''Canadian Literature'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal of criticism and review, founded in 1959 and owned by the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. The journal publishes articles of criticism and reviews about

Canadian literature Canadian literature is the literature of a multicultural country, written in languages including Canadian English, Canadian French, Indigenous languages, and many others such as Canadian Gaelic. Influences on Canadian writers are broad both ge ...

in English and French by Canadian and international scholars. It also publishes around 24 original poems a year and occasional interviews with writers. Each issue contains an extensive

book review __NOTOC__ A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...

s section. Rather than focusing on a single theoretical approach, ''Canadian Literature'' contains articles on all subjects relating to writers and writing in Canada.Woodcock, George
Editorial
, ''Canadian Literature'' 1. Retrieved 9 March 2011. Each issue contains content from a range of contributors, and the journal has been described as "critically eclectic"."Canadian Literature / Litterature Canadienne." ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada.'' Ed. W.H. New. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. Print.

Publication

''Canadian Literature'' publishes both general and special issues. The general issues deal with a range of periods and topics, while the special issues focus on more specific topics, including issues on themes such as

travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

, women's writing,

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

, and Indigenous literature; particular genres such as

Canadian poetry Canadian poetry is poetry of or typical of Canada. The term encompasses poetry written in Canada or by Canadian people in the official languages of English and French, and an increasingly prominent body of work in both other European and Indigenou ...

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

novels;

life writing Life writing is an expansive genre that primarily deals with the purposeful recording of personal memories, experiences, opinions, and emotions for different ends. While what actually constitutes life writing has been up for debate throughout his ...

, and

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

; or the work of prominent authors of Canadian literature such as Thomas King, P.K. Page, or

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

. The journal's average length is 208 pages. ''Canadian Literature'' reaches a global readership and is distributed in print in Canada, US, and twenty-five other countries.Canadian Literature
, Magazine Association of BC website. Retrieved 2011-03-09. Institutions make up the majority of its print subscription base, which is largely made up of university and college libraries. In 2007, ''Canadian Literature''s subscriber base was 45% Canadian, 36% American and 19% international.Potter, Laura. "A Short History of ''Canadian Literature.''" ''From A Speaking Place: Writings from the First Fifty Years of ''Canadian Literature.'' '' Eds. W.H. New et al. Vancouver: Ronsdale, 2009. The journal's back catalogue of issues is openly accessible through its website, which also houses original resources such as the
CanLit Guides
' educational project, the
CanLit Poets
' database, interviews, opinions, and other content. In 2013-14, the journal's website had 452,237 visitors and its articles were downloaded 193,506 times.

History

Founding and Early History

''Canadian Literature'' was established in the autumn of 1958 by Roy Daniells and

George Woodcock George Woodcock (; May 8, 1912 – January 28, 1995) was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, a philosopher, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet and published several volumes of travel wri ...

at the University of British Columbia. The first issue appeared in summer 1959 to skeptical reception because of a general belief that Canada had no national literature; some critics predicted that the journal would run out of material after only a few issues. Initially, editor George Woodcock intended that ''Canadian Literature'' would be fully bilingual in French and English, but due to the lack of French submissions, after ten years of publication French-language material never rose above 10% of an issue's content. At the time of its foundation, ''Canadian Literature'' was the first and only quarterly entirely devoted to the discussion and criticism of Canadian writing and literature."''Canadian Literature."'' ''The Concise Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature''. Ed. William Toye. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2001. Although the position of editor eventually went to George Woodcock, the university's first choice was a bibliographer, UBC's only specialist in Canadian literature, Reginald Watters; the position was offered to Woodcock after Watters decided to accept a fellowship in Australia.Klinck, Carl F. ''Giving Canada a Literary History.'' Ed. Sandra Djwa. Ottawa: Carleton UP for U of Western Ontario. Cited in Fetherling, Douglas. ''The Gentle Anarchist: a Life of George Woodcock.'' Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1998. As editor, Woodcock strove to keep the journal from being purely academic, instead adopting a tone "serious but not academic, popular but not journalistic, contextual more than textual" (Fetherling).Fetherling, Douglas. ''The Gentle Anarchist: a Life of George Woodcock.'' Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1998. As the first journal dedicated to the study of Canadian writers and writing, ''Canadian Literature'' supported the "newly institutionalized field of Canadian literature" during a period of increasing

cultural nationalism Cultural nationalism is nationalism in which the nation is defined by a shared culture and a common language, rather than on the concepts of common ancestry or race. Cultural nationalism does not tend to manifest itself in independent movements, ...

