About Us

Territorial Acknowledgement

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the traditional territories upon which we live, work, and play. In Calgary, Alberta, we acknowledge the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikuni, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations, including Chiniki, Bearpaw, and Wesley First Nations. The City of Calgary is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. In Victoria, British Columbia, we acknowledge the traditional territories of the Lkwungen (Esquimalt, and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia’new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.

RMB is honoured to share with you a link to the Reciprocity Trusts Society (Reciprocity Trusts), which is a registered non-profit organisation dedicated to changing the culture of private property ownership on Indigenous lands. The role of Reciprocity Trusts is to establish and provide administrative and communications support for regional, Indigenous-led Reciprocity Trusts. If you are a BC-based homeowner, renter, business owner, or are hosting an event we’d like to encourage you to visit reciprocitytrusts.ca in order to see what Reciprocity looks like for you.

Our Story

Founded in 1979 by passionate and renowned mountaineers Tony and Gillean Daffern (they sold the company in 2004), RMB has grown to become one of Canada’s more vibrant, long-standing and evolving book publishers. Established to specialize primarily in guidebooks for hikers, climbers and skiers, RMB has repositioned itself for the 21st century and now successfully publishes and promotes a dynamic, growing list of provocative, engaging and award-winning books on mountain history, adventure travel, outdoor lifestyle, environmental consciousness, Indigenous culture, and contemporary photography—as well as a growing selection of bestselling books for children.

What We Do

Working with professional authors and experts in their fields, we publish 20 to 30 non-fiction titles every year relating to mountain culture and outdoor lifestyle. Our books are diverse in subject and style with a unifying theme: they are edited, designed, published, and marketed with the same passion they are written. Turn the page of any RMB book and begin a journey to a faraway place.

Our Areas of Interest

  • Adventure & Travel Writing
  • Alpinism & Mountaineering
  • Art & Photography
  • Biography & Memoir
  • Children's Books
  • Climbing & Hiking
  • Cycling & Running
  • Environment & Nature
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Social Justice

Who We Are

Don Gorman

Publisher + Acquisitions

Chyla Cardinal

Art Director

Grace Gorman

Foreign Rights + Social Media Manager

James Faccinto

Media + Publicity

Kirsten Craven

Editorial + Production Coordinator

Joe Wilderson

Senior Editor

Cory Manning

Sales Representative

Diversity + Inclusion

RMB will always stand in solidarity with and in defence of those who continue to suffer under the systemic racism and bigotry that infects our world. Through education, empathy, and engagement with one another and our natural surroundings we can foment change. We acknowledge that our publishing program does not reflect the complete breadth and scope of our community and we know that we must do better.

All aspects of our business need to evolve and we need to learn from past omissions, mistakes, and inattention. We long to share stories of triumph, resilience, connectivity, and struggle that embrace the profound relationship between humans and the natural world. We want to help craft a narrative of outdoor engagement that illustrates and promotes a more inclusive story of enjoyment, education, and reflection related to outdoor adventure, natural history, and landscape photography. And that is why RMB will continue to do everything it can to help foster, publish, and promote work by people of colour, Indigenous people, and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community relating to our areas of interest (please see below). In order to achieve this, we’d love to hear from anyone who could help point us in the right direction, and to work with them to ensure that the outdoor community continues to become more representative and culturally relevant. We are committed to providing a platform for more diverse voices and would like to encourage those writers (new authors or previously published) to send us your stories for possible inclusion in our publishing program or to be profiled in our blog, newsletter, or podcast. 

Code of Conduct

Rocky Mountain Books (RMB) is committed to providing an environment in which all authors, staff, and associated members within our affiliated communities are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to inclusivity and the reduction of barriers due to discrimination, including, but not limited to, on the grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation, marital / family status, gender identity or expression, age, colour, disability, or political or religious belief. These beliefs and practices apply to our relationships with others and the types of books we publish.

Harassment can take many forms, but all can be defined as any unwelcome action by any person, whether via email, telephone, verbal, or physical, on a single or repeated basis, which harms, humiliates, embarrasses, insults, or degrades, and where the behaviour is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome or unprofessional.

All persons participating in either the publication process or an RMB Event are expected to:

a. treat others with whom they come into contact with courtesy and respect;

b. avoid acting in any discriminatory, harassing or violent way towards anyone; and

c. comply with standard codes of conduct, rules, and procedures.

Violations of this Code of Conduct will not be tolerated.