Mona Fertig

"The Literary Storefront was a fine example of an idea that helped change the nascent world where a new generation of West Coast writers lived, and proof yet again that one person, armed with wide-eyed will and furious gumption, can make that change. In this a time of corporate predation, it deserves remembrance for its feisty spirit and its damn-the-torpedoes enterprise." – Robert Harlow

"I rented a room in the back of the Literary Storefront for editing under the imprint of Dallas Peterson & Associates, and printing under Orca Sound. Day in and day out, while I was working there, Mona Fertig of the Storefront and Ingrid Klassen of the Writers' Union were there answering phones and talking to whomever came in the door. They cared fiercely about writers and literature. On a given day, there might also be Maxine Gadd preparing her next poetry manuscript or now bestselling novelist Douglas Coupland deciding to become a writer rather than an artist, as he was then. There has been no place like it since, nor will there ever be, for its spontaneous cultural centrifugal force."

– Dona Sturmanis

"From 1978 to 1983 The Vancouver Literary Storefront was a meeting place for people in Vancouver who were interested in literature, not just on the page but in the flesh. It was a romantic venture, linking the literary scene in Vancouver, on a fragment of the Pacific Rim, on the only recently settled edge of a new country, with a famous literary bookstore in Paris early in the 20th century, but it was also pragmatic: Vancouver lacked a gathering place for writers and readers, and the Literary Storefront invited, welcomed, and provided an audience for writers from across Canada. The Storefront was a network and a web before such metaphors became current for the ways in which people with common passions and ambitions come together. It was the fulfillment of the dream of its founder and creator, Mona Fertig, and lasted as long as her indefatigable but not infinite energies could keep weaving it and sustaining it. She was young, she dreamed on a large scale, she had a gift for practical detail, and it worked..." Jean Mallinson

Colophon: 28 pages. 9 photographs. 6 1/2" x 5 7/8". Cover: Environment smooth natural white 80 lb 100% recycled, 50% sugar cane fiber. Text: Boise 28lb. Endpaper: two tone, Nepalese Lokta paper, royal blue, made from the bark of the Lokta shrub. This shrub is wildly grown as well as cultivated only in the Himalayan region of Nepal. Embossed title on curious translucent, gold iridescent 27lb paper made in Europe. Blue staples. Signed and numbered. Published for the Reckoning event at SFU in Vancouver B.C.

Includes Comments on the Literary Storefront by bill bissett, Trevor Carolan, Maxine Gadd, Peter Haase, Robert Harlow, Geoff Hancock, Jack Hodgins, Tim Lander, Cat Majors, Jean Mallinson, Daphne Marlatt, Jane Munro, Renee Rodin, Rhoda Rosenfeld, Andreas Schroeder, Craig Spence, Dona Sturmanis, David Watmough and Carolyn Zonailo.

About the Author: Mona Fertig is a poet and runs (m)Öthêr Tøñgué Presš.

Publisher: (m)Öthêr Tøñgué Presš

Edition: Limited edition of 100.

ISBN: 1-896949-42-8

Publication Date: September, 2007

Price: $15 CND plus $3.00 shipping