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Antigonish Review
# 141
| Editorial |
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Cover Photograph: "Party Hats"
by
Glenn Priestley
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Jeanette Lynes and
Gerald Trites
Co-Editors
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The Antigonish Review
turns thirty-five this year. This special anniversary double issue,
featuring Glenn Priestley's "Party Hats" as cover art, marks the
occasion. An anniversary is a time for looking back as well as
ahead. When R.J. MacSween founded The Antigonish Review
in 1970, he envisioned an eclectic journal with a broad-based
readership - a publication that would diminish the barriers that
too often segregate writers from literary critics, or advocates
of one aesthetic camp from followers of another.
The Review started with a bang, with the publication, in its inaugural year (1970-71), of short stories by Sheldon Currie and George Bowering, as well as poetry by Louis Dudek, Dorothy Livesay, Alden Nowlan, and Alistair MacLeod. George Sanderson reviewed Marshall McLuhan's Counterblast, Gertrude Sanderson reviewed John Glassco's anthology, The Poetry of French Canada, and R.J. MacSween critiqued Marian Engel's The Honeymoon Festival (which sold for $2.50 paperback). The Review's first year also featured essays on topics as diverse as North Korea, the visions of William Blake, and Oscar Wilde's Canadian tour.
For almost thirty years, George and Gertrude Sanderson nurtured The Review, shaping it into one of Canada's top literary journals. We salute their work on this celebratory occasion. Allan Quigley carried The Review, on his shoulders like Atlas, into the twenty-first century.
The Antigonish Review continues to be blessed with gifted editors such as Peter Sanger (poetry), and Richard Cumyn, Veronica Ross, and Reynold Stone (fiction). Tony Tremblay and Ellen Rose are stellar essay editors. We raise a glass, too, to Josephine Mensch and John Reigle for their diligence and hawk-eyed precision in the production area. Bonnie McIsaac, office manager for many years, is the presiding Goddess of The Antigonish Review - without her, nothing would get done. St. Francis Xavier University has been our stalwart patron for many years, and we continue to be grateful for its support.
As we go forward, MacSween's original editorial vision remains intact. We still publish a wide array of writing in a broad range of genres. The Antigonish Review continues to provide a venue for Atlantic-Canadian writers while also featuring work from across Canada and around the globe.
The biggest glass of all we raise to you - our readers, writers, subscribers, supporters, and donors. We thank you for your support, and look forward to making available to you more great reading in the years to come.
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