about
Raven Chapbooks is an independent press located on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, founded by Diana Hayes. This family venture first began in the late 1990s as Rainbow Publishers with five full length books published at that time. The press has now turned its focus to poetry chapbooks featuring emerging and established British Columbia poets.
Our mandate is to create beautifully designed chapbooks in small editions and to support the poets by providing a launching pad for wider audiences.
The press launched its first chapbook in Spring 2020 with A Curious Happiness in Small Things, the debut collection by Salt Spring Island poet, David Haggart. A second chapbook was published Fall 2020 with Lorraine Gane’s Arc of Light, and a third chapbook was launched in June 2021, with Kyeren Regehr’s Disassembling A Dancer. Zoe Dickinson’s intertidal: poems from the littoral zone launched June 25th, 2022, and Ian Thomas’s Green Islands, Poems from the Great Bear Rainforest, launched in June 2023. Karl Meade’s doom eager was launch September 2023 and Andrea Scott’s 2024 winning chapbook, In the Warm Shallows of What Remains, launches June 2024. The 2025 winner of the chapbook contest was Jaqueline Bell with her book, Summoning.
Raven Chapbooks launches the new Publisher’s Indigo Series
In addition to the annual poetry contest, the press will feature two poets each year as part of the new Publisher’s Indigo Series.
Why did we name it Indigo? The colour indigo relates to wisdom and intuition, representing an inner awareness that allows for deep focus. These are some of the qualities we look for when considering manuscripts. The colour indigo also relates to devotion and to helping others. Our work at Raven Chapbooks is a labour of love. The desire to publish beautifully crafted poetry books, featuring talented poets, is our form of creative midwifery. As a publisher, providing a positive and supportive experience for writers is key. As poets, we are nourished by this work.
The 2023 Indigo Series featured Marlene Grand Maître’s Wild Kin and Susan McCaslin’s Sentient Stones; released 17th June.
The 2024 Indigo Series will feature Susan Alexander’s Berberitzen and Lorraine Gane’s If I Have Known Beauty. Both books will officially launch in fall 2024.
We are offering a subscription for poetry lovers who would like to purchase our three 2024 titles, or three of our other titles at a special membership rate. Send us a message via our contact form and we will provide you with all the details.
Diana Hayes, Publisher, Raven Chapbooks/Rainbow Publishers
