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

 

The best literary publication in North America.

— Annie Proulx

 

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

In our pages, you’ll find opinion, passion, revelation, and the occasional bad joke.

Each issue of Brick brings new essays and insights from the world’s best-loved writers and introduces fresh, emerging voices from all over. Since its inception in 1977, Brick has featured such heavyweights as John Berger, Karen Solie, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Zadie Smith, John Irving, and Louise Erdrich.

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.

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, and have sampling of the best of the magazine delivered right to your inbox.

History

Brick was founded in London, Ontario, in 1977 by Stan Dragland and Jean McKay. Starting in 1985, publisher Linda Spalding led the magazine, along with contributing editor Michael Ondaatje, and helped to establish its 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 Canadian readers and Canadian voices to the world in the widest and most galvanizing exploration of the arts possible.

Brick is published twice a year and distributed to bookstores worldwide.

ISSN: 0382-8565


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, Anne McLean, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Allison LaSorda
  • Production Editor
    Orly Zebak
  • Audience Manager
    Rachel Gerry
  • Art Director
    Mark Byk
  • Readers
    Orly Zebak, Rachel Gerry, Laura Rock Gaughan, Eva Wissting, Louis Sanger, Natalie Chiang
  • Original Design
    Gordon Robertson, Rick/Simon
  • Logos
    David Bolduc
  • Copy Editor
    Liz Johnston
  • Website Design
    Mark Byk with Matthew McKinnon
  • Founders
    Stan Dragland & Jean McKay


Frequently Asked Questions

How often does Brick come out?
We publish two issues per year: Winter (on newsstands from late November to May), and Summer (late May to November).

Where can I buy copies of the magazine?
Brick is available at bookstores and newsagents across Canada and the United States. For a complete list of stores, check here. If you don’t see your local bookstore listed, you might want to ask them to carry Brick (we’d love it if you would), or better yet, you could subscribe and we’ll come directly to your door.

How can I subscribe?
You can easily order Brick online through our Orders page, or send a cheque or money order with your name and address to:

Brick
P.O. Box 609, STN P
Toronto, ON
M5S 2Y4 Canada

A two-year subscription (that’s four issues!) to Brick is $48 CAD in Canada, $50 USD in the U.S., and $56 USD overseas. We’re pleased to introduce one-year (two issue) subscriptions for $28 CAD in Canada, $29 USD in the U.S., and $33 USD for international subscriptions.

Okay, I’m a subscriber. It’s mid-June (or mid-December). Where’s my Brick?
Depending on where you live and the odd irregularities of the post, your issue of Brick may take a little longer to get to you. If it has been more than a couple of weeks and you’re feeling anxious, please do get in touch to ensure we have your correct address.

How do I change my address?
Send us an email with your old and new address clearly distinguished. We’ll do the rest, and even send you a confirmation email.

I have an idea for a Brick piece. To whom should I address my query letter?
Alas, to someone else. Brick does not accept queries, we are only interested in hard copies of completed manuscripts.

How can I submit to Brick?
We’re happy to read your non-fiction manuscript during our open reading periods, but first, to ensure you meet all of our guidelines, please go to our submissions guidelines.

Who should I email my fiction and/or poetry to?
Please, not us. Brick does not accept unsolicited fiction or poetry, or any submissions by email. Please reread our submissions guidelines.

Does Brick offer internships?
Although we have no formal internship program, we do occasionally offer keen individuals the chance to volunteer with us on a part-time basis. If interested, please send us a brief email outlining your interest in Brick with a copy of your CV and let us contact you when we’re looking.

What information does Brick collect through this website, and how is my privacy protected?

Your privacy is very important to us and we are committed to complying with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) and any applicable provincial privacy legislation. We believe in fully disclosing the ways in which we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise manage your personal information. You can find this information, along with information about how you can opt out of certain communications, in our privacy policy.

 



Submissions

Is Your Work Right For Brick?

Brick prides itself on publishing the best literary non-fiction in the world, and we are eager to read fresh, impeccable, and compelling non-fiction submissions. We crave pieces with formal integrity that take creative approaches to rich ideas. Underrepresented writers—including but not limited to writers who are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, queer, non-binary, Deaf, and/or disabled—are especially encouraged to submit their literary non-fiction.

An average issue of Brick will contain essays, reviews, interviews, belle lettres, memoir, translations, and all manner of incidental literary ephemera. In curating our issues, we are guided by the following tenet, which appears on the masthead of every issue of Brick:

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

Love has led Brick to publish essays of every description. Some recent examples include: 

Still, we are always looking for new terrain. We want to read about the singular obsessions that compel you to write. We welcome playfulness and beauty, depth and difficulty, the unclassifiable, and your explorations of the non-fiction form.

