After a five-year hiatus, Scrivener Creative Review, McGill’s oldest literary magazine, is back, and its new editors are determined to honour its storied past by building a vibrant, sustainable future.
Founded in 1980, Scrivener has long been a cornerstone of McGill’s literary scene. Housed in McGill’s Department of English, the review publishes poetry, fiction, non-fiction, interviews and art. While Scrivener publishes works from around the world, it has built a reputation as a bastion of Canadian literature. Leonard Cohen, Louis Dudek, F.R. Scott and P.K. Page are just some of the national literary icons whose works have graced Scrivener’s pages over the past 40-plus years, along with interviews with Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, to name a few.
Like many campus initiatives, Scrivener went quiet during the pandemic. By 2020, the magazine had become dormant, and it remained so until this past spring, when Editors-in-Chief Izzi Holmes and Jacob Sponga, both pursuing their master’s in English literature, relaunched the publication with a fresh editorial team and a full print issue, its 46th.
Literary ghosts
For Holmes and Sponga, the revival began with a sense of curiosity, and a bit of haunting.
“We both arrived at McGill in 2021, so we’d never actually known a McGill that had Scrivener,” said Holmes. “But there were these ghosts of Scrivener past all over the English wing of the Arts Building – old issues and posters announcing poetry readings and launches.”
“We were aware that there was this huge monolith of Montreal literature lurking in the past,” Sponga said. “It interested us that there had once been this institutionally affiliated creative apparatus within the Department of English and the Faculty of Arts, but that it had gone under at some point. The mystery of it was part of the appeal. We wanted to find out what had happened, and whether we could bring it back.”
That curiosity eventually led them to Professor Eli MacLaren, now Scrivener’s faculty advisor.
“It turned out that what was left of the magazine – some old archives, old stickers, and even its original constitution – had been left with the Department of English,” said Holmes. “We realized, this is the sort of thing we could inherit if we were interested. That discovery made the whole idea suddenly feel possible.”
Since reviving the magazine, the editors have received an outpouring of support, not only from current students and contributors, but also from Scrivener alumni across generations.
“We’ve had people message us on social media saying things like, ‘You published me in 1992, I’m so happy to see Scrivener back,’” said Sponga. “There’s a real legacy here. It feels like we’re part of something much bigger.”
Community effort
Scrivener runs on a volunteer basis, with approximately 40 student editors managing poetry, fiction, interviews, art and design. Holmes and Sponga emphasize that despite their own limited prior experience in literary publishing, they built the new Scrivener through collaboration and enthusiasm.
“When it comes to publishing a magazine, this really is our first rodeo,” said Holmes with a smile, “but sometimes just being excited about something is experience enough. And we’ve had so many people – writers, editors, peers, professors and organizers at McGill and beyond – step forward and help bring it to life.”
With an eye on the future of the magazine, the Scrivener team includes both undergraduate and graduate students. “All our degrees have an end point,” said Holmes, “but we’re hoping that the people who are graduating will recruit new people to keep Scrivener going.”
Open submissions
The team is now preparing for the release of its Fall 2025 issue. While the magazine is based at McGill, no university or national affiliation is required. A call for submissions of poetry, fiction and visual art for Scrivener’s Spring 2026 edition will be issued in January
“We received 255 submissions for the last issue and over 400 for the upcoming Fall issue,” said Holmes. “That includes work from both emerging voices and seasoned writers. . It’s about the strength of the work.”
In addition to publishing new work, the team has begun digitizing Scrivener’s archives, a project that uncovered rare early poems by Leonard Cohen and a 1997 interview with Anne Carson that is available online for the first time.
The editorial team hopes this archival work will continue, funding permitted. For now, they’re focused on building on the momentum of the relaunch and ensuring Scrivener remains a vital space for literary expression on campus and beyond.
“We’re not just publishing a magazine,” said Sponga. “We’re keeping a tradition alive.”
Submissions for the Fall 2025 issue of Scrivener Creative Review are now open. For submission guidelines, past features and archival content, visit scrivenerreview.com or @scrivenercreativereview