Pulp Press Book Publishers was established in downtown Vancouver in 1971 by a group of disenchanted university students and their associates, including Stephen Osborne, Tom Osborne and Greg Enright. The press was known for its intelligent, irreverent books, chapbooks and broadsheets, and for cultural innovations such as the 3-Day Novel Contest, conceived in a pub and launched in 1978. D.M. Fraser, Jon Furberg, Tom Walmsley and other writers published by the press also worked in editorial and production. In 1978, Pulp Press was accused in Parliament of terrorism for publishing “The Anarchist Peril,” a satirical work; the office telephones were tapped and the principals were investigated by federal security agents. In 1982 the press was reorganized and renamed Arsenal Pulp Press. Today the company has more than two hundred titles in print and is one of Canada’s most successful independent book publishers.
