as assistant editor (lays on keyboard / book parts / book-making tools).
The nitty-gritty of being a chapbook press: It is a labour of love. On occasion, people ask why I am called broke press, and I look at them blankly. There is no money in it folks! But I’ve managed to carve out a model that means I break even each year and am able to keep puttering along in the time outside of my day job at the public library. My Patreon supporters truly keep me going, as subscribers to the publications that I pump out each year. Love you guys. They help cover the ongoing costs such as website fees and Adobe subscription, while my chapbook sales pay for my author honorariums and printing costs.
Enough about the back story and business side, yuck! I have a super exciting chapbook lineup coming out this year, with the first one already out (by periodicities’ own rob mclennan). Next up is a debut publication by Tristan Hohl of Kelowna, BC, titled Dream Sequence. Then I will have a repeat broke press author’s speculative essay, “Unmasking,” by the multitalented Erin Scott from Kelowna, BC. Continuing my Okanagan Valley authors theme, I get to publish the Canadian great, Sharon Thesen’s, collection of poetry titled “Everything is Huge.” And to end the 2026 lineup is Ottawa-based writer thomas gordon reynolds’ long poem, “and the cold of solid things.” Plus, maybe a bonus broadside somewhere in there, if the broke press fans are lucky! It feels super special to have gotten to the point in the broke press life where I am getting to work with writers for a second time….they like me! They really like me!!! And I love them!!!
Stay tuned, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or bluesky, become a Patreon supporter if you can spare $10/month, or buy a chapbook at brokepress.ca to support.
Clare Thiessen (she/her) lives and works as a public library worker in the Okanagan Valley, BC. She operates broke press, a chapbook press, from her basement suite kitchen table. Her chapbook, tiger poems, was published by Gaspereau Press in 2023, and her long poem “No One Cares About Your Break Up Poem!!!” won the 2023 John Lent Poetry Prose Award and was published as a letterpress chapbook by Kalamalka Press in 2024. Her book-length long poem, Roadkill, will be published by Gaspereau Press in fall 2027.