TOPIA
PUBLISHING
ABOUT
Utopia Publishing is a small, independent press based in Southern Ontario with a global vision, committed to connecting authors with the communities that shape them. We believe every great story begins with a journey, whether it moves through local streets, distant horizons, or the imagination’s terrain. Our mission is to publish fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and anthologies that explore the power of place and identity, carrying bold voices to their local audiences and into the wider world.
With deep roots in the Canadian literary community, Utopia follows a traditional publishing model with royalties and international distribution, ensuring every book we champion can reach its audience whether close to home or across the globe.
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The word Utopia comes from the Greek ou (“not”) and topos (“place”) a name coined by Thomas More to describe a place that exists only in imagination. Yet its echo, eutopia—eu (“good”) and topos (“place”)—speaks to the dream of a better world. At Utopia Publishing, we live in the space between these meanings, between “no place” and “good place,” between what is and what could be.
Our team
Joseph Donato is super cool & popular. He terrorizes Guelph's Creative Writing MFA and is the face behind Block Party and Horror Pop Mag. His stories and poems have appeared in Pinhole Magazine, The Ampersand Review, The Hart House Review, and The Foundationalist, among others. His second poetry chapbook, 'No One Should Be Happy When I'm Not', is forthcoming March 21 and you should totally read it. Joseph enjoys tape, Weezer, and being scared. He can be reached at josephdonato.ca or @josephdonato13 on instagram.
Dea Toivonen (they/she) is a writer, artist, and educator located in Halifax NS. They are excited to be a part of Utopia Publishing and create opportunities to champion emerging artists, literary hidden gems, and work that will create waves in communities of readers. Their current curiosities have them reading psychoanalytic writers, cultural theorist, and experimental auteurs bending the conventions of genre and literary form.
Jules Lee (she/they) is a Toronto-based writer from rural Ontario. She mostly writes prose and poetry—often a hybrid of both—and was Western's 2025-2026 Student Writer-in-Residence. When they're not writing, Jules enjoys starting out the window and contemplating both the horrors and the divine.
Andrew Calderone is a writer, editor, teacher, and founder of Utopia Publishing. He is the author of three novels, including Burnt Ends, forthcoming in May 2026. He has studied at University College Cork in Ireland, the University of the West Indies in Barbados, the Humber School for Writers and York University in Toronto, and the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing, where he served as an editor for PRISM international magazine. Andrew is working on his next novel while pursuing a PhD at the University of Guelph.
As a writer and avid reader, Emma Bowman finds joy in learning new perspectives, finding human connection and experience, as well as consuming varied written or spoken literary styles from creators. While she is currently pursuing an Honours Specialization in Creative Writing and English Literature at the University of Western Ontario, Emma looks forward to stepping into the literary world with fellow emerging artists.