Brick
Cover of Brick, A Literary Journal, Issue 69, Spring 2002
cover photograph of the late writer Carole Corbeil on Ontario Street, 1977 by Frank Richards, courtesy of Layne Coleman
Artist Profiles and Success Stories
In its summer 2003 issue, there are pieces about or by Günter Grass, Michael Ondaatje, P.K. Page, Amos Oz, Marie-Claire Blais, John Berger, Somerset Maugham and Zalman Yanofsky, former guitarist of The Lovin’ Spoonful. This class menagerie belongs to the Canadian literary journal Brick, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2003. The American writer Russell Banks says Brick is “one of the best … journals of ideas published in the English-speaking world – a gathering of ideas from writers who think, and thinkers who write” Brick was among 102 literary and art magazines supported in 2003 by the Canada Council. Six in ten of the magazines are literary; most of the rest focus on the visual, media and performing arts. The $2.7 million in support – important for operations that scrabble daily for their existence – translates into 770,000 readers, Canadians who might not otherwise be exposed to a little corner of their country’s arts scene. The support also allows a delicate artistic ecology to take root and grow. Essentially, the connections promoted are those between artist and audience. But through the dedicated and talented work of writers, artists and a host of brave and beleaguered editors and magazine professionals, the support helps the country’s culture flourish.