Welcome to Rufus Books
Hold your moose! We're (still) updating our website, sure as maple sugaring...
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
UNCERTAIN DENSITIES by Iain Britton in UNITY BOOKS bookshop in NZ
Who knew Iain Britton's chapbook would end up in a bookshop snugly displayed alongside other squeaky bright trade editions? Just a matter of rufusing from one Wellington location — that of Aurora's in the northern reaches of the Greater Toronto Area — to another — New Zealand's southern hemisphere, across the Tasman Sea. Lovely to see UNITY BOOKS take on our chapbook.
Does it take a market town to raise a gibbon or will its streetlamp do?
What is a gibbon doing, swinging on a streetlamp in Frome? Actually, he'll be making his way across the pond to join the chapbook launch and Poetry, Pizza, Pints & Open Mic event at The Archangel on Tuesday 24 March, with readings by Scott Elder, Prue Chamberlayne, and host Mandy Pannett. The streetlamp on the broadside is fashioned after the one on Catherine Street in Frome. Can you tell?
To fold, to sew, to sign... An afternoon's work at Someone Editions
Master letterpress printer Deborah Barnett led the folding and sewing of Scott Elder's chapbook, MOLLY, ETC., with Jim Johnstone hanging out to sign all 30 copies of the Exquisite Corpse broadside, with the latter being shipped to the UK to be signed by the other poets taking part in this uncanny Surrealist scheme, namely Scott Elder, Prue Chamberlayne (thanks for the gibbon), and Claire Crowther.
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
Events & Other Happenings
24 MAR 2026
The Archangel
1 King Street
Frome, BA11 1BH
@ 7 to 9 PM
BOOK LAUNCH
Poetry, Pizza, Pints & Open Mic
Join us in celebrating the launch of Molly, Etc., a new chapbook by Scott Elder, also featuring poets Prue Chamberlayne, and host Mandy Pannett.
2 for 1 pizzas for the first 10 guests
RSVP for free tickets and/or your Open Mic slot.
27 MAR 2026
The Poetry Café
22 Betterton Street
London, WC2H 9BX
@ 7 to 9 PM
LIVE READING
From Dublin to London & Open Mic
In the bosom of Covent Garden, let your hearts be touched by poems from Molly, Etc., a new chapbook by Scott Elder, with featured poets Prue Chamberlayne, Michael Lee Rattigan, and host Michael Shann also reading.
RSVP for free tickets and/or your Open Mic slot.
"I am only interested in poetry, which occurs more often in verse than in prose."
— John McGahern
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