The Malahat Review

The Malahat Review
Title	The Malahat Review
Category	Literary magazine
Frequency	Quarterly
Format	Print and online
Publisher	University of Victoria
Firstdate	1967
Country	Canada
Language	English

The Malahat Review is a Canadian quarterly literary magazine published by the University of Victoria. Founded in 1967, it publishes poetry, fiction, reviews, and essays and is recognized alongside Granta, The New Yorker, Poetry (magazine), Ploughshares, The Paris Review for literary excellence. The magazine has published work by authors associated with Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Leonard Cohen, Mordecai Richler, Don McCullin, Robert Kroetsch, Patrick Lane, and Rita Wong.

History

The magazine was established in 1967 during a period of Canadian cultural expansion alongside institutions such as Canada Council for the Arts, University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, Simon Fraser University, McGill University and cultural events including the Toronto International Film Festival, Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Vancouver International Writers Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and Stratford Festival. Early editors worked with figures like Earle Birney, Daphne Marlatt, Phyllis Webb, George Bowering, Raymond Souster, and Al Purdy. Over decades the magazine intersected with national conversations shaped by Pierre Trudeau, David Suzuki, Marshall McLuhan, Northrop Frye, and institutions such as CBC Radio, The Globe and Mail, Saturday Night (magazine), and House of Anansi. The magazine's archive reflects correspondence and submissions from writers connected to Nobel Prize in Literature, Governor General's Awards, Scotiabank Giller Prize, Man Booker Prize, and regional presses including McClelland & Stewart, Penguin Random House Canada, Coach House Press, McGill-Queen's University Press, and ECW Press.

Editorial and Publication Profile

The editorial board has included editors and readers linked to University of Victoria, Queen's University, University of British Columbia, York University, Simon Fraser University, University of Calgary, and cultural organizations such as Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Vancouver Public Library, and Victoria Public Library. The magazine's format mirrors practices seen at The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic (magazine), The Times Literary Supplement, and New Statesman. It has been produced with support from funding bodies like Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, Heritage Canada, and foundations connected to Terra Firma Capital, Vancouver Foundation, and The McLean Foundation. Distribution networks have included partnerships with Magazines Canada, Independent Publishers Group, Amazon (company), Barnes & Noble, and university bookstores such as University of Victoria Bookstore, University of British Columbia Bookstore, and University of Toronto Bookstore.

Content and Contributors

The magazine has published poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews by contributors linked to Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Mavis Gallant, W.O. Mitchell, Dennis Lee, E. J. Pratt, Leonard Cohen, Dionne Brand, George Bowering, Earle Birney, Phyllis Webb, Daphne Marlatt, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Tim Lilburn, Anne Carson, Dionne Brand, Rita Wong, Doyali Islam, Kim Thúy, Andrew Suknaski, Carol Shields, Maya Angelou, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, Billy Collins, Louise Glück, T. S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, Langston Hughes, Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Berger, Michael Redhill, Rae Armantrout, Lorna Crozier, Don McKay, Patrick Lane, Fred Wah, John Newlove, and Bradley Trevor Greive. International contributors have included writers connected to The New Yorker, Granta, Ploughshares, The Paris Review, Tin House, Kenyon Review, and Poetry (magazine), reflecting networks spanning United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Ireland, India, and South Africa.

Awards and Prizes

The magazine administers and showcases winners and finalists associated with national and international prizes such as the Governor General's Awards, Giller Prize, Griffin Poetry Prize, Scotiabank Giller Prize, Man Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize in Literature, Polaris Prize, Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, Pat Lowther Award, Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award, Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and prizes administered by organizations like Canada Council for the Arts, Writers' Trust of Canada, BC Book Prizes, Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards, and Alberta Literary Awards. Individual contributors have been shortlisted for awards from Pulitzer Prize, Man Booker Prize, Nobel Prize in Literature, Governor General's Awards, and Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Special Issues and Anthologies

Special themed issues and anthologies have engaged subjects linked to Indigenous peoples of Canada, First Nations, Métis, Inuit, alongside thematic volumes on topics connected to environmentalism advocates such as David Suzuki, Bill McKibben, and literary commemorations of figures like Earle Birney, Al Purdy, Daphne Marlatt, George Bowering, and anniversaries of events such as Expo 67, Centennial of Canadian Confederation, Vancouver Island cultural histories, and regional studies associated with Pacific Rim, Northwest Coast, Haida Gwaii, and Victoria (British Columbia). Anthologies have been co-published with presses like McClelland & Stewart, ECW Press, Coach House Press, McGill-Queen's University Press, and curated in collaboration with institutions including Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, University of Victoria, and Canada Council for the Arts.

Reception and Influence

The magazine is frequently cited in discussions alongside publications such as The New Yorker, Granta, Poetry (magazine), Ploughshares, The Paris Review, and academic journals from University of Toronto Press, UBC Press, McGill-Queen's University Press for shaping Canadian letters. Scholarship referencing the magazine appears in studies concerning figures like Northrop Frye, Marshall McLuhan, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, and in curricula at University of Victoria, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, York University, Queen's University, and McGill University. Cultural commentators from outlets such as The Globe and Mail, CBC News, The National Post, Toronto Star, and Vancouver Sun have noted its role in launching writers who later received Governor General's Awards, Griffin Poetry Prize, Scotiabank Giller Prize, and international recognition.

Category:Literary magazines published in Canada