BARKING RAVEN PRESS was founded by myself, KEN BOESEM, in 2002, primarily as an imprint for what would become, to some surprise, my critically-acclaimed small press chapbooks and comics.
In the almost eight years since issuing my little symbolic first publication re-printing my earliest surviving graphic narrative, HOW GOD BUILT EARTH, I have been honoured to have been profiled in publications from the humble QUESNEL CARIBOO OBSERVER (since 1908!) all the way up to Canada's national news magazine, MACLEAN'S.
I have been granted many brilliant opportunities, including my popular ongoing comic strip serial THE VILLAGE thanks to PINK TRIANGLE PRESS, and I've met some truly amazing and frequently inspiring people from all walks of life.
These lowly small press works from BARKING RAVEN PRESS now reside in libraries all the way from the local VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY to the NATIONAL LIBRARY in Ottawa and from the UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (UBC) LIBRARY's Rare Books and Special Collections branch to the CANADIAN GAY & LESBIAN ARCHIVES (CGLA).
I have been afforded the chance to exhibit in conjunction with VANCOUVER ART GALLERY (VAG)'s 2008 KRAZY! show and I've had my comic art be used as part of a JESSIE AWARD-winning theatre production.
It's been a spectacular almost decade!
Although the original BARKING RAVEN PRESS site had received two light cosmetic makeovers in its life, the core site was getting a bit long in the tooth and some of the functionality was even starting to crumble. This seemed like a shabby way to treat a nest that's stood me so well, so I've decided to molt a bit, re-do the Web site and give the old bird both wings and plumage more deserving of the 21st century.
Don't worry though! I'm only flying South for a bit of the Winter. Watch for the lustrous sheen of a glossy new Web site for BARKING RAVEN PRESS...coming early in 2010!
-Ken Boesem, Chief Bird and Bookbinder
December, 2009