in Canada. Woodcock later attributed ''Canadian Literature''s success to having arrived "at the right moment in the development of a Canadian literary tradition, and created its own ground swell of critical activity."Woodcock, George. ''Beyond the Blue Mountains: An Autobiography.'' Markham, ON: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1987. cited in Potter, Laura. "A Short History of ''Canadian Literature.''" ''From A Speaking Place: Writings from the First Fifty Years of ''Canadian Literature.'' '' Eds. W.H. New et al. Vancouver: Ronsdale, 2009.

Peer Review and Expanded Focus

Woodcock resigned from the editorship in 1977, having edited 73 issues of the journal."Canadian Literature (periodical)"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', After Woodcock's retirement, the University of British Columbia invited William H. New, who had been an assistant editor since 1965, to act as editor. Under New's editorship, the journal "often placed the Canadian within the broader Commonwealth field" of postcolonial criticism. New chose to give priority to First Nations, Asian Canadian, Caribbean Canadian and other minority literatures, which previously had been under-represented in Canadian literary criticism. For example, in 1985 New had Joseph Pivato co-edit an issue devoted to Italian-Canadian writers (number 106), and in 1990 he edited the first special issue on Indigenous literatures in Canada, titled
Native Writers & Canadian Writing
' (no. 124-125, published the same year as a book by

University of British Columbia Press The University of British Columbia Press (UBC Press) is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. It was established in 1971. The press is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and has editorial offices in Kelo ...

). New's work as the journal's editor has been described as "pioneer ngin changing preconceptions about Canadian writing throughout the 1980s" and the Canadian literary canon. New also set up a peer review process for the journal, with the goal of drawing readership from both general and scholarly audiences. New retired as editor in 1995, having edited 72 issues.

Editorial Board and Academic Presence

Between 1995 and 2003, Eva-Marie Kröller was the editor. In addition to producing thirty-four issues, Kröller raised the journal's reputation worldwide by establishing an international

editorial board The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take. Mass media At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, a ...

made up of Canadian and international scholars. She refined the

peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

process for article submissions: currently, articles are assessed by two expert readers who are at arm's length from the author, whose name they do not know. In turn, their names are not revealed to the author ( double-blind peer review). During Kröller's editorship, ''Canadian Literature'' fortified its commitment to Canadian francophone writers by appointing its first Associate Editor specifically for francophone writing, Michel Rocheleau. Under Associate Editor Réjean Beaudoin's guidance, ''Canadian Literature'' published several special issues featuring a majority of French content, such as "Littérature Francophone hors-Québec / Francophone Writing Outside Quebec."

Design Changes and Resources

In 1995, the journal underwent major design changes: it moved from plain beige covers to coloured, changed to a narrower trim, and added more pages to each issue in order to accommodate an expanded focus on themes such as

postcolonialism Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...

, poetics, cultural history, and multiculturalism. The journal also continued publishing original poems by Canadian writers. In 2003, Laurie Ricou, an ecocritic and specialist in the literature of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

who had been either an associate or acting editor of ''Canadian Literature'' since 1983, became the journal's editor. In addition to publishing a range of special issues, Ricou oversaw the relaunch of ''Canadian Literature'''s website and the creation of the
CanLit Poets
' resource. Ricou's term ended in 2007.

