March 8, 2009
Small magazine. Big roar.
Over at the Descant blog, I’ve written about the importance of small literary magazines in Canada. This in the wake of federal budget cuts that would eliminate Heritage Canada funding to magazines with a subscription base under 5000. Which, in the words of Bookninja, “is essentially every lit mag out there.” Read my piece, and be sure to join The Coalition to Keep Canadian Heritage Support for Literary and Arts Magazines. At the bottom of the link, find addresses to which you should address your carefully worded letters of protest and support.
Thanks to Stuart Lawler for the image.
Excellent article! It so concisely outlines everything I love about lit magazines. And I agree, it is too hard to find a copy of nearly any of these magazines when you’re trying to track one down.
Still,
Just to play devil’s advocate, wouldn’t it be nice to have a few less journals and a few of higher quality?
Maybe, but I’m not sure circulation numbers are any basis of quality. I also don’t think quality is anybody’s object here (sadly). And the magazines that I subscribe to are so terribly good that I feel quality is being handled just fine the way things are.