Mother Tongue Publishing
Mother Tongue Publishing is a small independent publishing company based on the West Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1995 by Mona Fertig, it focuses on bold British Columbia fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, and runs The Unheralded Artists of BC series to recognize overlooked 20th-century B.C. artists.
Before becoming a trade publisher, Mona Fertig and her husband Peter Haase ran a poetry press, (m)Öthêr Tøñgue Press, publishing limited editions and holding Canada’s first poetry manuscript contest with renowned judges. In 2008 they expanded into trade publishing and launched Mother Tongue Publishing.
In 2010 they published Everything Was Good-bye by Gurjinder Basran, which won the 2011 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and was released in Canada by Penguin Canada in 2012 and in the U.S. in 2013. The book was a Canada Reads Top 10 pick for BC and Yukon in 2012. The second winner of their contest, Kathy Para for Lucky, was slated for publication in fall 2013. Mother Tongue Publishing has released fifteen trade titles. A notable project is The Life and Art of George Fertig, the third book in The Unheralded Artists of BC series, based on Mona Fertig’s father and researched for 14 years. Mona Fertig also founded Vancouver’s The Literary Storefront in 1978.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:58 (CET).