Adbusters-spawned protest results in occupation of Wall Street park

A campaign spawned by Vancouver's Adbusters magazine resulted in a sit-in where protesters set up camp on Wall Street in New York on the weekend. According to a story in the Vancouver Observer, "Occupy Wall Street" was prompted by the magazine and the idea spread through social media. Michah White, the senior editor of Adbusters was quoted saying:"We're trying to follow the model set up by the

Briarpatch moves away from themed issues

Briarpatch, the feisty Regina-based magazine, is shifting away from its longtime habit (shared with many indy magazines) of having themed issues. We expect that releasing ourselves from the constraints of adhering to specific themes will enable us to respond more meaningfully to current events and pressing issues as they arise, and to more actively seek out the highest-quality and most

They sing and play among us: Mennonite roots run deep in Manitoba music

Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers: Mennonite rootsMennonite influences are shot through the literary and music scene in Winnipeg, according to an article in Canadian Mennonite magazine. Aaron Epp notes that writers with Mennonite roots such as David Bergen, Miriam Toews and Di Brandt are self-evident. Perhaps less well-known is the fact that one of the most sought-after recording engineers

The fashion magazine for style nerds: WORN gets the feature treatment

Upstart indie fashion magazine publisher Serah-Marie Mahon and her team at WORN Fashion Journal get a starring role this weekend in a Globe and Mail feature by Robert Everett-Green. Not bad for a twice-yearly, quirky and idiosyncratic title with a small, but impressive circulation. “We were just unhappy with the prescriptive nature of most fashion magazines. We wanted to inspire people not

Swiss distributor to open Motto Vancouver, a new source for indy titles

A new, very specialized magazine and bookstore is opening in Vancouver on December 9 at the Or Gallery, an artist-run centre at 555 Hamilton Street. It's called Motto Vancouver and it is an offshoot of a Switzerland-based company called Motto Distribution which specializes in hard-to-find indy magazines and fanzines. Started in 2007 to serve the Swiss market, it has since expanded to serve more

Magazines and arts colleagues to campaign on Parliament Hill November 4

The Canadian Arts Coalition -- of which Magazines Canada is a member -- is planning a pre-budget briefing to the standing committee of finance in Ottawa on November 4. This is part of a "Day on the Hill"that will be focussed around two principal recommendations to the government (which may be of particular interest to smaller literary and cultural magazines):To increase the base budget of the

Used bookstore savvy and how to demonstrate it

Utne Reader's blog The Sweet Pursuit alerted us to an essay in the Toronto-based literary magazine Descant that counsels people on how to behave in used bookstores. The author of the essay should know, because it's David Mason, a bookseller with 40 years of experience. There are 44-rules of which number one is:“When you enter a used bookstore, do not ask if it is a library. A common preliminary

Montreal's SNAP! magazine celebrates paper, printing and publishing

SNAP! magazine is Montreal's free and independent arts and lifestyle magazine and its current quarterly issue (no. 11) is all about paper and, in its own way is an exultant promotion of print publishing. For instance, it celebrates the wide variety of independent magazines produced in Montreal in the past year and the love of magazines by a variety of contributors and the future of newspapers. It

Up Here magazine uses swimsuit models to provoke discussion of climate change

Up Here magazine, the national magazine of the year for 2009, has released it first "swimsuit" edition,with the goal of fostering discussions about climate change in the Arctic. A story on CBC.ca quotes editor Aaron Spitzer saying that the issue's purpose is to show how global warming is affecting the environment and people north of 60.The latest edition of the magazine, which came out this week,

Former Duthie's manager to open new indy bookstore in Vancouver

It's nice, for a change, to be able to report on an indie book and magazine store starting up, rather than closing. Out of the ashes of Duthie Books is arising Sitka Books & Art, setting up shop just two blocks (and $10,000 less in rent) than Duthie's old location on West 4th Avenue in Vancouver.  Ria Bleumer (right above), the former manager of Duthie Books, which closed in February after 53

Say this ain't so: This Ain't the Rosedale Library padlocked by bailiffs

The steady erosion of the independent bookstore business may (and I only say may, based on limited information) have claimed another victim. Apparently This Ain't the Rosedale Library in Toronto's Kensington Market, a beloved and quirky book and magazine store, has been padlocked by the bailiffs claiming $40,000 in unpaid debts. The Tweetpic first appeared on the NOW Toronto website.

The

Toronto Women's Bookstore back from the brink and under new ownership

Good news that the Toronto Women's Bookstore is now under new management and on the road to recovery after a near-death experience earlier this year, according to a post on the Quill & Quire blog, which quotes the Toronto weekly Xtra!. While the store has always been predominantly about trade books, it has also been a valued outlet for a select line of independent magazines. The new owner is a

Vancouver loses another indy magazine outlet -- Sophia Books to close end of May

Sophia Books, an outstanding, multilingual magazine and bookstore on West Hastings Street in Vancouver, is closing at the end of May, according to a story posted on the site Books on the Radio. It is yet another example of the endangered species that are independent stores which have cared about and nurtured hard-to-find and indy magazines. (The loss will be particularly felt by the students at

Resisting the corporate model and preserving a place for writers to start

Some comments from literary magazine editors, quoted in an article in the McGill Daily entitled We're losing our literary mags. The article keys off the new Canada Periodical Fund, which limits funding to magazines with less than 5,000 paid circulation per year, something that is the case for many of Canada's best-known literary and cultural titles:“In every way that I can think of, the

Heavy hearts as Briarpatch has to close startup companion newspaper The Sasquatch

The Sasquatch, a companion newspaper to the independent magazine Briarpatch, is being suspended, after publishing 8 issues, according to a posting on the paper's website.This has been a difficult process for everyone involved, particularly because the need for independent media in this province is still so acute, and The Sasquatch, though barely out of its infancy, was already punching far

New rules make for winners and losers in the new Canada Periodical Fund

MastheadOnline has compiled a good and interesting rundown of the winners and losers (actual and potential) under the rules for the new Canada Periodical Fund, finally announced this week.

Yet another independent magazine outlet -- Duthie's Books -- to close next month

Yet another independent book and magazine store is closing, this time Duthie's Books in the Kitsilano district of Vancouver. It is the last store in what was an 8-store chain, but the Duthie family is packing it in at their 4th Avenue location at the end of February, after 53 years in business. A press release on its website said the following, in part:
Everybody knows that independent bookstores

Stack American launched to provide hard-to-find indie magazines

About 18 months ago, we wrote here about a UK-based subscription system called Stack, which allowed participants to receive packages 6, 8 or 12 interesting, but often hard to find, independently published magazines every two months. We also noted that Worn, the Toronto-based fashion title, was included in the magazines that Stack offered.
Apparently, that program was so popular with U.S. and

New magazine hopes to provide "colour and dash" to Canadian politics

A new online magazine named after Canada's first prime minister has been launched. Sir John magazine, named after Sir John A. Macdonald says that it aims to bring "colour and dash to Canadian political coverage".The new title blends fashion and photography with detailed commentary on national and international political developments."I hope to make the subject of politics more appealing to

Magazines we like: Small Farm Canada

The farm press generally has shrunk to a shadow of what it was even 40 years ago, reflective of the decline of the number of farms and the number of people who live off the land. Where, a generation ago, the majority of people lived on farms or made a living that was somehow connected to agriculture, now the majority of people are urban and live in three large agglomerations: greater Toronto,