ARC Poetry marks 30th anniversary

Congratulations are due to ARC Poetry, a magazine that has earned high respect as one of the principal publishers of poetry in Canada. The Ottawa-based title is turning 30 this year, a major milestone, made more remarkable because of its highly specialized niche. (The magazine was widely admired for its 2005 visual redesign.) The anniversary issue (shown) is available on June 30 and features work by 30 Canadian poets.

ARC began life at Carleton University, but early on and since has been run independently by a not-for-profit organization. It comes out twice a year, published by the ARC Poetry Society, run by a part-time staff of two and an activist volunteer operating board.

Like many such literary journals, the magazine is dependent for much of its success on its Poem of the Year contest, which annually attracts as many as 900 entries.

(You may want to mark in your daybook that the official launch of the 30th anniversary issue will be at the Ottawa International Writers Festival on Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 7:30 pm (Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa. Canada’s top poets will commemorate three decades of Arc’s existence at a celebration that will include readings by some of Arc’s most notable contributors over the past thirty years.)