sneak peek!

Here is the cover for Dance (147) ... our themed Winter issue, out in stores in now! Featuring cover artwork by Cylla von Tiedemann

:::::::::::::Preview the issue here

Mark your calendars! You are invited to come celebrate with us at the launch of Descant 147, with readings and dancing and more. This special event takes place at The Arts & Letters Club of Toronto (14 Elm Street, Toronto) on Thursday, January 28, 2010, and begins at 7:30 p.m.

Readers for the evening include Vickie Fagen, Johanna Householder, and Andrew Smith. Special dance performances by Nadia Szilvassy, Tom Brouillette, Alex Maeve Campbell and Mary Newberry.

WHO WILL WIN the 2010 Winston Collins / Descant Prize for Best Canadian Poem?

– WINNER ANNOUNCED FEB 19!

This year's Winston Collins/ Descant Prize for Best Canadian Poem finalists will be announced on Feb 19 at a gala event sponsored by PAGEWAVE GRAPHICS, Toronto; please join us at this special, free event!

The three finalists will have their winning poems highlighted in a special section in the Summer 2010 issue of Descant.

...for more information on the contest, go here

2010 Themed Calls

(i) Ghosts and The Uncanny (deadline: March 01, 2010)

An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken
to a little before it will explain itself.
– Charles Dickens

For this special issue, Descant turns ghost hunter and dares to explore the murky connections between life and death, science and superstition, folk beliefs and fictions. We are looking for apparitions of all kinds. Do you have paranormal poetry? Are you haunted by the past? Do you have a ghost of an idea? Perhaps you’d like to address the role of ghosts in literature and film. We want to document the existence of ghosts, both literal and metaphorical, on our pages.

– Guest editors, Alex Maeve Campbell and Christina Francisco

(ii) Sicily (deadline: June 01, 2010)


Sicily … perhaps no other island conjures up such vivid images as the ancient island of Sicily. What comes to mind? Romantic idyll or land of feuding rivalries? The mafia? An island apart from mainstream Italian culture? What is your Sicily? Does every culture have its own Sicily — its own outsiders living within its midst? Explode the stereotypes and delve into a modern reality of what Sicily represents for you as a writer. Descant is requesting submissions of unpublished fiction, poetry, essays, photography and previously unpublished works of translation from the Sicilian.

– Guest editors, Michelle Alfano and Venera Fazio

...please remember to review our guidelines before submitting!

2009 Fairs:

Descant representatives will attend the following events:

Spring 2009 Toronto Small Press Book Fair takes place this year at the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge St)
Sat Jun 13, 2009 / 10am - 5pm
More info: torontosmallpressbookfair.org

Eden Mills Writers’ Festival takes place annually in the hamlet of Eden Mills, Ontario.
Sun Sep 20, 2009 / 12 - 6pm
More info: edenmillswritersfestival.ca

Descant will appear at the 20th annual Word on the Street, the largest annual outdoor book and magazine festival in Canada (which takes place simultaneously in Toronto, Kitchener, Vancouver, Halifax and Calgary). Here in Toronto, visitors can browse the more than 250 book, magazine and literacy exhibitor booths in the festival marketplace or check-out any of the 150 authors, poets, storytellers, performers and industry experts featured at more than 13 performance venues.

Sun Sep 27, 2009 / 11 - 6pm
location: Queen's Park / free!
More info: thewordonthestreet.ca

Throughout the year, our two celebrated Contributing Editor’s — Mark Kingwell and Alberto Manguel — take turns writing a special column in our journal’s ever-developing ‘Back of the Book’. Both exceptional thinkers, this dedicated space within our journal allows them a platform to explore new ideas.

Manguel's latest, The Horror, the Horror: Michel Houellebecq on H.P. Lovecraft, appears in Descant 145

Journalist Mark Medley has started a special feature in the National Post called 'The Ecology of Books' ... Descant is prominently featured in his recent focus on literary journals (Jan 24/09)

::::::::::::: Read the feature here

New Writers on the Descant BLOG

Have you had the chance lately to check out our blog? We'd like to welcome 3 new bloggers-in-residence to the site: Kerry Clare, Michael Mirolla and Andrew Tibbetts, who are joining Michelle Alfano.

You can check out their bios here

The Armadillo — available now!

Descant Arts & Letters Foundation's Now Hear This! literacy program sends professional writers into schools to conduct writing workshops with students. These workshops help develop literacy skills, cultivate talent and creativity, encourage self-expression and foster analytical skills and critical thought.

After a smashingly successful inaugural year, we are proud to present The Armadillo, an anthology of student-written stories, poems, personal essays, reviews and screenplays documenting the success of Toronto's first-ever ongoing writers-in-schools program.

The journal was launched recently at the Now Hear This! celebration, which took place Monday, November 19 from 7-9pm at the Gardiner Museum (Terrace Room, 3rd Floor, 111 Queen's Park). This well-attended free event was a chance to recognize everyone's enthusiastic participation in the program, hear from writers-in-residence and students about their experiences, give kudos to those who helped make the program possible, enjoy some nibbles and generally celebrate Now Hear This!'s success.

$15 (including shipping) — Purchase a copy here

Descant T-shirts! — available now!

Limited edition Descant t-shirts in various colours and sizes, only $22 including shipping — purchase one here

Descant Wins Gold at 2007 Canadian magazine awards!

We are very proud to announce that Descant and writer R. Johnson recently received the Gold Prize for Poetry from the National Magazine Awards Foundation, for Johnson’s exceptional work quietus. A big congrats to R. Johnson for winning the $1000 grand prize!

You can find quietus, as well as two other poems by R. Johnson (Islander and Land scape) in D-133: Bibliomania, our summer 2006 issue.

For a complete listing of all the winners at the 30th Annual Canadian Magazine Awards, visit their website here

A year earlier, we received 'Honourable Mentions' in the following two categories:

2006 Poetry, Honourable Mention
P.K. Page "Up the Amazon: 1959"; "Mexico: 1960"
(which appeared in Descant 130, Fall 2005 Vol 36, No 3)

2006 Words & Pictures, Honourable Mention
Larry Frolick, Donald Weber, Karen Mulhallen "Kebabistan—The Woman with Seven Heads"
(which appeared in Descant 131, Winter 2005 Vol 36, No 4)

Descant-related Journey Prize nomination:

Congratulations to Craig Boyko for having his piece "The Baby" reprinted in the prestigious The Journey Prize Stories #18 anthology (out now), which annually presents the best stories published in Canada by new authors... order it today!

("The Baby" originally appeared in Descant 131)

Our literacy outreach project Now Hear This! has its own website: nowhearthis.ca

...the program, now in its 3rd year, connects practicing authors with a broad spectrum of Toronto’s population, helps at-risk youth articulate their experiences and, above all, promotes Canadian writing and literature through a culture of self-expression, participation and inclusion.

Descant Bonus Publication!

134+: Cuba por dentro y por fuera (PDF)
A free 78-page PDF bonus-book has been prepared to accompany our paper Cuba issue; it expands on the print edition by offering the original Cuban texts that appear in a translated form in Cuba, Inside/ Out.

To access this special project, go here

Appearing on poet rob mclennan's blog: a review of issue 132/ The World of Barbara Gowdy

Descant Index v001-132 (1970-2005) /
An alphabetical indexing (listed by author) of everyone who has appeared in the pages of our magazine. This comprehensive index was printed on pages 153-256 of Descant 133; you can download the PDF here