Canadian children's publisher Owlkids Books has announced that, as of March 5, it will have a new publisher to develop its growing books division: Karen Boersma. Boersma has been v-p and publisher of Kids Can Press for the last 14 years. At Owlkids – which has published kids’ magazines Chirp, chickaDEE, and OWL for more than 35 years, and acquired children’s publisher Maple Tree Press in 2008 – Boersma will be in charge of the book program’s strategic planning, editorial development, and sales and marketing.
"Karen really understands the whole business, she has a lot of contacts, and she’s respected by people in the industry," says Jennifer Canham, group publisher of Owlkids. “We’re making some really terrific books here at Owlkids, but at the core we were magazine publishers, and I think it’s taking some time to make sure people take us seriously as book publishers. I think hiring Karen is a sign of confidence, because she believes in the future of our publishing program.”
According to Canham, Owlkids does not currently have a full-time publisher in place, so it was time to bring someone experienced on board. In addition to Kids Can, Boersma has also worked at Groundwood Books, and has been a board member of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, the Association of Canadian Publishers, and BookNet Canada.
When Owlkids bought Maple Tress Press, the latter was publishing 12 to 15 titles a year, but the list has been expanding ever since. “We’ve got a lot of strong characters and brands we’ve been developing for 35 years, so I’m really excited to work with Karen to further develop the brands,” says Canham. “We’ll look to Karen for the areas that we’re not in that we should be going into.”
Another project Owlkids is taking on is a television show with Chirp, aimed at preschool kids and featuring the magazine’s bright yellow bird. Canham is confident that Boersma’s experience working with character-based series will help them develop a strong list of titles to complement that show. "The bottom line is mostly we’re hoping to have a lot of fun, to be honest."
