D&M Publishers has announced that it is restructuring and has filed for creditor protection under the provisions of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

The Vancouver-based publisher, which publishes under three separate imprints including Douglas & McIntyre, Greystone Books and New Society Publishers, says it will be working with financial advisory services company the Bowra Group to locate an investor or purchaser for its assets.

"It is D&M's intention to carry on its operations during this restructuring process," read a news release sent out by the company late Monday.

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New Society Publishers Inc. is a separate legal entity and its business activities will continue as usual.

Company officials were not commenting on Monday, but it was an emotional day at the office, according to an employee.

D&M describes itself on its website as Canada's pre-eminent independent publisher with over forty years of success. Among the books in its catalogue are Charlotte Gill's tree-planting memoir Eating Dirt, which won the B.C. National Award for Canadian non-fiction this year; Carmen Aguirre's 2012 Canada Reads winning memoir Something Fierce; Johanna Skibsrud's 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novel The Sentimentalists (acquired from original publisher Gaspereau Press) and Wayson Choy's seminal Vancouver novel, The Jade Peony.

Other authors who have published with D&M include Wade Davis, Will Ferguson, David Suzuki and poet Lorna Crozier.

"I'm just sick about it. I feel like I've been hit in the head with a two-by-four. It's just another terrible blow to Canadian publishing," said Ms. Crozier, whose The Book of Marvels: A Compendium of Everyday Things was recently published by D&M. "Writers like me are wondering what in the world is going to be happening to our books."

The company made the announcement the day after the Vancouver International Writers Festival wrapped up. A D&M party planned for Friday night at the festival had been cancelled "due to unforeseen circumstances."