TORONTO/November 13, 2017 – Toronto-based Brick magazine will publish its one hundredth issue at the end of November. The release of Brick 100 coincides with the fortieth anniversary of the magazine. To celebrate, Brick will hold a very special launch party on Monday, December 4, in Toronto.
Brick has evolved from its beginnings as a journal of reviews to become an “eclectic international literary magazine,” but, as founder Stan Dragland writes in his contribution to a five-handed publishers’ note in Brick 100, the magazine is “still driven by love and, if you can go by me, much loved by readers.”
“Reaching issue 100 is a measure of the magazine’s relevance, especially at a time when considered thought has become so rare,” writes Michael Redhill, former publisher and editor of the magazine and Giller-nominated author of Bellevue Square. “We need to hear the voices Brick publishes, be nourished by the pleasures of the personal essay, and go deep when the opportunity presents. It’s a great milestone and it makes me very happy.”
Balancing commemoration and looking ahead, Brick 100 features renowned writers and artists from Canada and around the world. Eleanor Wachtel’s interview with artist and activist Ai Weiwei opens Brick 100 and introduces a thread that recurs throughout the issue, “reaffirming art’s role in the face of oppression and uncertainty,” according to publisher Laurie D. Graham. Essays by poet Sue Sinclair and editor of Copper Canyon Press Michael Wiegers, an interview with poet Don McKay (who was around the farmhouse table during the earliest days of Brick), and a poem by Guelph writer Nicholas Ruddock address environmental issues, while U.S. musicologist Shana L. Redmond celebrates Paul Robeson’s ongoing role in the fight against racism. And in the final installment of a much-admired essay that has been serialized over the last three issues of the magazine, poet and philosopher Jan Zwicky underscores the importance of meaning to how we engage with the world.
Also included in Brick 100 is a special section, wherein eighteen writers discuss the “mortar” that holds together a writing life. Brick invited nine writers—Anne Carson, Louise Erdrich, Kamila Shamsie, Madeleine Thien, John Keene, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Karen Solie, Gail Jones, and Garth Greenwell—not only to contribute to the section but also to each invite a “plus-one” to join in the discussion of a writer’s foundations. The result is a wonderful mixture of fiction, poetry, essays, and conversation.
In celebration of this milestone issue, Brick will be hosting a launch party at 7:30 p.m. on December 4, 2017, at the Super Wonder Gallery (584 College St, Toronto, ON). The event will be hosted by Michael Redhill and include readings by Karen Solie, Aisha Sasha John, and Melanie Mah (winner of this year’s Trillium Award for her novel The Sweetest One). Linda Spalding, who has worked as publisher, then editorial board member, for seventy-five of Brick’s one hundred issues, will also say a few words that evening. In addition to readings, the Brick 100 launch promises music, dancing, a literary silent auction, door prizes, and plenty of revelry. All are welcome.
Brick 100 will on newsstands at the end of November and available at bookstores worldwide. To order a review copy or arrange interviews with Brick staff or editors, please contact managing editor Liz Johnston (details below).
Established in 1977 and published twice a year, Brick features essays, interviews, memoirs, travelogues, belles lettres, and unusual musings by the world’s best-loved writers. For more information on Brick, please visit www.brickmag.com.
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CONTACT:
Liz Johnston, Managing Editor
Brick, A Literary Journal
Ph: 416-593-9684
[email protected]