Perhaps the most important periodical in the Canadian Authors Associations' publishing program was the "Canadian Author and Bookman", the "official organ of the Association". This periodical actually pre-dates the CAA, beginning its life as the "Canadian Bookman" in 1919, and its editorial committee was instrumental in the founding of the CAA in March 1921. The newly established CAA soon found it could not financially sustain the publication and in December 1921 sold "Canadian Bookman" to Bookcraft Publishing of Toronto. The CAA continued to have a presence in the publication, by purchasing a section, but it also published its own annual "Author's Bulletin". In 1924, the CAA section of "Canadian Bookman" was dropped and the annual "Author's Bulletin" became a quarterly publication. In December 1933, the title of the quarterly was changed to "Canadian Author".
The Association of Canadian Bookmen (ACB), an organization which had existed prior to the establishment of the CAA and then became a Toronto booksellers' association in the 1920s before being revitalized by Pelham Edgar in the 1930s as an associate of the CAA, purchased the rights to "Canadian Bookman" in 1939. Shortly after the purchase, the ACB turned production of "Canadian Bookman" over to the CAA on the condition that the title be combined with that of the "Canadian Author". In April 1940 the first issue of the new "Canadian Author and Bookman" appeared on Canadian newsstands. With an editor directly responsible to the National Executive and an editorial board appointed by the same Executive, the magazine provided marketing hints, advice on the business aspects of writing, articles about the writing world and news of significant literary events to CAA membership and the Canadian literary public. In 1967, for financial reasons, publication of "The Canadian Poetry Magazine" was combined with that of "Canadian Author and Bookman". The magazine was also responsible for the administration of the Okanagan Short Story Award. Published under the name "Canadian Author" since 1992, production of the magazine ceased in 1998 (vol. 78, Summer 1998).
The sub-series consists largely of correspondence between the "Canadian Author and Bookman" office and its subscribers (1981-1986). The sub-series also contains a small amount of material from editors Joe Holliday and Duncan Pollock (see Correspondence - Rachel Kilsdonk), financial and grant information, reports to the National Executive, material on the Okanagan Short Story Award and a few draft article submissions from CAA Past President, Dr. Watson Kirkconnell. (These latter items can be found in the Holliday correspondence files.)
