Potlatch Publications Limited was launched in 1972 with a singular goal: to establish a list of high-quality titles which are attractively produced, appealing to a wide audience - especially readers who love humour! In a world replete with millions of books, we go to great lengths to ensure that ours are as close to perfection as possible. That includes both quality of writing/illustrating and quality of production - both the content and the "look" of each book. We keep our prices low, so that anyone who wants to read our books can afford them. We also strive to get any book you order into your hands as quickly as the mailman can reach you. This goes for both Potlatch and The Book Band, our distributor.
We publish novels and poetry, biographies and autobiographies, children's books and - especially - humour, including our "novelty book" series of wide-format paperbacks. Enjoyed by thousands, the first of these was David, We're Pregnant! by Lynn Johnston of "For Better or For Worse" fame (no longer available from Potlatch, but published worldwide). We sold thirty thousand copies of Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison, a powerful novel of the First World War, now published by Annick Press of Toronto Ontario. The rest of our books are still in print, and are listed below. We chose to publish them for their durability in the marketplace, and have ensured that they remain available. Many of our titles are listed online from dealers in used books, sometimes at very high prices, even though they are still available brand new from Potlatch for a modest fee! In addition to our own books, we are featuring a select few other recent releases, available directly from their creators.
President and Editor-in-Chief of Potlatch Publications is Robert F. Nielsen, author/editor of several Potlatch titles. Born in Vancouver, he is a graduate of the University of Alberta (B.A) and the University of Guelph (M.A.). He has taught in England and Canada, in high schools, colleges and universities, and was the first winner of The Ontario Education Association/Globe & Mail Award of Merit. Later, as an instructor in their Certificate in Writing program, he was awarded The McMaster University 2001-2002 Centre for Continuing Education Instructor Appreciation Award. His book Athlete's Foot; or, How I Failed at Sports was a finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. He lives on the shore of Lake Ontario in Stoney Creek Ontario, with his wife Valerie (also a Potlatch author).
We plan in the near future to release The Best of the Canadian Children's Annual, a big and beautiful volume featuring the most outstanding material from the eleven editions published by Potlatch Publications. This will include a novella, short stories, articles, poems, comics, games and activities. If you would like futher information about this forthcoming publication, and/or wish to place an order, please get in touch.
Mary Trach-Holadyk has served Potlatch Publications since 1974 as Art Director, and as an outstanding illustrator. Her works can be seen in every issue of the Canadian Children's Annual, and in our recent children's book James Parsons and His Magnificent Mouth of Adventure by Amy Elizabeth Dennis. Mary is a graduate of Sheridan College where she studied Graphic Illustration, and continued her studies at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario. That is where she now lives with her husband and two daughters.
Potlatch has exhibited at the world's major book fairs, including the London Book Fair in England, the Frankfurt Book Fair (largest in the world) in Germany, the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy, the American Library Association Convention, and numerous editions of the American Booksellers Convention (BookExpo America) and the Canadian Booksellers Convention (BookExpo Canada). We are eager to establish an international market and welcome all orders, and also enquiries regarding the sale of foreign rights, co-publishing and distribution.
Search By Genre
ANNUALS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Humour:
- All You Need Is Enough Rope:
- Athlete's Foot: How I Failed at Sports
- A Prairie Memoir: Never Come Home Without the Cows
War
- Never Leave Your Head Uncovered: A Canadian Nursing Sister in World War Two
- One Man's War
- All You Need Is Enough Rope:
- Athlete's Foot: How I Failed at Sports
- A Prairie Memoir: Never Come Home Without the Cows
War
- Never Leave Your Head Uncovered: A Canadian Nursing Sister in World War Two
- One Man's War
CARTOONS
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Annuals
- The Canadian Children's Annual (eleven editions)
- The 1980 Comics Annual
Fiction
- James Parsons and His Magnificent Mouth of Adventure
- Susan Super Sleuth
Nonfiction
- Canada's Monsters
- The Canadian Children's Annual (eleven editions)
- The 1980 Comics Annual
Fiction
- James Parsons and His Magnificent Mouth of Adventure
- Susan Super Sleuth
Nonfiction
- Canada's Monsters
COMICS
FICTION
HISTORY
- The Lovesickness Diet; or, These Flames in Which I Fry
HUMOUR
Cartoons
- Breeding As A Sport: 101 Student Howlers
- When's the Last Time You Cleaned Your Navel?
Illustrated Prose Works
- All You Need Is Enough Rope: a light-hearted look at cottage life
- Duffer Golf: or How to Break 100
- The Lovesickness Diet; or, These Flames in Which I Fry
- Breeding As A Sport: 101 Student Howlers
- When's the Last Time You Cleaned Your Navel?
