Memorial University Press (formerly ISER Books) publishes scholarly books about the North Atlantic region, with a special focus on Newfoundland and Labrador and Atlantic Canada more broadly.
While academic excellence is the foundation of Memorial University Press, its books also have a wide public appeal in subject matter and style.
Award-Winning Highlights
Extraordinary Passages
An engaging and authoritative literary biography depicting the courageous life and turbulent times of Margaret Duley, Newfoundland's first internationally acclaimed novelist.
Through the voices of vivid characters, witty and moving dialogue, and poetically drawn landscapes and seascapes, Margaret Duley created a Newfoundland stage upon which she explored existential and universal questions. Duley won international recognition with four novels, and though lauded by leading critics abroad, her appreciation at home was comparatively muted. In her native St. John’s, Duley’s strong female protagonists prompted speculation and gossip about her own life as a single, questioning woman.
Berries of Labrador
Berries grow in every part of Labrador—bogs, barrens, forests, gulches, roadsides, yards, mountains, open sand, and wet, shady streambanks. Ripening red, orange, blue, purple, black, or white. Tasting bitter, juicy, sour, sweet, dry. Like wintergreen. Like tobacco.
Berries of Labrador combines storytelling with science to celebrate more than forty species of berries and their various uses, from food to medicine. Beautiful watercolour illustrations by Valerie Powell and short anecdotes from community members accompany each description, highlighting the cultural, historical, and ecological significance of the berries of Labrador.
One Man's Journey
With a story spanning over seventy years of the life of respected Elder Calvin White, One Man’s Journey weaves personal history with White’s account of the Mi’kmaw movement and his role in the reclamation and restoration of pride in Mi’kmaw culture in Newfoundland.
Elder White’s journey began in the forests surrounding his home of Flat Bay, where he learned to fish, hunt, and gather from a group of respected mentors who influenced and inspired him. His story recounts how the lessons learned from these valuable moments fueled his later work to spearhead the Mi’kmaw movement throughout the island of Newfoundland, amid the fight for recognition by the provincial and federal governments. His words do not shy away from the prejudice and discrimination faced by his people, and they provide a personal account of the history, responsibilities, philosophy, and worldview of his community.
