While she was working on her master’s degree in English (Creative Writing) and teaching at Concordia University in Montreal, Karen Haughian decided to audit an undergrad publishing class — which resulted in the formation of a publishing company. Originally named Nuage Editions, the press began in 1986 as a 16-person publishing collective, although by 1987 it was a three-person press.  It was the very first desktop publisher in Quebec, and put out two to four books a year for the next five years. Since 1991 the press has operated as a sole proprietorship run by Karen Haughian and has published eight to ten titles a year. In 1997 the press moved to Winnipeg and in 2000 was renamed Signature Editions.

Karen is committed to discovering and developing new Canadian writing of literary merit, regardless of genre, and the press publishes many first-book authors and works with them to develop their craft. Karen edits all prose titles in-house, while poetry and drama are handled by outside editors. In the 26 years of running the press she has read thousands of manuscripts and edited hundreds of books.