Brick is an unpredictable, original, yet reliable feast which I’ve enjoyed year after year. Nobody who cares about books or life could be disappointed in it.
Alice Munro
Each issue is as purposely crafted as a good novel.
John Irving
Brick is an international literary journal published twice a year out of Toronto. With a focus on literary non-fiction—and a willingness to stray when our hearts are taken—the magazine prizes the personal voice and celebrates life, art, and the written word with the most invigorating and challenging essays, interviews, translations, memoirs, belles lettres, and unusual musings we can get our hands on. We’re guided by the quotation that appears on the masthead of every issue:
Works of art are of an infinite loneliness and with nothing to be so little reached as with criticism. Only love can grasp and hold and fairly judge them.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Each issue brings new essays and insights from the world’s best-loved writers and introduces fresh, emerging voices from all over. Since its inception, Brick has featured such heavyweights as John Berger, Anne Carson, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Eden Robinson, Jenny Erpenbeck, Rawi Hage, and Ocean Vuong. As much a feast for the eyes as it is for the mind, Brick regularly features art and photographic inserts and has been widely praised for its design. Every six months, we are building an artifact—a volume to read and keep and return to.
History
Brick was founded in London, Ontario, in 1977 by Stan Dragland and Jean McKay as a quarterly journal of Canadian small-press literary reviews. In 1985, Linda Spalding became editor and publisher of Brick, moved the journal to Toronto, and invited Michael Ondaatje to be contributing editor. Their objective was to publish outstanding literary essays and reflections of novelists and poets on their work and the work of others, and they helped to establish the magazine’s international reputation, leaving a legacy of intellectual curiosity and passion for the written word. Their involvement with the magazine lasted over three decades.
Now based in Toronto and edited by Dionne Brand, David Chariandy, Laurie D. Graham, Michael Helm, Liz Johnston, and Madeleine Thien, Brick brings international voices to readers in Canada and voices in Canada to the world in the widest and most galvanizing exploration of the arts possible.
Get to Know Us Better
Want to know more about Brick before you purchase or subscribe? Head to brickmag.com/newsletter to subscribe to Bricolage, Brick’s monthly newsletter, for a sampling of the best of the magazine, delivered right to your inbox.
Masthead
Publisher
Laurie D. Graham
Editors
Dionne Brand, David Chariandy, Laurie D. Graham, Michael Helm, Liz Johnston, Madeleine Thien
Contributing Editors
Teju Cole, Robert Hass, Amitava Kumar, Allison LaSorda, Anne McLean, Tara Quinn, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Eleanor Wachtel
Managing Editor
Orly Zebak
Assistant Editor & Audience Manager
Rachel Gerry
Art Director
Mark Byk
Readers
Laura Rock Gaughan, Eva Wissting, Louis Sanger, Natalie Chiang
Copy Editor
Liz Johnston
Website Design
Mark Byk with Greg Sullivan
Original Logos
David Bolduc
Original Design
Gordon Robertson, Rick/Simon
Founders
Stan Dragland & Jean McKay