The ''Tamarack Review'' was a Canadian literary magazine, published from 1956 to 1982. Established and edited by Robert Weaver, other figures associated with the magazine's editorial staff included

Anne Wilkinson Anne Wilkinson (also Hails) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Brooke Satchwell. She made her first on screen appearance on 19 November 1996. Satchwell quit the role in 1999 and the character depart ...

, William Toye and

John Robert Colombo John Robert Colombo, CM (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian writer, editor, and poet. He has published over 200 titles, including major anthologies and reference works. Early life Colombo was born in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1936. He attended ...

. In addition, Ivon Maclean Owen was among the founding editors. During the early years of the magazine, there was also an editorial advisory board made up of F.R. Scott,

A.J.M. Smith Arthur James Marshall Smith (November 8, 1902 – November 21, 1980) was a Canadian poet and anthologist. He "was a prominent member of a group of Montreal poets" – the Montreal Group, which included Leon Edel, Leo Kennedy, A. M. Klei ...

James Reaney James Crerar Reaney, (September 1, 1926 – June 11, 2008) was a Canadian poet, playwright, librettist, and professor, "whose works transform small-town Ontario life into the realm of dream and symbol." Reaney won Canada's highest literary ...

, Alan Crawley, 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 ...

. The magazine was published on a quarterly basis and had its headquarters in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. ''Tamarack Review'' published literature in a wide variety of genres, including

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, travel memoirs,

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

and

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

. However, the magazine also covered the best examples of contemporary poetry. In 1962, an anthology of work collected from the ''Tamarack Review'' was published, entitled ''The First Five Years''. In the introduction, Robert Fulford gives a good picture of the role of the magazine in the early years. He claims that the founders of the magazine represented what was then Toronto's literary establishment. Their careers—one poet, three publishing-house editors, one academic, and one CBC program organizer—give an apt sense of what the literary establishment of the time was like. He continues:

We can assume that one of their purposes in starting the magazine was to stop talking almost exclusively to each other and begin addressing a somewhat larger world. Six years later it might seem, on the surface, that in this respect the ''Tamarack'' is a failure. It has never sold more than twelve hundred copies, and (except in some small, peculiar circles) has not become a fashionable magazine for coffee-table display. Nor is it profitable; editors, in fact, have had to make up its deficit out of their own pockets, and the Canada Council's steady assistance has now become almost a necessity of survival. But these facts are deceptive. The ''Tamarack'' has won, over the years, an influence that is, as they say, out of all proportion to its circulation. Poets send it their best poems, fiction writers offer it their best stories, critics labour for it with glad heart. Publishers read it, and so do magazine editors, and so do many of the most eminent citizens of the country. Only a contributor can know how true this is: one article I wrote for the ''Tamarack'' four years ago has been mentioned to me more often, and discussed more widely, than many piece I have written for publications which have a thousand times as many readers. ''Tamarack'' readers, I have learned, read carefully and remember well.

Notable writers whose early work was published in ''Tamarack'' include

Timothy Findley Timothy Irving Frederick Findley, (October 30, 1930 – June 20, 2002) was a Canadian novelist and playwright.

Hugh Hood Hugh John Blagdon Hood, OC (b in Toronto, Ontario 30 April 1928 – d in Montreal, Quebec 1 August 2000) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist and university professor. Hood wrote 32 books: 17 novels including the 12-volume Ne ...

Alice Munro Alice Ann Munro ( ; ; 10 July 1931 – 13 May 2024) was a Canadian short story writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Her work tends to move forward and backward in time, with integrated short story cycles. Munro's ...

Jay Macpherson Jean Jay Macpherson (June 13, 1931 – March 21, 2012) was a Canadian lyric poet and scholar. '' The Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls her "a member of 'the mythopoeic school of poetry,' who expressed serious religious and philosophical themes in s ...

and

Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...

References

{{Reflist 1956 establishments in Ontario 1982 disestablishments in Ontario Poetry magazines published in Canada Quarterly magazines published in Canada Defunct literary magazines published in Canada Magazines established in 1956 Magazines disestablished in 1982 Defunct magazines published in Toronto