''Canadian Literature'' is a quarterly

peer-reviewed journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the dissemination, scr ...

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 University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. The journal publishes articles of criticism and reviews about

Canadian literature Canadian literature is written in several languages including Canadian English, English, Canadian French, French, and various Indigenous Canadian languages. It is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in th ...

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 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, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view. B ...

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 Location (geography), locations. Travel can be done by Pedestrian, foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without Baggage, luggage, a ...

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

, women's writing,

multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''Pluralism (political theory), ethnic'' or cultura ...

, 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 Indigen ...

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

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 histor ...

, and

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

; 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 songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

. 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 Roy Daniells, (April 6, 1902 – April 13, 1979) was a Canadian poetry professor. He helped build the University of British Columbia's creative writing department and fostered the careers of several major Canadian writers. Education and car ...

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 Sandra Djwa (born April 16, 1939) is a Canadian writer, critic and cultural biographer. Originally from Newfoundland, she moved to British Columbia where she obtained her PhD from the University of British Columbia in 1968. In 1999, she was ho ...

. 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 a term used by scholars of nationalism to describe efforts among intellectuals to promote the formation of national communities through emphasis on a common culture. It is contrasted with "political" nationalism, which r ...

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 is a mid-sized scholarly publisher, and the largest in Western Canada. The press is based in Vancouver, British Col ...

). 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 editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...

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 Scholarly peer review or academic peer review (also known as refereeing) is the process of having a draft version of a researcher's methods and findings reviewed (usually anonymously) by experts (or "peers") in the same field. Peer review is ...

). 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 (also post-colonial theory) is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic consequences of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and extractivism, exploitation of colonized pe ...

, poetics, cultural history, and multiculturalism. The journal also continued publishing original poems by Canadian writers. In 2003,

Laurie Ricou Laurie may refer to: Places * Laurie, Cantal, France, a commune * Laurie, Missouri, United States, a village * Laurie Island, Antarctica Music * Laurie Records, a record label * ''Laurie'' (EP), a 1992 album by Daniel Johnston * "Laurie (St ...

, an ecocritic and specialist in the literature of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (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 no official boundary exists, the most common ...

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 Margery Fee (born 1948) is a professor emeritus of English at the University of British Columbia (UBC). From 2015 to 2017, Fee was the Brenda and David McLean Chair In Canadian Studies at UBC. She publishes in the fields of Canadian, postcolonia ...

, a specialist in Indigenous literatures and Canadian literature and

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

, 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 organ ...

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) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

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, forming approximat ...

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 cit ...

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

graduate students Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

. 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 Roch Carrier (born 13 May 1937) is a French Canadian novelist and author of "contes" (a very brief form of the short story). He is among the best known Quebec writers in English Canada. Life He was born in Sainte-Justine, Quebec, and studied a ...

Steven Galloway Steven Galloway (born July 13, 1975)
''Sydney Morning Herald'', Andrew Riemer, ...

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 is a mid-sized scholarly publisher, and the largest in Western Canada. The press is based in Vancouver, British Col ...

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 Columbia ...

, 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 novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

, Dennis Lee, Thomas King, Patrick Lane,

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

, 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 Col ...

. ''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 an academic and poet who lives and works in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is an associate professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. Early life and education Abel was born Vancouver, British Columbia to a Nisg ...

, Sonnet L’Abbé,

Daphne Marlatt Daphne Marlatt, CM ( Buckle, July 11, 1942), 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, where she later attended the Un ...

, Cecily Nicholson, 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) *

(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 nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

, and flexible

educational Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

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 Module, modular and modularity may refer to the concept of modularity. They may also refer to: Computer science and engineering * Modular design, the engineering discipline of designing complex devices using separately designed sub-components ...

“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, m ...

; 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 ...

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.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 * Fellowes, Inc., manufacturer of workspace products *Fellows, a partner in the f ...

,All Fellows
,

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , 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, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

. 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 () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

.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; , CRSH), often colloquially pronounced 'shirk' (), is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in the humani ...

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 Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

'', '' 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 "str ...

''. It is indexed and abstracted by EBSCO,

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

, and ABES.

References

{{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