Q&A with BC Writer and Commodore Books Co-Founder Wayde Compton

Regular readers of InkNoire will know that within the last several months I have written a few entries about a small press called Commodore Books. Based in Burnaby, BC, the imprint is named in honour of The Commodore, a ship that carried a small group of African-Americans from California to British Columbia, in 1858. Canadian turntablist, poet and author Wayde Compton is a co-founder and publisher of this pioneering imprint. In our short Q&A he discusses how the first black press in western Canada originated and the imprint’s search for black Canadian poet Troy Burle Bailey.

Commodore Books was established in 2005 and is hailed as the first and only black literary press in western Canada. How did the imprint come to fruition?
It came out of discussions between myself and Karina Vernon. I edited Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature, and she is working on a PhD dissertation that surveys black writing in the Canadian prairie provinces, so we both had found or were in the process of researching writers who have lived in the west. In both of our processes, we lamented the fact that much of that writing we found hadn’t made it to book publication. Shortly before then, David Chariandy was hired at Simon Fraser University as an African Canadian literature specialist, and he entered our circle of friends. I floated the idea of starting a small press, and was happily surprised to get administrative support from the journal West Coast Line, who have also just begun Line Books. After some discussion, we decided to jump in and start making books.

What has the response been like from the literary community in the west and in the rest of the country toward Commodore Books?
Everyone that I’ve talked to is very supportive. I think they understand that this is a unique experiment, so they seem to be hopeful for us. I was very pleased at the amount of people who came out to Fred Booker’s launch.

Why do you think it has taken so long to establish a small press of this kind in western Canada?
It isn’t surprising that it’s taken so long. It’s been historically difficult to keep a small press of any kind aloft, and even harder for one that has a social interest. Vancouver is not the most logical place to put a black press in Canada — Toronto would be the epicentre, of course, and
that’s why there have been black presses there before. But I think it’s important, for all of us, to investigate ideas about western Canadian black identity, and one way to explore that is to give the writers themselves a publishing venue that has them in mind.

Tell me about the first two titles. You’ve already released Fred Booker’s Adventures in Debt Collection. How was that book launch and what do you have planned for Commodore’s forthcoming title?
The launch was wonderful. We decided to hold it at a venue called The Brickhouse, which happens be at the site of the old ‘hood, Hogan’s Alley. There’s a long story behind why the black population of Vancouver no longer lives down there, but that lounge is one of the original buildings. In fact, the lounge itself was once called Hogan’s Alley, so there’s this funky old neon sign in there reading “Hogan’s Alley — Cocktails.” So, sprititually, it was a kind of homecoming and re-assertion of Vancouver black presence.
Our second book is going to be a play called Stay Black and Die by Addena Sumter-Freitag, which is set in Winnipeg, where the playwright grew up. We’re very excited about it, and it’s going to appear in April ‘07.

You’re accepting manuscripts from all across Canada. What have the submissions been like so far? Have you been hearing from new black writers in Canada?
Yes, we’ve had submissions or queries from five provinces so far. The three of us are taking turns choosing authors. I selected Fred Booker, Karina selected Addena Sumter-Freitag, and David is still scouting his choice for fall ‘07. It’s funny, there are a lot of people who are struggling to get a book published, yet there’s a writer out there we thought of considering early on, and he’s turned out to be impossible to find. A poet from Winnipeg named Troy Burle Bailey. We’ve never met him, but we’ve read some poems he published in Prairie Fire a few years ago. Really formally interesting prose poetry about a black voyageur. Just great stuff. But then, apparently, he moved somewhere and their editors can’t locate him, and he doesn’t show up on any Canada 411 searches we’ve done, or the web. Karina and I both would like to read some more of his work — so, Troy, if you’re out there, send us an email!

You’ve made a serious commitment to preserving the black history of British Columbia and you’ve infused the story of black pioneers who arrived in Canada from the US into your work. “Commodore” has such a rich historical legacy. I suppose it seemed like a natural choice to give your imprint such a symbolic name.
Yes. The ship itself is such a loaded symbol for those of whose ancestors went through the Middle Passage, but the Commodore — the paddle steamer that brought the first blacks to BC — was not a slave ship, it was a commercial passenger vessel, so I’ve always viewed that moment as a sort of afterimage of the Atlantic crossing. There were former slaves who took that San Francisco to Victoria run, the same one that the Commodore worked for years, throughout the Gold Rush. But those first 35 who came in 1858 were literally a scouting party, who came to Victoria with a mission to determine if it was a place that black Americans could come to to get away from racism in California. To me, that’s the west coast echo of the Underground Railway.

You’ve spent a great part of your literary career writing poetry and criticisms, editing anthologies, engaging in hip-hop performances, and teaching at the university level. How do these experiences compare to your new position as a publisher? What type of perspective are you bringing to this new role?
The three of us are writers and academics, so we’ve all put a lot of thought into the meaning of publication on a few different levels. The hardest part is really learning how to actually run a press. That, of course, requires skills that have nothing to do with our training, so we’re getting help from others, like Glen Lowry and Anne Stone, who designed the interior and cover of Fred’s book, and Michael Barnholden, who is managing things on a day-to-day basis at the West Coast Line office.

Authors like Karina Vernon, Esi Edugyan and yourself have been strengthening the voice of the African-Canadian experience in the west for the past several years. What do you think the larger Canadian community needs to do to keep this unique literary community growing?
I have found during my travels to other parts of Canada that black Canadians coast to coast are very supportive and interested in what’s going on in the west, and have a particular interest in black literature going on everywhere. I think African Canadian identity is indeed regional, just like Canada generally, but there’s also a different, particular need for unity amongst us nationally and internationally. As long as anti-black racism exists, there is no doubt about the need to maintain strategic connections and alliances. Things like your website are really important for exactly these reasons. It’s the same logic that goes into having a black-edited press. But, specifically, in terms of attitudes about the west, I think the rest of black Canada should just continue maintaining an open invitation and inclusiveness about black cultural producers left of Ontario. And the general population has to put to rest the myth that there are no blacks in BC. I keep pointing out to people that there are more blacks in BC than there are in Nova Scotia. When I discovered this, it blew my mind, because the Nova Scotia profile is comparatively high yet in BC we are always one step ahead of social negation. But check out Statistics Canada and you’ll realize that African Canadian voices from the west are inevitably going to play an increasingly important role in the future –

BC: Stats Can Info (See Visible Minority Status Chart)

Nova Scotia: Stats Can Info (See Visible Minority Status Chart)

The black communities in Nova Scotia are much older, of course, and are a greater percentage of the general population there, but my point is that if black Nova Scotians can produce so much culturally with a base of 20,000 people, we have no excuse for not claiming a voice with 25,000.

Can we expect to see any forthcoming titles from Karina, David or yourself?
Look for Karina’s dissertation, and a novel by David Chariandy forthcoming from Arsenal Pulp Press. I’m working on a book of short stories.

What do you think the major Canadian publishers can learn from Commodore Books, especially with regard to African-Canadian stories from the west?
I haven’t thought about our goals in terms of speaking to the big presses, but I do hope generally that we will signal a black western presence to the whole nation, and possibly beyond.