A Few Words on Brick’s Dream Submissions

Michael Helm: ​​As Emerson wrote in his journal between 1832 and 1834: “A true method…tells its own story, makes its own feet, creates its own form. It is its own apology.” That’s what we’re after at Brick. Something that’s not just smart but thoughtful, that’s surprising, a little strange, and usually moving. There’s no making of cases or closings of deals. We’re looking for things we can’t help but believe, that we’ve never quite seen before, said in a way we’ve never heard before.

Laurie D. Graham: If a piece contains beautiful, surprising prose, I find it impossible to turn away. I am carried by the cadence, and by listening for how cadence supports subject, the vitality it lends.

Do take the time to familiarize yourself with a recent issue of the magazine by subscribing, ordering a back issue, signing up for our newsletter Bricolage, or reading features on our website before you submit to Brick. Reading our magazine is the best way to situate yourself with what we publish. You may also take advantage of the opportunity to pre-order an upcoming issue or subscribe at a discount when you submit through Submittable.

Brick pays its contributors upon publication and offers $55–685, depending on the length of accepted work, plus two copies of the issue the work appears in and a one-year subscription to the magazine.

 

Submission Guidelines:

* We can only accept submissions through Submittable. Mailed submissions will not be read or returned.

* Brick is open for submissions twice a year: from October 1 to October 31, and from April 1 to April 30. 

* We consider only finished, polished non-fiction submissions.

* Submissions must be previously unpublished.

* We will read simultaneous submissions, but please let us know and withdraw your piece if your manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere.

* Please only submit one piece at a time. Please wait for a response before sending us other work to consider. Multiple submissions will be automatically rejected.

* While Brick does not set a word limit, we tend towards a range of 1,000–5,000 words. Whatever the length, the piece must be exemplary.

* Please allow six to nine months for us to respond to your submission.

 

If you’ve read our guidelines above and are ready to submit your best non-fiction to Brick, please send it through Submittable during our submission periods. We look forward to reading your work.

 

submit

 


Where to Buy Brick

Over the past couple of years, we’ve had the pleasure of chatting/emailing with a handful of passionate, dedicated booksellers from around the world about their Brick-carrying bookstores. Click on one of the links below to read one of our Brickseller interviews.

Atlantic News, Halifax

Aye-Aye Books, Glasgow

City Lights Books, San Francisco

Quimby’s Bookstore, Chicago

Type Books, Toronto

Do You Read Me?!, Berlin

The Booksmith, San Francisco

Mac’s Fireweed Books, Whitehorse

London Review Bookshop, London

McNally Jackson Books, New York

Book City, Toronto


Aside from our online storeBrick can be purchased at the following bookstores and newsstands throughout the world:

Canada

Alberta

Banff

Goro Canyon Smoke & Gift Shop—222 Lynx Street

Calgary

Daily Globe News—1004 17 Avenue S.W.

Shelf Life Books—1302 4 Street S.W.

