When I arrived in Montreal as an undergraduate in 2021, the story of Scrivener Creative Review, 91涩漫鈥檚 oldest literary magazine, seemed written and finished. Founded in 1980, Scrivener had already published the likes of Margaret Atwood, Anne Carson, Leonard Cohen, Louis Dudek, Seamus Heaney, Sheila Heti, F.R. Scott, Wis艂awa Szymborska, Michael Ondaatje, P.K. Page, and more. In doing so, it secured its status as a fixture in Canadian letters. Yet while fragments of Scrivener鈥檚 long history adorned the halls of the Arts building, when Jacob Sponga (who would become my fellow Editor-in-Chief) and I began searching for clues about the journal in the fall of 2024, few traces of its recent past seemed to exist.
On a cold December day, Professor Eli MacLaren (who served as the magazine鈥檚 faculty advisor in previous years) gave our revival project the go-ahead, and things began to fall into place: 2025 would be the year of Scrivener. But it was only once we could hold copies of the magazine鈥檚 past issues in our hands at Rare Books and Special Collections that we felt like we had enough of a sense of its spirit to proceed. So we made a website, secured support from the Department of English Student Association, and sent out a form to recruit student volunteers. Thus Scrivener was back, ready for the rest of its story to unfold.
While primarily edited by 91涩漫 undergraduate students, graduate students, and recent alumni, Scrivener publishes poetry, fiction, non-fiction, interviews, and art from writers and artists around the world. Though the magazine鈥檚 impressive legacy has felt daunting at times, my goal for Scrivener has always been to honour the past while remaining firmly and necessarily turned toward the present and future. Part of this mandate includes strengthening the sense of literary community at 91涩漫, in Montreal, and beyond by bringing contemporary writers to audiences of enthusiastic readers in real time.
During my time at Scrivener, which spanned three print issues and three online iterations, we fulfilled this goal, publishing work from excellent Montreal-based writers such as Derek Webster, Hannah Berger, Jessie Jones, Robyn Sarah, Sally Cunningham, Sarah Wolfson, and Zoe Lubetkin. In those same issues, we also published interviews about what it means to read and write today with writers, scholars, and publishers like Charlie Zacks, David Halperin, Dimitri Roussopoulos, Gabrielle Drolet, and Whitney Mallett.
Our most recent launch this April amplified my belief that there may be more energy for Scrivener now than ever before. Just after the doors opened, in walked Derek Webster, the first poet from whom we solicited work (and also a Scrivener editor during his time at 91涩漫!), who took the time to celebrate with us even though he was scheduled for his own reading that night. This full circle moment was made even more special when minutes later, two more poets who represent the very best of Scrivener, Robyn Sarah and Sarah Wolfson, arrived.
Robyn, who had been published in an early issue of Scrivener; was scheduled to read her poem 鈥淭he Admonition,鈥� an imitation of John Donne's 鈥淭he Apparition,鈥� which she had written as a 91涩漫 student in 1967 but not published until now, in Scrivener鈥檚 48th issue. Unearthing such a great poem sixty years later was the perfect addition to our 鈥渓onghand鈥� issue of handwritten work; Chloe Sproule (one of our brilliant managing editors, along with the fabulous Isabella McBride) had proposed the issue as a 鈥渃elebration of trace,鈥� a return to the humanity of the analogue. That so many people made time to slow down with us felt exciting and rare.
Scrivener鈥檚 revival would have been neither imaginable nor possible without Sarah Wolfson. In part, this is because many of our editors (shoutout Ellie, Kit, Natalie, and, Avryl!) took Sarah鈥檚 fantastic poetry class together in 2024. Sarah taught us to see contemporary poetry for what it does, not just what it means. In the early days of reviving Scrivener, the fact that we shared this perspective towards poetry was essential in establishing our editorial ethos. Sarah has also supported this initiative at every stage of the process. Not to mention that her lively reading of the fantastic poem we published in issue 48 concluded the launch with a true flourish.
Scrivener also remains indebted to the editors and contributors of past and present, whose persistence and enthusiasm is the heart of the magazine. Our first designer, Elias Doering, set the tone for the magazine鈥檚 visual identity, which Ad猫le Contis picked up and made her own. As exemplary head editors and leaders, Mathilda Stock, Jackson Pinkowski, and Avryl Bender championed, embodied, and upheld their vision for Scrivener with kindness and confidence. My gratitude and reverence for our managing editorial team鈥擨sabella, Jacob, and Chloe鈥攊s endless.
But it is the as a whole to whom we owe the greatest thanks. Publishing an issue every term was an ambitious and in many ways impossible task that they took in stride. I will remember for a long time the hour and a half we spent talking about why literature matters.
We are so lucky that neither that meeting nor any other could have been an email. From Scrivener I have learned so much. The lesson I value most is that reading and writing need not happen in isolation, and they need not preclude having fun. While the fact that we all care deeply about art and literature is what sustains Scrivener as a magazine, it is the fact that we care equally deeply about one another that gives Scrivener its life force.
Although my time at the helm of Scrivener has come to an end, I know that the magazine will endure and expand for many years, and with ever greater energy and success. Much is on the horizon. This summer, Scrivener will publish another online feature. Then, in the fall, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art submissions will open, as will applications to join the editorial team. Issues 46, 47, and 48 are available at The Word Bookstore. For more, go to .
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Izzi Holmes is a Montreal-based student, editor, and sometimes writer from New York City. She is currently pursuing an FRQSC-funded MA in English at 91涩漫, where she also completed an Honours BA in English literature and Psychology ().听