A quarterly peer-reviewed journal dedicated to Canadian literature, publishing scholarly articles, book reviews, and original poetry.

Founded in 1959, Canadian Literature is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal published by the University of British Columbia.

It features scholarly articles in English and French on Canadian literature, along with book reviews, original poetry, and interviews. 

The journal embraces a broad range of critical approaches and topics, reflecting the diversity of Canadian writing.

 It has been described as 'critically eclectic' and continues to contribute significantly to the study and appreciation of Canadian literature. 

Discover the all-time most popular poetry literary magazines. These outlets have maintained a significant presence in the world of poetry.

Most Popular Poetry-Only Literary Magazines of All Time

Canadian Literature

Exploring themes related to suburban life and culture.

Suburb Nation

Exploring themes related to suburban life and culture.

(Prose Poetry)

Deadline: December 15, 2026 (Pacific Time)

Submission length: 7,000 to 8,000 words (including works cited and notes) in English or in French

Guest Editors: Marie-Andrée Bergeron (University of Calgary) and Sarah Krotz (University of Alberta, Centre for Literatures in Canada / Centre de littératures au Canada)

In 1904, in his foundational lecture on “the nationalization of Canadian literature,” Camille Roy envisioned a national literature still to be invented, anchored in a tradition yet to be built. Sixty years later, in 1965, the Parti pris collective, in turn, “invented” Québécois literature, inscribing the literary act within a political praxis: to name the country in order to bring it into existence. This double gesture, at once poetic and political, remains at the heart of the constitution of the Québécois corpus and of the structuring of the field of literary studies that surrounds it.

From One Solitude to Another: Dialogues around Québécois Literature, Indigenous Literatures, and CanLit

Deadline: June 1, 2026 (Pacific Time)

Submission length: 7,000-8,000 words (including works cited and notes) in English or French

Guest Editors: Anna Branach-Kallas (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń) and Laura Moss (University of British Columbia)

Call for Papers — Authoritarianism, Anti-fascism, and Literary Resistance

Call for Papers — Phyllis Webb at One Hundred<div>May 7, 2026</div><div>Deadline: October 1, 2026 (Pacific Time)</div><div></div><div>Submission length: 7,000–8,000 words (including works cited and notes)</div><div></div><div>Guest Editors: Stephen Collis (Simon Fraser University) and Sam Weselowski (University of Warwick)</div><div></div><div>2027 marks the centenary of Governor General’s Award-winning poet Phyllis Webb. A major Canadian cultural figure from the 1950s through the 1980s, Webb published ten celebrated collections of poetry and prose, co-founded the CBC Radio program Ideas, and hosted the CBC TV program Extension,which featured interviews with major Canadian writers such as F. R. Scott, George Bowering, Roy Kiyooka, and Dorothy Livesay, among others (McLeod). When “words abandoned” her in the early 1990s and she was no longer able to write, she took up photography, photocollage, and eventually painting, with her visual work later collected in A Dream in the Eye: The Complete Paintings and Collages of Phyllis Webb (2023).</div>

Call for Papers — Phyllis Webb at One Hundred

Seeking original, unpublished essays (6,000–8,000 words), interviews (7,000–9,000 words), and graphic essays on contemporary Canadian graphic auto/biography, memoir, and cultural history. Topics include Canadian creators, publishers, pedagogy, adaptations, and the unique contributions of comics to life writing and cultural narratives.

Submissions must be original, unpublished work relevant to Canadian graphic auto/biography and related topics.

Canadian Literature

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From One Solitude to Another: Dialogues around Québécois Literature, Indigenous Literatures, and CanLit

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