In House with Baraka Books

With the support and encouragement of established French language publishers Denis Vaugeois and Gilles Herman, Robin Philpot launched Baraka Books on March 23, 2009. Mission: Publish Progressive Books with and Accent on Québec. Since Quebec’s own voices were not being heard sufficiently in English, Baraka Books would fill a void.

In the same vein, in 2016, Peter McCambridge founded and headed QC Fiction, Baraka’s award-winning imprint that publishes the very best of a new generation of Quebec storytellers, sharing surprising, interesting novels in flawless English translation.

Baraka Books and QC Fiction are not only about translations. Inspired by the multilingual, cross-cultural word baraka, we are committed to bring readers worldwide ideas, points of view, and creative works that would otherwise be overlooked because of cultural, political or linguistic barriers.

For us, books are a haven of freedom and the foremost vector for change.

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A Roundup of (Some) Important Baraka Books

Making a list of books that have marked the press is like long-listing or short-listing books for awards: some very important books do not show up and the list fails to full reflect our mission. Nonetheless, here’s a sampling.

A People’s History of Quebec by Jacques Lacoursière and Robin Philpot (2009)

Our first book, A People’s History of Quebec, was a Montreal Gazette bestseller for six weeks in 2009. Into its 10th reprint, it still is one of our bestselling books in Canada and the United States 15 years on.

Find A People’s History of Quebec here on All Lit Up.

The Complete Muhammad Ali by Ishmael Reed

A major US publisher had asked Ishmael Reed to write a biography of Muhammad Ali. Ishmael Reed, a monument in American letters, spent several years writing the book. But the publisher didn’t like his truthful depiction of the role of the Nation of Islam in Ali’s career and insisted that he change it. Ishmael turned to Baraka and we published it in 2015.

Find The Complete Muhammad Ali here on All Lit Up.

Life in the Court of Matane by Eric Dupont (translated by Peter McCambridge) QC Fiction

Songs for the Cold of Heart by Eric Dupont (translated by Peter McCambridge)

When Peter McCambridge suggested to Robin Philpot that he create the imprint QC Fiction, he was determined to translate Eric Dupont’s runaway bestseller La fiancée américaine (600 pages). We created the imprint but started with another Dupont book first, Life in the Court of Matane. Then in 2018 it was time for Songs for the Cold of Heart, his translation of La fiancée américaine, which was a Giller finalist and a Canadian bestseller. Then Harper Collins acquired the world English rights, excluding Canada. What’s more, Life in the Court of Matane, a new edition with a foreword by Heather O’Neill, has been adopted in courses in English-language CEGEPS in Montreal. Mission accomplished.

Find Life in the Court of Matane here and Songs for the Cold of Heart here on All Lit Up.

The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Sovereignty by Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs’ third and least-known book had been out of print since 1987. Yet it is her only book focusing on her adopted country of Canada. Baraka acquired the world English rights to the book from Random House and it is now in its third printing. It includes the last interview she granted in 2005, one year before she passed away.

Find The Question of Separatism here on All Lit Up.

Stolen Motherhood, Surrogacy and Made-to-order Children by Maria De Koninck
(translated by Arielle Aaronson)

This book was a must for Baraka. The author goes against a strong current showing that surrogacy undermines a woman’s human dignity, makes her an instrument in other people’s project, and attacks her equal gender rights. It also objectivizes and denies the rights of the child to be born.

Find Stolen Motherhood here on All Lit Up.

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Coming up at Baraka: Staying the Course for the Next 15 Years

Blossom Thom was appointed Fiction Editor of Baraka Books in 2023. Under her leadership, in 2024, we are proposing some great works of fiction by both experienced writers and first-time authors. These include The Thickness of Ice by Gerard Beirne, In the Shadow of Crows by M.V. Feehan, and Dear Haider by Lili Zeng.

Blossom Thom

Melissa Bull was appointed Fiction Editor of QC Fiction, taking over from Peter McCambridge after eight years at the helm. The imprint’s lead title for 2024 is Morel by Maxime Raymond Bock, which Melissa has translated. To quote the reviewer from the Librairie Gallimard, “Morel is the most flawless and spirited working-class saga that you’ll have the pleasure to read this year.”

Melissa Bull, new fiction editor of QC Fiction

Peter McCambridge, former fiction editor of QC Fiction

Robin Philpot will continue to oversee Baraka’s nonfiction books. This spring we will publish our second translation from Italian. But We Built Roads for Them by Franceso Filippi (translated by Domenic Cusmano) uncovers the lies, racism, and amnesia that bury Italy’s colonial past. This book is also a template for countries like Canada who are finally beginning to face their own colonial past. A lead fall 2024 title is Inside the ’37 GM Strike in Oshawa: TRUTH BE TOLD! by Tony Leah, revealing how autoworkers in that city, with international solidarity, humbled General Motors.

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Thank you to Baraka Books for sharing this brief history of the press. Happy 15th, anniversary!