Since 1973, Véhicule Press has published poetry, fiction, translations, and social history by Canadian authors, with a commitment to publishing first-time authors—a third of its list.
It publishes books of interest to Canadians and an international audience, in addition to titles that document Quebec culture in its Dossier Québec series (histories of the Irish, Scots, Jewish, Japanese, and black communities).
Véhicule Press has also translated literary works from Spanish, Polish, Arabic, Yiddish, and (mostly) French. The press also publishes restaurant guides.
Véhicule Press began in 1973 on the premises of Véhicule Art Inc. – one of Canada’s first artist-run galleries located in what was once the legendary night club Café Montmartre – using equipment inherited from Kenneth Hertz’s Ingluvin Publications, and an ancient printing press that had been abandoned by a member-artist of the gallery. In 1975 the press became Quebec’s only cooperatively-owned printing and publishing company. Simon Dardick and Guy Lavoie were general editors; Ken Norris, Artie Gold, and Endre Farkas were the poetry editors. In spring 1981, the co-op was dissolved and Simon Dardick and Nancy Marrelli continued Véhicule Press from a greystone situated in the Plateau area of Montreal near Boulevard St-Laurent. Michael Harris was the editor of the Signal Editions Poetry series from 1981 to 2000. Poet and critic Carmine Starnino became editor in November 2000. Eighty titles have appeared under the "Signal" imprint. In late summer 2003 the press inaugurated Esplanade Books, a new fiction series edited by Andrew Steinmetz.