Chapters Indigo—various locations

Edmonton

Glass Bookshop—10242 106 Street

Chapters Indigo—various locations

Grand Prairie 

Trumpeter (Al’s) News—10028 100 Avenue

Lethbridge

Club Cigar—301 5th Street South

Chapters Indigo—701 1st Avenue South

Medicine Hat 

Hat News & Tobacco—101-73 7th St SE

St. Albert

Chapters Indigo—445 St. Albert Trail

British Columbia

Burnaby

Chapters Indigo—4700 Kingsway

Coquitlam

Chapters Indigo—2991 Lougheed Highway

Dawson Creek 

Bill’s News and Confectionary—10212 10th Street

Kamloops

Chapters Indigo—1395 Hillside Drive

Kelowna

Chapters Indigo—Orchard Park

Langley

Chapters Indigo—20015 Langley By-Pass, Unit 115

Nanaimo

Vancouver Island University Bookstore—Bldg 305, 900 5th Street 

Chapters Indigo—Woodgrove Centre

Nelson

Otter Books—398 Baker Street

Prince George

Books & Company—1685 3rd Avenue

Salt Spring Island

Salt Spring Books—104 McPhillips Avenue

Sidney

Tanner’s Books—2436 Beacon Avenue 

Surrey 

Chapters Indigo—2453-161A Street, Unit 10

Terrace

Misty River Books—103-4710 Lazelle Avenue

Vancouver

McNews—1460 Lonsdale Avenue

Chapters Indigo—various locations

Victoria

Bolen Books—111-1644 Hillside Avenue

Ivy’s Bookshop—2188 Oak Bay Avenue 

Munro’s Bookstore—1108 Government Street

Subtext—University of Victoria

West Vancouver 

Chapters Indigo—900 Park Royal S

Manitoba

Winnipeg

McNally Robinson Booksellers—1120 Grant Avenue

Chapters Indigo—Polo Festival, 695 Empress Street

New Brunswick

Dieppe 

Chapters Indigo—Crystal Palace, 1 Bass Pro Drive 

Saint John

Chapters Indigo—East Point Centre, 41 Fashion Drive

Newfoundland

St. John’s

Chapters Indigo—70 Kenmount Street

Nova Scotia

Dartmouth

Chapters Indigo—41 Mic Mac Boulevard

Greenwood

The Inside Story— 963 Central Avenue

Halifax

Atlantic News—5560 Morris Street

Lunenburg

Lunenburg Bound Books—139 Montague Street

Shelburne

The Whirligig—142 Water Street

Ontario

Chapters Indigo—various locations throughout Ontario

Kingston

Novel Idea—156 Princess Street

Ottawa

Books on Beechwood—35 Beechwood Avenue

Glebe Smoke Shop—844 Bank Street

Pickering

Smoker’s Corner—Pickering Town Centre

Picton

Books & Company—289 Main Street

St. Catharines

Christopher’s Smoke Shop—26 James Street 

Toronto

Book City—348 Danforth Avenue

Book City—1950 Queen Street East

Book City—1430 Yonge Street

Issues—1489 Dundas Street West

International News—Front Street

Queen Books—914 Queen Street East

Page & Panel—789 Yonge Street

Presse Internationale—2068 Queen Street East 

Presse Internationale—537 Bloor Street West 

Karma Co-op—739 Palmerston Ave

Type Books—883 Queen Street West  

Type Books—2887 Dundas Street West

Waterloo

Words Worth Books —100 King Street South

Windsor

Ray & Kim’s Super Convenience—352 Ouellette Avenue

Quebec

Montréal

Paragraphe Bookstore—2220 McGill College Avenue

Multimags—Monkland Village—5508 Avenue Monkland 

Multimags—Petite Italie—6889 Boul. St-Laurent

Chapters Indigo—1500, avenue McGill College 

Laval

Chapters Indigo—900 Le Corbusier Boulevard

Saskatchewan

Regina

Chapters Indigo—Southland Mall

Saskatoon

McNally Robinson Booksellers—3130 8th Street East

Chapters Indigo—3322-8th Street E

Yukon

Whitehorse

Mac’s Fireweed Books—203 Main Street 

United States

California

Arcata

Northtown Books—957 H Street

Berkeley

Pegasus Books—2349 Shattuck Avenue

Books Inc—1491 Shattuck Avenue

Davis

Newsbeat—514 3rd Street

Los Angeles

Skylight Books—1818 North Vermont Avenue

The Kosher News—370 North Fairfax Avenue

Menlo Park

Kepler’s Books—1010 El Camino Real #100

San Diego

Hillcrest Newsstand—529 University Avenue, #3117

San Francisco

Alley Cat Bookstore & Gallery—3036 24th Street

Books Inc.—601 Van Ness

Fog City News—455 Market Street, Suite 125

Kinokuniya Bookstore—1581 Webster Street

Smoke Signals—2223 Polk Street

Point Reyes Station

Point Reyes Books—11315 State Route 1

District of Columbia

Washington

Politics & Prose Bookstore—5015 Connecticut Avenue NW

Florida

Coral Gables

Books & Books—265 Aragon Avenue

Illinois

Chicago

City News—4018 N. Cicero Avenue

Quimby’s Bookstore—1854 W. North Avenue

Evanston

Chicago-Main Newsstand—860 Chicago Ave

Kentucky

Louisville

Carmichael’s Bookstore—1295 Bardstown Road

Carmichael’s Bookstore—2720 Frankfort Avenue

Massachusetts

Newburyport

Jabberwocky Bookshop & Café—Tannery Mill Bldg. 50 Water Street

Michigan

Kalamazoo

Michigan News Agency—308 W Michigan Ave

Nevada

Las Vegas

Writer’s Block—519 S. 6th Street, Suite.100

