Communications and media
Webzine: Online cultural magazine will unite the North 
(Chris Oke/Yukon News, 4 December 2009) -- There’s a new circumpolar arts and culture magazine in town. Other northern literary magazines have popped up in the past, but they haven’t had much staying power. Out of Service, for instance, only published three issues before given in to the irony of its name. Lily Gontard was the fiction editor for Out of Service. She’s also worked at a number of literary magazines Outside, including the Malahat Review and Geist magazine. Gontard continues to be a regular contributor to the endnotes section of Geist. Now she is the senior editor of Arctica. “I’ve worked in magazines from the bottom, doing the schlepping around, to doing the editing and managing,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to start a magazine up here. “Magazines are a lot of work, but it’s fun—it’s fun to create something and the people that are working on Arctica are all really enthusiastic.” You won’t find the magazine in the book store’s periodical section though. There won’t be a print edition. Instead, issues will be published online with new additions added monthly. “The way publishing is going, everything is going online—even books are now being published online,” said Gontard. “I think we’re seeing the end of paper publications.” ... Arctica already has an editorial board member from Iceland and another in Alaska. For Canadians, the North is very much about rural existence, but in Scandinavia it’s not rural at all - its where most people live, said Gontard. “To see what people are doing in Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway will be very interesting for us and our readers.” Arctica isn’t just about writing. The editors hope to post exciting work in visual art, photography, video and audio. But everything will have to be about the North. “It’s the niche of this magazine,” Gontard explained. “Each magazine has to have a focus and the more narrow that focus is the easier it is to attract readers.” Readers will know that they can come to Arctica for that cultural and artistic taste of the North. Arctica already has the content selected for the first issue, which will be launched sometime in mid-December. ... For more information contact arctica@arcticamag.ca
Posted 5 December 2009; 5:03:58 PM. Permalink
Tagged: Arts and Artists, Books, Blogs and Publications, Canada, Circumpolar News, Communications and media, December09, Internet Resources, Yukon / Canada
email to: agra...@yukoncollege.yk.ca
Add to del.icio.us
