Writers & Co. was opened by transplated New Yorker Irene McGuire in October 1982. The store's mandate was largely McGuire's mandate: she stocked the books because she wanted them. Its strengths were its collection of literary fiction, criticism and poetry, and it also had a unique and strong selection of books on baseball. The store became a much-beloved haven for book lovers in Toronto and abroad. The store suffered some financial problems in the early 1990s, which eventually forced its closure.
Published
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
The collection consists primarily of correspondence, both business and personal, to Irene McGuire, owner of the Toronto-area bookshop Writers & Co. The letters deal with topics such as book launches held at Writers & Co., general information about books from readers, writers and publishers, and letters on other topics related to the book store. Among the correspondents include Graeme Gibson, Nan Talese, Alberto Manguel, Helen Garner, Greg Gatenby, W.P. Kinsella and Douglas Fetherling, among others.
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-request