Online Presence and Contemporary History

In 2007, Margery Fee, a specialist in Indigenous literatures and Canadian literature and

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

, became the journal's fifth editor.Canadian Literature: About
. Retrieved 9 March 2011. During Fee's editorship, ''Canadian Literature'' made its back catalogue of issues openly accessible through the journal's website, and in 2012 launched the
CanLit Guides
' open-access online educational resource, which uses

archival An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

material from the journal to teach students of Canadian literature about academic writing and reading. Laura Moss is the journal's sixth and most recent editor, having taken over from Fee in 2015. In recent years, ''Canadian Literature'' has published special issues on topics such as

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

literature,

Asian Canadian Asian Canadians are Canadians who were either born in or can trace their ancestry to the continent of Asia. Canadians with Asian ancestry comprise both the largest and fastest growing group in Canada, after European Canadians, with roughly 19.3 ...

critique, the literature of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, global perspectives on Canadian literature, as well as issues supporting the work of emerging scholarship and

graduate students Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and str ...

. Moss's work as editor has sought "to ensure that the journal continues to be vital to a wide readership," keeping in ''Canadian Literature'''s tradition of critical eclecticism while emphasizing the "social utility" of Canadian literary criticism and the "journal as a space to speak freely, debate passionately, think safely, question vigorously, argue vehemently, and express contentious opinion."

Anniversary Celebrations

''Canadian Literature'' celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009 by holding a four-day gala from September 30 to October 3, 2009."Journal that has helped define Canadian literature turns 50"
''Vancouver Sun'', October 3, 2009. Rebecca Wigold It included a two-day conference entitled "The Future of Canadian literature / ''Canadian Literature''" featuring talks by Canadian writers and scholars Thomas King, Roch Carrier, Steven Galloway and Aritha Van Herk, along with presentations and short talks by Canadian and international academics and graduate students. The conference was followed by the launches of Sherrill Grace's book ''On the Art of Being Canadian,'' published by

UBC Press The University of British Columbia Press (UBC Press) is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. It was established in 1971. The press is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and has editorial offices in Kelo ...

and ''From A Speaking Place: Writings from the First Fifty Years of'' Canadian Literature, edited by

W. H. New William Herbert New (born March 28, 1938) is a Canadian poet and literary critic. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he was educated at John Oliver Secondary School, where he received one of the top matriculation exam scores in British Columbi ...

, and published by Ronsdale Press. A silent art auction to support undergraduate students interning at ''Canadian Literature'' included pieces donated by

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

, Dennis Lee, Thomas King, Patrick Lane,

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

, and

Fred Wah Frederick James Wah, OC, (born January 23, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, scholar and former Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. Life Wah was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, but grew up in the interior (West Kootenay) of British Columbi ...

. ''Canadian Literature'''s 60th anniversary was celebrated in 2019 with a reading emceed by the poetry editor, Phinder Dulai, featuring

Jordan Abel Jordan Abel is a Nisga'a poet who lives and works in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Life and work Abel, a Nisga'a poet, was born in British Columbia. Formerly a doctoral student at Simon Fraser University in the Department of English, he is current ...

, Sonnet L’Abbé,

Daphne Marlatt Daphne Marlatt, born Buckle, CM (born July 11, 1942 in Melbourne, Australia), is a Canadian poet and novelist who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. At a young age her family moved to Malaysia and at age nine they moved to British Columbia, ...

Cecily Nicholson Cecily Nicholson is a Canadians, Canadian poet, arts administrator, independent curator, and activist. Originally from Ontario, she is now based in British Columbia. As a writer and a poet, Nicholson has published collections of poetry, contribut ...

, and Shazia Hafiz Ramji, followed by the awarding of the 60th Anniversary Graduate Student Essay Prize.

Editors

(1959-1977) * W.H. New (1977-1995) * Eva-Marie Kröller (1999-2003) * Laurie Ricou (2003-2007) * Margery Fee (2007-2015) * Laura Moss (2015–Present)

CanLit Guides

''CanLit Guides'' is an online,

open-access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

, and flexible

educational Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

resource created and maintained by ''Canadian Literature''. The project is designed to supplement classroom learning and assist students and educators to critically engage with Canadian writing while promoting independent study. The website offers a variety of content composed of textbook-style

modular Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a sy ...

“Chapters” that are organized into larger thematic “Guides” and available for users to curate into customized reading lists. The Chapters and Guides cover topics of importance to studying, reading, contextualizing, and writing about Canadian literature, including on

literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mo ...

