A STYLIZED LITTLE bird marches across the top of each page of Turnstone Press`s spring 1991 bulletin of new releases: perky and determined, it says quite a lot about this press. A small literary press in the midst of prairie flatlands, Turnstone is Winnipeg`s answer to the larger eastern Canadian publishers. Conceived in 1975 in a local pub by Dennis Cooley, John Beaver, Robert Enright, and David Amason, all then affiliated with St. John`s College at the University of Manitoba, and under the catalytic influence of Kenneth Hughes, then chair of the Manitoba Arts Council, the fledgling press was to have promoted Manitoba poets. Which it has. But Turnstone has grown and changed over the course of its 16 year life, successfully navigating the perils of childhood and adolescence, you might say; and it has matured into a consistent and respected Canadian publishing presence, making available to the reading public not only poetry but also prose fiction, literary criticism, and trade non-fiction, written primarily by western Canadian writers. Turnstone books have a look about them, sleek and confident, a look that says they`d be worth a look: uncluttered and provocative covers, well-set texts, and size that begs for a hand. And sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. Turnstone releases don`t make promises they can`t keep: many of them, over the past few years, have been singled out and recognized, locally and nationally. Fred Wah`s Waiting for Saskatchewan won the Governor General`s Award for poetry in 1985; other GG nominations from the press`s list include George Ryga`s plays Portrait of Angelica/Letter to My Son, a first collection of short stories by Lois Braun titled A Stone Watermelon, and another debut, Di Brandt`s book of poetry, questions i asked my mother. Turnstone books have won the McNally Robinson Award for Manitoba Book of the Year as well, and this year the press itself was co-winner of the Manitoba Book Publishers Award. Turnstone prides itself on taking chances, going for the new writers, for experimental work, for literariness. Rather than aiming for "name" authors who might be a more secure bet financially, Turnstone insists on finding work that might not otherwise find voice. Many of its authors are first-timers: Di Brandt and Lois Braun are two of a long list that includes David Amason, Sandra Birdsell, Dennis Cooley, Patrick Friesen, Cornelia Hoogland, Jan Horner, Wayne Tefs, and Armin Wiebe. To date, Turnstone has published almost 150 titles, about twothirds of which are still in print. A continuing commitment to Manitoba writing - and writing about Manitoba writing - is evident. The 1990 list, for example, was almost entirely dominated by Manitoba authors and editors, and included Made in Manitoba, an anthology of short fiction edited by Wayne Tefs, and Contemporary Manitoba Writers, a collection of critical essays edited by Kenneth J. Hughes. Still, while Manitoba writing tends to be dominant in Turnstone`s line-up, the press perceives region in a broader sense, and has published work by many prominent western Canadian writers, both residents and expatriates. Even a partial list is impressive: Douglas Barbour, George Bowering, Lorna Crozier, Frank Davey, Kristjana Gunnars, Robert Kroetsch, Patrick Lane, Dorothy Livesay, Eli Mandel, George Ryga, Andrew Suknaski, Geoffrey Ursell, and Fred Wah. In 1983, eight years after its inception, Turnstone Press incorporated. At present it employs three staff members: the managing editor Marilyn Morton, the marketing director Paula Kelly, and the promotion/production assistant Manuela Dias. Its owners, David Amason, Dennis Cooley, Daniel Lenoski, Patricia Sanders, and Wayne Tefs, act as a volunteer editorial board. They consider more than 300 manuscripts per year, and of the eight they finally settle on, normally three will be poetry, two or three fiction, one literary criticism, and one a work of popular non-fiction. The list for 1991 includes poetry collections by Roy Miki, Brenda Riches, and Kathleen Wall, a collection of stories by Bruce Eason, and an anti-murder mystery - Murder in Gutenthal: A Schneppa Kinals Mystery - by Armin Wiebe. It also features an experimental novel, Fox, by the first-time novelist Margaret Sweatman of Winnipeg, and a collection of experimental, genre-defying feminist writings, Tell-Tale Signs, by Edmonton`s Janice Williamson. The non-literary title in the bunch is Dining Out with Marion Warhaft, a guide to selected Winnipeg restaurants by the esteemed Winnipeg Free Press restaurant critic. The perils that plague small presses are various and nearly legendary And when such a press obstinately insists on risk as one of its mandates, it moves that much closer to the edge. Add to the typically modest readership for literary work the present recession and the new tax on books, and you know Turnstone is feeling the pinch. It depends on revenue from its popular non-fiction titles to defray the costs of less lucrative "literary" titles. It also continues a campaign of aggressive marketing in Canada and the United States, which has meant an increase in net sales in the past couple of years. Turnstone appears to be healthy, and determined to pursue and promote new, challenging writing. Let`s hope it continues: in spite of - or perhaps because of - its size and location, it`s a big player in the Canadian writing field.