Douglas Maitland Gibson

Douglas Maitland Gibson

Douglas Gibson, editor, publisher, writer, raconteur (b at Kilmarnock, Scotland 4 Dec 1943). Douglas Gibson was born and raised in Scotland, where he earned an MA at the University of St. Andrews. Upon completion of an MA at Yale University he arrived in Canada in 1967; he continues to reside in Toronto. He has built an impressive career in Canada as one of the nation's best-known and respected editors and publishers.

Gibson rose rapidly in the Canadian PUBLISHING industry, beginning as an editor with Doubleday Canada in 1968, then joining MacMillan of Canada as Editorial Director in 1974 and becoming Publisher in 1979. In 1986 he moved to MCCLELLAND AND STEWART as Editor and Publisher of a line of books under his own editorial imprint, Douglas Gibson Books. By September 1988 he was Publisher of McClelland & Stewart, and became President in June 2000. In 2004 he reclaimed his original role at M&S, increasing the number of releases by his imprint, which had lessened as he took on additional roles.

Gibson's work as an editor and publisher is renowned amongst those closely involved in Canadian literature. He has worked with and published works by many of Canada's best known and acclaimed authors, including Morley CALLAGHAN, Hugh MACLENNAN, Robertson DAVIES, Alice MUNRO, Jack HODGINS, W.O. MITCHELL, Mavis GALLANT and Alistair MACLEOD, whom he famously convinced to release the long-awaited manuscript of No Great Mischief.

Gibson's ESSAYS and reflections have appeared in many Canadian publications, including SATURDAY NIGHT, Toronto Life, BOOKS IN CANADA, the NATIONAL POST, the TORONTO STAR and the GLOBE AND MAIL, and he has been nominated for a National Magazine Award for Humour. He frequently gives speeches to groups across the country and abroad, including Canadian Clubs, the Canadian Oral History Association, the International Publishers' Association Convention, and the CANADIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS. Gibson's own experiences have themselves been collected in print: Douglas Gibson Unedited, a biography and collection of interviews with Gibson by Christine Evain, appeared in 2008; 2011 saw the release of Stories About Storytellers, a collection of Gibson's tales of his working relationships with some of Canada's renowned literary personalities.

Gibson's contributions to the development of the publishing industry in Canada include his longtime service teaching courses for the Book Publishers' Professional Association and the Editors' Association of Canada, and his work as a Faculty Advisor to the BANFF Publishing Workshop from its inception in 1981. He was Co-Director of the course from 1985-89. Gibson was Chair of the Advisory Board of the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY from 1988-1993 and is an adjunct faculty member for the Master of Publishing program at SFU.

Douglas Gibson has been extensively honoured by the literary community in Canada. He received the Canadian Booksellers' Association President's Award in 1991, and was awarded Editor of the Year at Book Expo in 2005. In 2009 Gibson became the first publisher to be made an Honorary Member of The WRITERS' UNION OF CANADA.