Illustrated Prose Works
- All You Need Is Enough Rope: a light-hearted look at cottage life
- Duffer Golf: or How to Break 100
- The Lovesickness Diet; or, These Flames in Which I Fry
MEDICINE & MENTAL HEALTH
MYTHOLOGY? OR BIOLOGY?
NEWFOUNDLAND
"NOVELTY BOOK" SERIES
NOVEL
PARANORMAL
- Love From Above: Heidi Gardiner's Encounter With The Afterlife
- Mysterious Moments In The Paranormal
- Mysterious Moments In The Paranormal
POETRY
SPORTS
WAR
How to order
Online Purchase:
All of our online purchases are made through our affiliate The Book Band. George and Trudi Down, both book lovers and published poets, operate The Book Band, a company devoted to promoting and marketing small publishers. If you wish to make payment with a credit card, please place your order with The Book Band:
P.O. Box 3471, Stn C, Hamilton, Ontario L8H 7M1 CANADA
Phone: (905) 545-5274
Fax: (905) 545-5208
E-Mail: gdown@interlynx.net
Web: info@thebookband.com
Order Form (Electronic)
We accept orders via email. To complete an online order form please visit our Order Form page.
Order From (Standard Mail)
To complete and standard mail order form. Please download order form here. Once you have completed the form please mail it to:
Potlatch Publications
2 Campview Road
Stoney Creek
Ontario Canada L8E 5E2
Discount Policy
Retail Discounts
1 copy = 10%
2 - 4 copies (one title or any combination) = 30%
5+ copies (one title or any combination) = 40%
Library Discounts
1 copy = 10%
2 + copies (one title or any combination) = 20%
All of our online purchases are made through our affiliate The Book Band. George and Trudi Down, both book lovers and published poets, operate The Book Band, a company devoted to promoting and marketing small publishers. If you wish to make payment with a credit card, please place your order with The Book Band:
P.O. Box 3471, Stn C, Hamilton, Ontario L8H 7M1 CANADA
Phone: (905) 545-5274
Fax: (905) 545-5208
E-Mail: gdown@interlynx.net
Web: info@thebookband.com
Order Form (Electronic)
We accept orders via email. To complete an online order form please visit our Order Form page.
Order From (Standard Mail)
To complete and standard mail order form. Please download order form here. Once you have completed the form please mail it to:
Potlatch Publications
2 Campview Road
Stoney Creek
Ontario Canada L8E 5E2
Discount Policy
Retail Discounts
1 copy = 10%
2 - 4 copies (one title or any combination) = 30%
5+ copies (one title or any combination) = 40%
Library Discounts
1 copy = 10%
2 + copies (one title or any combination) = 20%
News and Events
When: Oct 14-18 2009
Where: Frankfurt Germany
What: The Frankfurt Book Fair is a meeting place for the industry’s experts. Be they publishers, booksellers, agents, film producers or authors - each year in October, they all come together and create something new.
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the most important marketplace for books, media, rights and licences worldwide with more than 7,300 exhibitors from 100 countries, 299,000 visitors and over 10,000 journalists.
When: Oct 14-18 2009
Where: Beijing, China
What: The 2009 ICPE, situated directly across from the Country of Honor Display, is a low-cost, high-value way to market and promote your childrens trade books, school library books, and other educational products and materials at Beijing.
In the Spotlight
by Amy Elizabeth Dennis
Afterword: "All About Braces" by Dr. John Bozek
Illustrations: Mary Trach-Holadyk
The adventures of a little girl who admires a boy across the street because he has "train tracks" on his teeth. She believes there's a train in there somewhere, and is determined to ride it. When the train finally appears, it exits James' mouth, and the girl climbs aboard for an extraordinary ride right through the core of the earth to China - and back. When James' "train tracks" disappear, the girl switches her allegiance to a boy with a "silver rocket" on his leg - and ends up amidst the stars! Here is an exciting and exotic fantasy story, magnificently illustrated throughout in full-colour. A gorgeous book! Read More
by Robert Nielsen
Cover painting by Katherine MacDonald
Finalist - Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
192 pages, trade paperback, $19.95
ISBN 0-919676-53-7
Divided into three sections - "The Wretched Rookie", "The Jaded Journeyman", and "The Vulnerable Veteran" - here is the autobiography of a hopeless "athlete" trying to achieve stardom (He knew The Law of the Canadian Male: "If you don't play in the NHL, you're a failure"). Set in western and eastern Canada - and even England - the story reveals that no matter what sport our hero tries, disaster strikes: fishing, he catches his lure in his friend's face; deer hunting, he is caught reading Shakespeare; tackling in football, he is knocked cold; golfing in a tournament, he quits after five holes; experimenting with karate, his teeth are crushed by a black belt. In England he tries cricket (bowled out by the first ball) and rugger (toenails fall off). The author wrote the book "because the market is flooded with the exploits of famous athletes. It's time an unsuccessful sportsperson had a say, someone with whom the hopeless masses - both men and women - can identify."
Read More