Subseries 3 - French Letter Society

Deborah Barnett (born December 15, 1953) is a Canadian creative director, fine press printer, and graphic designer based in Toronto.

She attended high school at Central Technical School in Toronto and was accepted into the school’s art program, where she took an interest in sculpture and drawing. Shortly after graduating, she became a founding member of Dreadnaught Press, working first as an apprentice, and later as an art director. The fine press printing collective was well-known in the Canadian literary and publishing community, and served as a space for Barnett to hone her print, design, and typography skills.

Beginning in 1981, Barnett lectured at the annual Banff Publishing Workshop in Alberta for nearly a decade, teaching design, art direction, and colour theory. After Dreadnaught Press disbanded in the mid 1980s, she started her own commercial design studio under the name Dreadnaught Design. Clients included Price Waterhouse Cooper, The National Arts Centre, The National Ballet of Canada, the AIDS Committee of Toronto, and Reed Books Canada. In 2001, Dreadnaught Design became Someone.ca. Launched by Barnett and business partner Aaron Benson, Someone.ca specialized in website development, web design, and communications. During this time, Barnett also took on creative director roles for several large investment firms. She returned to more extensive fine press printing in 2010, collaborating on letterpress projects and creating custom materials for clients. In 2015, she launched Someone Editions, a specialty letterpress imprint in the spirit of Dreadnaught Press, alongside editor and poet Beatriz Hausner.

In 2018, Barnett took on the role of Master Printer at Kelly Library at St. Michael’s College, where she taught printing and typesetting workshops, and led production of a series of limited edition chapbooks for the Kelly Library Print Studio. In 2021, she earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Interdisciplinary Art, Media, and Design (IAMD) from OCAD University.

In 2024, Barnett launched an imprint of Someone Editions called the French Letter Society. For this project, Barnett designs, typesets, and prints broadsides comprised of creative work by various visual artists and poets, reviving the casual "kitchen table print" culture popularized by private presses and literary circles in the first half of the 20th century. In 2025, Barnett began making an active effort to turn her letterpress studio into a community space and salon for poetry readings, gallery openings, artists' alleys, print demonstrations, and workshops. Her book arts practice continues to evolve.