Coach House Books

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Coach House Books is an independent Canadian publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario. It is one of the most influential publishers in Canadian literature.

The company was founded in 1965 by artist Stan Bevington. It is known for publishing early works by writers such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Ann-Marie MacDonald, George Bowering, Nicole Brossard, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Christopher Dewdney, bpNichol and Anne Michaels.

Coach House was at the centre of a number of innovations in the use of digital technology in publishing and printing, from computerized phototypesetting to desktop publishing. Notably, the pioneering SGML/XML company, SoftQuad, was founded by Coach House's Stan Bevington and colleagues Yuri Rubinsky and David Slocombe .

In 1991, Coach House was split into two separate companies: the printing house Coach House Printing, headed by Bevington, and the book publisher Coach House Press, headed by Margaret McClintock. Bevington subsequently tried, unsuccessfully, to reacquire the publishing company. Ultimately, the book publisher declared bankruptcy in 1996, and later the same year Bevington moved the printing company back into book publishing.

Coach House is one of the few Canadian publishing companies that prints its own titles; the printing operations also print books for several other small Canadian publishers and literary magazines - including the Hart House Review .

The company is located in several former coach houses on bpNichol Lane, near Spadina and Bloor.

In 2004, controversy arose when the media reported that the property owners, a housing cooperative for students, would be demolishing the coach house buildings. Many of these reports were full of factual errors as there was no building plan or demolition plan in place at the time.

As a result of the controversy, the redevelopment has been on hold as politicians and public interest groups have campaigned to have the building declared a heritage site. The current redevelopment plan involves the demolition of one of five coach houses. Space on the first floor of two of the coach houses which is currently being used by the co-operative will be available for Coach House Press.