Queen's Quarterly

Queen's Quarterly is a Canadian literary and cultural journal founded in the 19th century that publishes essays, fiction, poetry, and criticism. It has engaged with Canadian intellectual life, featuring contributors from universities, cultural institutions, and political circles across Canada and internationally. The journal has intersected with figures associated with institutions such as Queen's University at Kingston, University of Toronto, McGill University, University of British Columbia, and organizations like the Canada Council for the Arts.

History

Established in 1893, the journal emerged during debates involving figures linked to John A. Macdonald's era and the post-Confederation cultural milieu, paralleling contemporaneous periodicals such as The Atlantic Monthly, Macmillan Publishers, Harper's Magazine, and The Times Literary Supplement. Early editorial connections tied it to scholars from Queen's University at Kingston and institutions like Trinity College, Toronto, Victoria University, Toronto, and University of Toronto. Over successive decades the periodical intersected with cultural movements involving personalities related to the Group of Seven, Modernist movement, Confederation Poets, and debates similar to those surrounding the Vimy Ridge Memorial and the Statute of Westminster 1931. During the interwar and postwar periods contributors included academics and public intellectuals connected with McMaster University, University of Ottawa, Dalhousie University, University of Alberta, and policy circles influenced by institutions such as the Royal Society of Canada and Canadian Historical Association. In the late 20th century it engaged with issues resonant with figures at York University, Simon Fraser University, Carleton University, and cultural debates mirrored in outlets like Granville Island and festivals including the Edmonton International Fringe Festival and Toronto International Festival of Authors.

Editorial Direction and Content

The editorial remit blends literary forms and cultural criticism, publishing works akin to those found in The New Yorker, London Review of Books, The New York Review of Books, and Poetry Magazine. Its pages have showcased scholarship tied to academics from Harvard University, Princeton University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Yale University, and research linked to archives like the Library and Archives Canada and the Bodleian Library. The magazine balances creative writing—comparable to output in The Paris Review and Granta—with essays engaging public policy debates involving actors related to Parliament of Canada, Supreme Court of Canada, and commissions such as the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The editorial board has historically included faculty affiliated with departments connected to Department of English, Queen's University, departments at University of Toronto Scarborough, and centers like the Munk School of Global Affairs and the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Contributors and Notable Works

Contributors have included poets, novelists, historians, and public intellectuals associated with names and institutions such as Margaret Atwood (University of Toronto connections), Northrop Frye (University of Toronto), E. J. Pratt (Memorial University of Newfoundland), F. R. Scott (McGill University), George Grant (Queen's University at Kingston), Hugh MacLennan (McGill University), Marshall McLuhan (University of Toronto), Alice Munro (University of Western Ontario), Leonard Cohen (McGill University), Mordecai Richler (McGill University), Michael Ondaatje (University of Toronto), and scholars linked to Derek Walcott's networks. Critical essays have engaged with works and events such as The Handmaid's Tale, The English Patient, Surrealism, Postcolonialism, Canadian Confederation, Treaty of Paris (1763), October Crisis, Meech Lake Accord, and anniversaries of events like Battle of Vimy Ridge. The journal has published fiction and poetry resonant with trends in collections like New Canadian Writing and anthologies from McClelland & Stewart and House of Anansi Press. It has also featured scholarship on figures in philosophy and political thought such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Benedict Anderson, Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and historians affiliated with Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press.

Publication and Distribution

Published on a quarterly schedule from Kingston, Ontario, the journal is distributed through academic channels connected to libraries such as Queen's University Library, Toronto Reference Library, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and research institutions like Canadian Institutes of Health Research libraries and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council networks. Subscriptions and institutional access reach campuses including University of Waterloo, Concordia University, Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and international collections at Columbia University and University of Chicago. Distribution partnerships and sales have historically paralleled practices used by publishers such as University of Toronto Press, Oxford University Press Canada, and independent literary distributors who also handle titles from McClelland & Stewart and Anansi International.

Awards and Recognition

The magazine and its contributors have received recognition in contexts associated with awards and institutions like the Governor General's Awards, Giller Prize, Trillium Book Award, Griffin Poetry Prize, Scotiabank Giller Prize networks, and acknowledgments from Canadian Authors Association and the Royal Society of Canada. Individual pieces have been cited in prize discussions connected with Pulitzer Prize-style acclaim in North America, anthologies compiled for awards such as the CBC Literary Awards, and selections in collections like Best Canadian Essays and Best Canadian Poetry. The journal's place in Canadian letters has been noted by scholars at Royal Military College of Canada, Brock University, Queen's University at Kingston School of Graduate Studies, and commentators from cultural institutions such as the National Gallery of Canada and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Category:Canadian literary magazines