Lament for a Literature: The Collapse of Canadian Book Publishing

by Richard Stursberg

100 pages, Paperback

Published January 27, 2026

Reviews

[Brendan D · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cogent, compellingly systematic look at the history and present economic, social and political reasons for the decline of the industry. I can only guess that the very negative reviews collected here so far are in malevolent response to the author’s critique of DEI overzealousness.

[Stephanie]

I make a point of reading everything I can get my hands on about Canadian publishing and cultural policy. Lament for a Literature amounts to little more than an attack on DEI policies. Though the author traces policy failings that have left the industry in peril, the work contains no footnotes, bibliography or citations of any kind. I also found multiple factual errors: he doesn’t accurately describe fair dealing (neglecting to mention that it allows up to 10% of a work to be copied—I agree that the policy has been harmful, but it’s a policy a lot of librarians love and fight for, so why not explore it in a little more depth?) He also claims that “no new publishing houses” apart from Sutherland House have been opened in the past twenty years—I can name at least five. He actively laments the decline of history on the bestseller lists—readers might draw the conclusion from his remarks that Canadian presses no longer publish works of history—but this too isn’t true. All the university presses publish history. It’s historians themselves who have grown critical of sweeping histories that contain a single overarching narrative and pay homage to “great figures” this doesn’t mean that quality works of engaging Canadian history are not being produced. Stursberg frequently laments the titles that make up best seller lists, without acknowledging the fact that a lot of culture happens outside of the best seller lists. Apart from co-op money, he never talks about the challenges smaller firms face when it comes to marketing books or address the benefits that extra marketing dollars could yield.

I also find it interesting that he lays so much of the blame for “cultural decline” at the feet of DEI initiatives, when attacking those initiatives has lately become a hallmark of the Trump administration’s policies. If DEI did in fact erode a sense of Canadian-ness than why are current separatist sentiments most strongly felt in Alberta—the province where American-style book bans have lately become the policy du jour?

In an industry that heavily employs women (including as owners/senior leaders of many publishing firms) the author only thanks men in his acknowledgments, and does not breathe a word about children’s publishing at all.

There are some interesting policy suggestions made in the book’s final pages, but I was too fatigued with the book to engage heavily with them. They could have been a substack post.

If you’re interested in Canadian book policy, forego this one and read “The Handover” instead.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stursberg argues Canlit is dying because of the amalgamation of publishing houses that used to be based in Canada and prioritize Canadian work, the shift to personal identity rather than national identity, the shift from history and culture to memoir, and the Canadian authors who do rise to the top setting their stories in places other than Canada. I agree with the person who says it would have benefited from footnotes and/or a list of material referenced. It was nevertheless an interesting read.