Every book produced by Heyday displays a high level of care and attention, learned and practiced over many years. And the quality of the work has always been paramount. Heyday, like Malcolm, is committed to the voices of authors, the beauty and power of California as place, and valuing culture as lived by individuals, more important than institutions. It has produced a significant body of work, and as an ongoing operation, it reflects the values and beliefs of its founder. Heyday is now a well-run and highly respected nonprofit organization. Unassuming and irreverent, he is now experienced enough to have become an elder statesman, much loved by all who have worked with him. Malcolm is truly one of the great story tellers of our time. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the history of independent publishing and especially the inspiring Bay Area publishing movement of the last half century. The book, compiled by Heyday editor Kim Bancroft, is a wonderful collection of oral histories told by Margolin, his family, authors, friends, current and former staffers and some of the many Californians that have been involved with the press and its cultural work for so many years. The history of Heyday is documented in its newly published The Heyday of Malcolm Margolin: The Damn Good Times of a Fiercely Independent Publisher. Its somewhat unexpected success led to his work on a book called The Ohlone Way, about native Americans of California, and by then Heyday was on its way to becoming an important cultural node that over its forty years has produced more than 350 titles.

Founded in 1974 in Berkeley, then and now a hotbed of independent publishing, Heyday began because Malcolm had written a book about walking in the East Bay called East Bay Out and wanted to publish and sell it himself as a locally based book.

I think of Malcolm Margolin and Heyday Books as one of the iconic independent publishers of the modern era.

The Ohlone Way by Malcolm Margolin