Penguin Random House Canada has announced a new imprint at Tundra Book Group, Swift Water Books.

Swift Water Books is led by editorial director David A. Robertson, author of the bestselling Misewa Saga series, and will focus on titles by Indigenous writers and illustrators. Its first children’s books are set to be released in spring 2026.

The imprint will publish a range of children’s books, including picture books, graphic novels, middle grade, and young adult fiction. Swift Water Books will be the first Indigenous children’s imprint within a major publishing house in Canada.

The first titles include a young adult novel by Kim Spencer entitled Here for a Good Time and Canada, a picture book based on a poem by the late Richard Wagamese, which was originally published by Ronsdale Press and has been adapted by Robertson and illustrated by Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley.

“This imprint is the realization of a belief that stories can change things for the better, especially when they are written with intention, with truth, and with a focus on the real agents of change: youth,” Robertson said in a press release. “With a growing interest in Indigenous storytelling, there is no better time for this imprint than right now.”

Writers and illustrators who also have books forthcoming with the new imprint include Yolanda Bonnell, Cherie Dimaline and Wenzdae Dimaline-Manchester, Falen Johnson, Autumn Peltier, Waubgeshig Rice, Tasha Spillett, Kirk Van Brunt, Chelsea Vowel, Luke Swinson, and August Swinson.

“Swift Water honours my father and his impact on my life and career, in how he helped me to focus on the important things: effecting change in my community and helping others in whatever capacity I can,” Robertson said of the imprint’s name. “My father grew up on the land and by the water, and it was the place he found calm. My father was my calm. He used to call the rivers around his ancestral home Swift Water, and I think it’s a fitting way to remember him.”