Inhabit Books, an Inuit-owned publishing company, has ventured outside of Nunavut for the first time — making its Toronto debut at 612 Mount Pleasant Rd.

Founded in 2006 by Louise Flaherty, Danny Christopher, and Neil Christopher, the company offers around 300-400 titles from about "85 per cent" Inuit authors. That includes children's books and young adult fiction as well as contemporary fiction and non-fiction.

The majority of the books are offered in Inuktitut and English. Some are available in French as well as Inuinnaqtun, spoken in the central Canadian Arctic.

The idea for the publisher came when the three founders realized there was a dearth of books available in Iqaluit in the Inuit language — a language that was at risk of dying.

"We realized that lnuit children were growing up with children's literature based on European folklore, like Pinocchio and Cinderella," Neil Christopher tells blogTO. "There was a rich folklore in the north, and it was being forgotten."

Inhabit Books co-founder Neil Christopher.

Most of the company's first books were retellings of origin myths and traditional stories. Today, they're the only independent publisher in Arctic Canada and "probably" the most successful Inuit publisher in the world. 

They get manuscripts from all over the Inuit world, including Alaska, Labrador, and Greenland. 

Inhabit comes to Toronto 

Inhabit Books expanded to its Toronto storefront at the end of November after earlier opening up a publishing office in the city. There are about 50 employees at the Mount Pleasant store; in addition to publishing, their parent company Inhabit Media also operates an educational company and an animation studio. 

Some of Christopher's favourite selections from the storefront are books from the Nunavut Arctic College on shamanism and cosmology, as well as My Name is Arnaktauyok: The Life and Art of Germaine Arnaktauyok, about the Inuk printmaker and painter.

"I think anyone in Canada that's interested in Canadian culture and art, that's a book to have on your shelf," he says.

The plan for 2024 is to bring in authors and artists for book signings and readings. There's also talk of creating Inuit language courses, as Christopher tells me they often have people coming in and asking if they have books on the subject.

There's a smaller retail space attached to the bookstore. Right now, it's not being actively used, but Christopher tells me the company plans to bring in more than just books from Nunavut — ranging from fine arts like printmaking to CDs of Nunavut-based artists.

"We're going to spend some time thinking about what the community needs and wants," he says.

Inhabit Books is located at 612 Mt Pleasant Rd.