Striving to be hard to ignore, The Walrus celebrates its 5th anniversary

The Walrus magazine is 5 years old. A statement published in the October/November issue from Shelley Ambrose, co-publisher and executive director, The Walrus Foundation and John Macfarlane, co-publisher and editor, gives due credit to co-founders David Berlin and Ken Alexander and to creative director Antonio de Luca and former publisher Bernard Schiff..

The Walrus won more National Magazine Awards than any other magazine in Canada and was the country’s 2007 magazine of the year. In five short years, its circulation has grown to some 60,000. To put that in perspective, Harper’s — in that much larger market to the south — has just 215,000 paying customers, and it’s over 150 years old.

The praise also went to the Chawkers Foundation "by far the magazine's largest financial supporter" and to The Walrus's loyal readers.

Without your appetite for quality journalism, without your enthusiastic encouragement (proof, if any were needed, that this country needs and wants The Walrus), it would not have survived.

Not that the magazine’s future is guaranteed. Because Canada is a small country, and because a magazine with such lofty aspirations can appeal to only a tiny fraction of the population, The Walrus will always require — in addition to advertising and circulation revenue — a third revenue stream: fundraising. This is why it is published by the non-profit Walrus Foundation.

The co-publishers said they will continue to aim high, to produce a thoughtful magazine about Canada and its place in the world.

A magazine that endeavours to inform, amuse, and entertain its readers with powerful — and educational — writing, photography, and illustration. This is indeed an optimistic project. Making so ambitious a magazine sustainable is bound to be a struggle. But if we can build on the achievements of our first five years, there is no reason to believe we cannot succeed. We hope The Walrus will continue to earn your time, attention, and support. We hope it will always be hard to ignore.

The cover of the October/November issue is by Douglas Coupland.

Related recent posts:

• John Macfarlane to be interim editor of The Walrus; AD De Luca is leaving
• Ken Alexander resigns as editor of The Walrus
• Major staff reorganization continues at The Walrus
• Both senior editors at The Walrus take leave
• Slow pay or no pay; freelancers are seriously cheesed off at The Walrus