[2][3][4] Turnstone was founded in 1976 by academics David Arnason, John Beaver, Dennis Cooley, Robert Enright, Daniel Lenoski, and Wayne Tefs.
Turnstone was incorporated in 1983 and since that time, under editors Wayne Tefs, Joan Thomas and others, has grown to become one of the most highly regarded and award-winning independent publishers in Western Canada.
In 1998 Turnstone added the Ravenstone imprint which specializes in literary and experimental mystery and noir fiction.
[2] Authors associated with Turnstone include Bertram Brooker, Miriam Waddington, John Gould, Lawrence Hill, Robert Kroetsch, Sylvia Legris, Margaret Sweatman, Sally Ito and others.
Since the 1980s, Turnstone has also been a major publisher of Mennonite literature, publishing works by David Bergen, Sandra Birdsell, Di Brandt, Dora Dueck, Patrick Friesen, Miriam Toews, Andrew Unger, and Armin Wiebe, among others.