Welcome to Rufus Books… almost!
Hold your moose! We're updating our website quick as sticks (mostly)...
Rufus Books Publishing is an independent small press based in Toronto specialising in the creation of quality publications by poets primarily from Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Using the best papers and techniques that adhere to traditions of old as well as a view to the modern, transcendence of the word in its best possible expression into tangible book form is the focus and celebration of all our publications. As such, the artwork, graphic design, and printing are vital in the production of the unique books, chapbooks, and broadsides created by Rufus Books Publishing.
News & Notes
Congratulations! Jeremy Clarke's STONE HOURS makes the NBP shortlist
Nelson Ball (1942–2019) was a poet who lived in Paris, Ontario. Known for his minimalist nature poems, he flew somewhat under the radar. Nelson began writing in the 1960s and continued until his death. He is the author of scores of books and chapbooks. The Nelson Ball Prize is awarded annually to a publication, by a Canadian poet and published in Canada, that displays "poetry of observation."
So long, fare thee well, Iain & safe travels back to New Zealand...
We loved having you in Oxford (twice) and Cambridge, and in Frome, Somerset for the launch of Uncertain Densities: Poems for Diane Arbus. The launch was celebrated by fireside at the Archangel for the inaugural Poetry, Pizza, Pints & Open Mic event alongside three other featured poets: Scott Elder, Prue Chamberlayne, and Claire Crowther, Frome Museum's 2025 Poet in Residence.
Hart House Farm maple syrup makes its debut in Frome, Somerset
The historic market town of Frome in Somerset, with its steep hills and cobbled streets, played host to a marriage of true delights — Hart House Farm's 100% pure maple syrup and pizza creations served at The Archangel pub & hotel, a cheerful spot that dates as far back as the Domesday Book in which it was first recorded as an inn in 1311. Poetry, pizza, & pints warmed the pilgrims by the hearth!
Recent & Forthcoming Titles
Molly, Etc.
SCOTT ELDER
"Scott Elder's small seemingly slight poem, 'Your Neighbour Will Catch You', packs quite a punch. It is the matter-of-fact statement like the opening line 'The way is not clear' that pulls the reader into a sophisticated litany of imagery and rhetorical questions that juxtaposes against each other like pieces of a broken puzzle. It is once elegiac and fluid, each re-reading rendering another layer."
— Malika Booker
Uncertain Densities
IAIN BRITTON
"Uncertain Densities is a call to bring intimacy back into the act of observation, to touch the world — as Britton says — with our eyes. His exploration of touch doesn’t stop at the poems: the physical book itself is a delight to hold. The slight indent of the letterpress-printed title on the thick, textured handmade paper gives the impression that words are meant to be felt as well as read."
— Keziah Cho, THE INDIEPENDENT
Stone Hours
JEREMY CLARKE
"Reading Jeremy Clarke's poems is like watching something emerge out of the consciousness of the street. The language too feels its way along: precise, tenderly inventive. The place is littered with stray voices and brief psalms — beautiful, tiny adjustments to the progress of the book. It is, in effect, a religious process, with its prayers and psalms and hymns, a kind of liturgy for the permanent in the fleeting.
— George Szirtes
"I am only interested in poetry, which occurs more often in verse than in prose."
— John McGahern
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