Feminist Literary Magazines, Editors, and the Politics of Cultural Production in Canada, 1970-2000

The first comprehensive study of five feminist publications – Room of One’s Own, Contemporary Verse 2, Fireweed, Tessera, and (f).Lip – this book shares the story of a vibrant and transformative publishing force within Canadian print culture.

Drawing on full runs of feminist magazines and unpublished documents, Marcin Markowicz examines the history and impact of feminist literary magazines in the country. The book demonstrates how feminist editorial collectives developed distinctive editorial practices that were embedded in and responsive to the sociopolitical and cultural contexts of twentieth-century Canada. This study balances micro-level observations with a sweeping view of the field to augment our understanding of the ways in which these magazines and the women behind them shaped the field of Canadian literature and culture.

With its focus on the behind-the-scenes of periodical production, Feminist Literary Magazines explores how the shifting ideological foundations of each publication challenged and transformed its editorial practices. This book frames editing as a cultural practice – one that sustained a constantly evolving organism of feminist publishing and which, in turn, was sustained by community support.