Talon's first drama title, published in 1969, was James Reaney's "Colours in the Dark." It was followed in 1970 by George Ryga's "The Ecstasy of Rita Joe," still the bestselling title on Talon's backlist. In retrospect it can be seen that this initial foray into drama was perhaps the most significant move in the evolution of Talon's editorial policy. Fueled by an enthusiasm that Eleanor Wachtel later compared to "the zeal of a missionary" (Wachtel 1979), Talonbooks was gradually clarifying its house identity, its sense of self.

The concerns and debates initiated by the 1970 sales of Gage and Ryerson resulted in a significant bolstering of the amount available to Canadian publishers through the Canada Council. These funds became available in 1972. That year Talon's project grant from the Canada Council was $7500, up significantly from the $1350 received the previous year. While Talon had optimistically published fifteen titles in 1971, they had been forced to cut back production to nine titles in 1972. With the increase in grant revenue in 1972 Talonbooks was able to plan for a step up in title production, and produced twelve titles in 1973 and a further eighteen in 1974.

From the publication of their first plays in 1969 and 1970, Talon began to increase their emphasis on drama. Of the fifteen titles produced in 1971, only one was a drama; in 1972 four of their nine titles were drama; in 1973 four of twelve titles were drama, and in 1974 seven of eighteen titles were drama. The plays chosen for publication were selected by Peter Hay from "the best of new available Canadian offerings, ... plus a few older 'chestnuts'" (Wachtel 1979). This increased emphasis showed Talon's intention of consolidating their identity as one of Canada's foremost publishers of drama.

Known at first as a regional play publisher, Talon began to expand their focus to the national scene. They actively went after playwrights such as Toronto's David Freeman and Quebec's Michel Tremblay, publishing works by both writers for the first time in 1974. Acquiring the English language rights to Michel Tremblay's plays was a major coup for Talonbooks, their entry into the big leagues of national drama . Talon published six of Tremblay's plays within three years, and he became their best-selling author.

The emphasis on drama continued to grow. By 1979 Eleanor Wachtel was discussing the next logical step in Talon's expansion in an article on Talonbooks, an article with the subhead: "A Canadian house goes international by a process of evolution" (Wachtel 1979). Their first international drama publication came in 1978 with "Ashes," by Briton David Rudkin. In 1979 Talon published two volumes of plays by Sam Shepherd, as well as two plays by New York's Israel Horovitz. Unfortunately discussions between Talonbooks and Edward Albee, mentioned in Wachtel's article, did not come to fruition.

Peter Hay eventually became a full partner in Talonbooks, although the relationship ended somewhat acrimoniously when he left the company in 1980. In December of 1981 he was asked to resign as a director of Talonbooks. A lawsuit followed which was finally settled in 1986.

Today Talonbooks, while still retaining a commitment to drama, has reduced its emphasis to the point where the company that "used to devote half its list to plays, now [...] publishes only two to four plays a year" (Hunt 1989). There are now a number of competitors for Talonbooks in the field of drama publishing. Talon has, however, been very successful in obtaining titles which are of interest to University instructors: currently nearly 60% of Talon's sales are through course adoptions.

Talonbooks: Publishing from the Margins. © April, 1991 Michael Hayward