; literary, cultural, and political history; specific authors and works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama; and skills-based research and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

topics. The ''CanLit Guides'' draws from ''Canadian Literature''’s journal archives of articles, editorials, reviews, and poetry in its content. The chapters and activities are freely accessible to the public and published to support learning in undergraduate and advanced high school levels. In 2018, ''CanLit Guides'' expanded by launching new peer-reviewed Chapters written by external specialists from across Canada and internationally. The ''CanLit Guides'' website serves a wide international user base that has gradually expanded from ~18,000 users in its inaugural year to now receiving roughly a quarter of a million visits annually from 75,000 users in 184 countries.

Awards

In 1988, ''Canadian Literature'' became the only journal to win the Gabrielle Roy Prize for best English book-length studies in Canadian and Québec literary criticism.The Association for Canadian and Quebec Literatures: The ACQL Literary Prize recipients.
Retrieved 9 March 2011. The US-based Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) presented Eva-Marie Kröller with a Distinguished Editor award in 2004 in recognition of her work with ''Canadian Literature''.Council of Editors of Learned Journals: Distinguished Editor Award Winners.
. Retrieved 9 March 2011. In 2004, William H. New was awarded the

Governor General's International Award for Canadian Studies The Governor General's International Award for Canadian Studies is an award established in 1995 by the International Council for Canadian Studies. The support for this award by the Office of the Governor General of Canada was at the initiative of ...

.Governor General's International Award for Canadian Studies Award Winners
International Council for Canadian Studies. Retrieved 9 March 2011. In 2006, Eva-Marie Kröller and Laurie Ricou joined W. H. New, who was elected in 1986, as

Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows may refer to Fellow, in plural form. Fellows or Fellowes may also refer to: Places *Fellows, California, USA *Fellows, Wisconsin, ghost town, USA Other uses *Fellows Auctioneers, established in 1876. *Fellowes, Inc., manufacturer of works ...

,All Fellows
,

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

. Retrieved 2011-03-09.History
, Canadian Literature. Retrieved 9 March 2011. and Margery Fee became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2017. In 2007, the Governor General named New an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

.Governor General Announces New Appointments to the Order of Canada
Order of Canada Archives, 20 February 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2011. In 2009, ''Canadian Literature'' won a Canadian Online Publishing Award for Best Cross Platform for their poetry archive CanLit Poets.2009 Finalists
, Canadian Online Publishing Awards. Retrieved 9 March 2011. In 2019, the Canadian Association of Learned Journals awarded the journal the Scholarly and Research Communication Innovation Award for its ''CanLit Guides'' project. The publication of ''Canadian Literature'' is assisted by the

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada, CRSH) is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and traini ...

2008 SSCRC grant results
, the UBC Faculty of Arts, and acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Magazine Fund towards web enhancement.Publications Assistance Program 2009-2010 Funding
Canadian Heritage.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is indexed by, among others, '' Canadian Magazine Index'', '' Canadian Periodical Index'', ''

European Reference Index for the Humanities ERIH PLUS (originally called the European Reference Index for the Humanities or ERIH) is an index containing bibliographic information on academic journals in the humanities and social sciences (SSH). The index includes all journals that meet the ...

'', '' Humanities International Complete'', and the ''

MLA International Bibliography The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

''. It is indexed and abstracted by

EBSCO EBSCO Industries is an American company founded in 1944 by Elton Bryson Stephens Sr. and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The ''EBSCO'' acronym is based on ''Elton Bryson Stephens Company''. EBSCO Industries is a diverse company of over 40 ...

PROQUEST ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

, and ABES.

Notes

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

''Canadian Literature'' website

''Canadian Literature'' on the Canadian Association of Learned Journals (CALJ) website.''CanLit Guides'': online classroom resources curated by ''Canadian Literature''
1959 establishments in British Columbia Literary magazines published in Canada Magazines published in Vancouver Magazines established in 1959 Quarterly magazines published in Canada University of British Columbia Multilingual journals Academic journals published in Canada Quarterly journals Academic journals published by universities and colleges