New Hampshire

Keene

Toadstool Bookshop—12 Emerald Street

New York

New York

McNally Jackson—52 Prince Street

Ithaca

Buffalo Street Books—215 North Cayuga Street

North Carolina

Durham

The Regulator Bookshop—720 Ninth Street

Ohio

Columbus

Northstar Cafe BeechWold—4241 N High Street

Organic Trails Café—951 N High Street

Pennsylvania

Doylestown

The Doylestown Bookshop—16 S. Main Street

Philadelphia

Avril 50—3406 Sansom Street

Washington

Bellingham

Village Books and Paper Dreams—1200 11th Street

Eastsound

Darvill’s Bookstore—296 Main Street

Lake Forest Park

Third Place Books—17171 Bothell Way NE, #A101

Mercer Island

Island Books—3014 78th Avenue SE

Seattle

Elliott Bay Book Company—1521 Tenth Avenue

Kinokuniya Bookstore—525 South Weller Street

Magnolia’s Bookstore—3206 W. McGraw Street

Phinney Books—7405 Greenwood Avenue North

Queen Anne Book Company—1811 Queen Anne Avenue North

Ravenna Third Place—6504 20th Avenue NE 

Secret Garden Books—2214 NW Market Street

Third Place Books Seward Park—5041 Wilson Avenue South

University Bookstore—4326 University Way NE

Walla Walla

Book & Game Company—38 E Main Street Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Milwaukee

Boswell Book Company—2559 N. Downer Avenue

Woodland Pattern—720 E. Locust Street

Outside North America

England

Newsstand (online magazine store)

Bath

Magalleria—22a Broad Street

Bristol

Here Gallery—108 Stokes Croft

London

Charlotte Street News—66 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia

Good News—23 Berwick Street, Soho

London Review Bookshop—14 Bury Place

Rushden

Magazine Heaven—Rushden Lakes Shopping Centre

Germany

Berlin

Do You Read Me?!—Auguststrasse 28

Scotland

Glasgow

Aye-Aye Books—350 Sauchiehall Street

Singapore

Basheer Graphic Books—#04-19, Bras Basah Complex, BLK 231, Bain Street

South Africa

Cape Town

Book Lounge—71 Roeland Street

The Netherlands

Amsterdam

Scheltema Boekhandel—1012 KK Amsterdam 

Turkey

Istanbul

PandoraPerihan Sok. No. 68/2, Sisli


If you want Brick to be carried in your favourite neighbourhood bookstore, let them know or send us a note. Also, if we’ve missed your favourite store and you know it carries Brick, let us know and we’ll add them to this list.

Advertise

Brick features the best literary non-fiction the world has to offer. Weighing in at nearly one hundred and seventy perfect-bound pages, Brick is carried by independent bookstores, newsstands, and major retailers across North America and is subscribed to by readers around the world. As Brick is published twice a year, each advertisement has a six-month lifespan, if not longer. Copies of Brick are read, saved, and shared.

Brick’s mandate is beyond that of a typical literary magazine. It is a feast of passionate writing on life and the arts: personal essays, interviews, cultural reporting, belles lettres, and much more of the idiosyncratic writing that only Brick can provide. Founded in 1977 and based in Toronto, Brick has an international perspective—and presence. It celebrates and publishes Canadian authors such as John Ralston Saul, Alice Munro, and Margaret Atwood, and it also plays host to some of the world’s best-loved writers: Tomas Tranströmer, Jonathan Lethem, Orhan Pamuk, Jeffery Eugenides, John Berger, Haruki Murakami, Michael Chabon, Pico Iyer, and Zadie Smith have all appeared in its pages. Intelligent, discerning, and contemplative, Brick is more than a literary magazine; it is an institution.

Please contact us at 416-593-9684 or email us if you’re interested in advertising in Brick.

 

Media Kit

Attachment Size
BrickMediaKit2021 996.74 KB

Print Rate Card

Colour 1x 2x 3x 4x
Full page 1,000 930 880 840
Half page 700 650 615 580
Quarter page 400 370 350 335
Business card 250 230 220 215
B&W 1x 2x 3x 4x
Full page 800 745 705 670
Half page 550 510 485 460
Quarter page 325 300 285 270
Business card 175 165 155 150

Web Rate Card

Home page, rotating ad block 1 month 2 months 3 months 4 months
300px W  x 250px H 305 (x1) 290 (x2) 280 (x3) 275 (x4)
Bricolage, Brick’s monthly newsletter 1x 2x 3x 4x
300px W  x 250px H 185 each 160 each 140 each 125 each

 

All web ads are hyperlinked and can be animate gifs. For the best display on high-resolution screens, please send ads at 600pxW x 500pxH.


Contact

Brick
Box 609, Stn P
Toronto, ON  M5S 2Y4
Canada

416-593-9684

To contact Brick by email, please send a message to info@brickmag.com.

Your name and email address will not be sold or otherwise distributed.