By Alex Browne
Arts Reporter

Oct 06 2007

South Surrey-based Libros Libertad has been around for less than a year – but has already become the little publishing house that could.

With five books released so far – and as many on the way by year’s end, the imprint is rapidly gaining stature and credibility with its up-market style paperbacks.

Poodie James, a novel by veteran U.S. broadcaster Doug Ramsey has already become a break-out hit, selling out its first printing. The Passage of Sono Nis is a definitive collection of works by internationally respected author J. Michael Yates – who is also senior editor for the company. And well-known jazz writer/lyricist Gene Lees (Yesterday I Heard The Rain, Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars) is readying a novel Song Lake Summer for release by Libros Libertad.

Early titles that looked a little self-published are quickly being supplanted by volumes that eminate literary conviction in design and presentation.

“Every time we put out a new book we learn something,” said Libros Libertad owner Emmanuel Aligazakis, seated in the den of his South Surrey home, nerve centre of the publishing enterprise.

Maybe that’s the reason for Libros Libertad’s success: it’s based on a love of making literature, not a love of making a fast buck.

That has a lot to do with Aligazakis himself, who under his nom de plume, Manolis, has already added two impressive volumes of poetry to the company’s catalogue, including El Greco - Domenikos Theotokopoulos, inspired by the life and work of the 16th century painter from his native Crete.

A retired stockbroker, Aligazakis has realized an essential fact of publishing in the 21st century – that technological advancements including online distribution have meant it no longer requires the heavy overhead of large print runs or extensive warehousing and that books can, almost literally, be produced on demand.

Aligazakis has set up Libros Libertad with both an internationalist outlook and a determinedly literary bent. Actually on the lookout for quality books to publish, Libros Libertad offers a refreshing outlook compared with the closed doors of major imprints choking on their own slush piles.

“If you feel you have something distinctive to say, then feel free to contact us,” his website proclaims. “We’re looking for the gold in the melting pot. Across the whole Earth.”

It’s not hard to understand the reason why – Aligazakis, who emigrated to Canada in 1973, has been one of the many writers on the outside of the publishing conundrum.

“Back in 1974, I wrote my first novel in Canada in Greek, for which I received a multicultural grant,” he said. “I translated it and tried putting it out to an ordinary publisher, but it didn’t fly.”

He published a novel in his native language in Greece in 1981, but after stints as a welder and a taxi driver he launched a successful career as a stockbroker.

“I spent 20 years or so making money and raising my children and finally retired in 1998,” he said. “I thought, ‘why don’t I get involved, slowly, in getting my books out?’”

Advised by Yates, a personal friend, Aligazakis began to realize the publishing industry had changed in the 20 years since he’d left it.

After rejections from a publishing house in Eastern Canada, he considered self-publishing.

But somehow that route wasn’t satisfactory.

“For $600, you publish it – and all you can do is give it to your friends,” he said. “You can do anything you want to do – but they’ll charge you for every little iota.”

He came back to Yates with a new idea.

“‘I don’t want to just publish books of my own,’ I said. ‘I want to publish books by other authors too.’ “‘He said, ‘I can find you plenty.’”

Among the new books joining the roster before year’s end will be Tides At The Edge of the Senses, a collection of poetry by John Skapski; Iliarjuk: An Inuit Memoir by Dracc Dreque; Eros Operatica, a collection of poetry by Joanne Ford; and, Travelling With Shadows, poetry by Eduardo Bettencourt Pinto.

El Greco was inspired by a trip to Spain that Aligazakis made with his wife last year. She was born in the Phillipines but is Spanish in descent.

While there, Aligazakis became fascinated by the painter, whose unique and expressionistic style has become a cornerstone of Spanish culture. He was fascinated, too that El Greco came from the village of Fodele on Crete, not far from his own home town of Kolibari.

“In Toledo, we visited the house where he lived and I had this phenomenal, overwhelming feeling go through me – I started to weep. I took his works and how I felt about his works in a book. This is who I am – that’s my roots, although I’m very happy in Canada.”

Between new Libros Libertad releases Aligazakis is still busily writing, working on a translation, a novel and preparing collections of his poetry.

But he beams like a child with a new toy when he describes his publishing venture – and it’s clear he likes being able to bring the works of other authors to public attention, and generate a healthy press for them in the bargain.

There’s nothing he is set against publishing, provided it has literary quality, rather than a pot-boiling motive.

“I’d rather publish books that people read and think about,” he said.