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Yates Resurfaces
Faced with the task of painting Aunt Polly's fence in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom convinces his friends to do the job for him. Recalling Mark Twain's own childhood in a small Missouri town, Tom's shenanigans are set in St. Petersburg, Missouri. Also born in Missouri, J. Michael Yates came to British Columbia in 1966 and has succeded in getting folks to be involved in publishing.
Founded in 1968, Sono Nis Press was largely the brainchild of Yates, who provided the unusual name and much of the editorial direction, until Morriss Printing of Victoria took over ownership when bills couldn't be paid. Now a venerable imprint, Sono Nis Press is operated from Winlaw, B.C. by Diane Morriss.
Next, Yates was involved in Margaret Fridel's Burnaby-based Cacanadadada Press, naming it and acting as its editorial director. When this experiment fizzled, its owner sold the company to UBC English professor Ronald Hatch who changed its name to Ronsdale Press.
By 2005, Yates was getting his own stuff into print, releasing Hongyun: New and Collected Shorter Poems 1955-2005 (Author House, 2005).
Last year Yates resurfaced as Senior Editor of Libros Libertad, owned by Manolis Aligizakis of White Rock. Press material described Yates as "a much commended SWAT-team member,"; "a logger and a demolitions man in the Charlottes"; and "a broadcast executive both for CBC and private media in the United States."; It wasn't mentioned that he had long been employed as a prison guard or his prison memoir, Line Screw, which resulted in severely strained relations with its publisher, M&S.
The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix once compared Yates' plays to those of Beckett, Pinter and Albee.
J. Michael Yates' 32nd title is a 548-page collection of his stage, radio and television plays from the White Rock imprint entitled The Passage of Sono Nis: Collected Plays by J. Michael Yates (Libros Libertad $34.95).
Concurrently, Yates provided the jacket blurb for El Greco-Domenikos Theotokopoulos (Libros $14.95), a collection of poetry by his new publisher-"I think Manolis Aligizakis is the best émigré Greek writer in Canada and I welcome his return to publishing.";
This year, after publicity materials stated Yates was part of "an international team to reinvent book publishing and promotion,"; the pair has literally parted company. A former Vancouver stock broker, Aligizakis says he's now quite happy to be free of Yates-who he still admires as a writer.
El Greco: 9780978186548; Yates: 9780978186531
[BCBW 2008] "Publishing"
Founded in 1968, Sono Nis Press was largely the brainchild of Yates, who provided the unusual name and much of the editorial direction, until Morriss Printing of Victoria took over ownership when bills couldn't be paid. Now a venerable imprint, Sono Nis Press is operated from Winlaw, B.C. by Diane Morriss.
Next, Yates was involved in Margaret Fridel's Burnaby-based Cacanadadada Press, naming it and acting as its editorial director. When this experiment fizzled, its owner sold the company to UBC English professor Ronald Hatch who changed its name to Ronsdale Press.
By 2005, Yates was getting his own stuff into print, releasing Hongyun: New and Collected Shorter Poems 1955-2005 (Author House, 2005).
Last year Yates resurfaced as Senior Editor of Libros Libertad, owned by Manolis Aligizakis of White Rock. Press material described Yates as "a much commended SWAT-team member,"; "a logger and a demolitions man in the Charlottes"; and "a broadcast executive both for CBC and private media in the United States."; It wasn't mentioned that he had long been employed as a prison guard or his prison memoir, Line Screw, which resulted in severely strained relations with its publisher, M&S.
The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix once compared Yates' plays to those of Beckett, Pinter and Albee.
J. Michael Yates' 32nd title is a 548-page collection of his stage, radio and television plays from the White Rock imprint entitled The Passage of Sono Nis: Collected Plays by J. Michael Yates (Libros Libertad $34.95).
Concurrently, Yates provided the jacket blurb for El Greco-Domenikos Theotokopoulos (Libros $14.95), a collection of poetry by his new publisher-"I think Manolis Aligizakis is the best émigré Greek writer in Canada and I welcome his return to publishing.";
This year, after publicity materials stated Yates was part of "an international team to reinvent book publishing and promotion,"; the pair has literally parted company. A former Vancouver stock broker, Aligizakis says he's now quite happy to be free of Yates-who he still admires as a writer.
El Greco: 9780978186548; Yates: 9780978186531
[BCBW 2008] "Publishing"
Submitted on August 26, 2008 in By David.
