Ten years of earning respect: Maisonneuve celebrates with bumper issue

I wasn't able to attend the Toronto celebration of the 10th anniversary of Maisonneuve magazine, but I don't want to let this occasion pass without remarking on it.

As the magazine says, starting an English magazine in 2002 with a French name in Montreal was difficult. But 43 issues later, it has won -- and deserves-- a loyal following.

When founding editor Derek Webster started, it was largely using his own resources and his family's. The investment paid off in a stylish, quirky, eclectic and courageous publication that within 3 years of its launch was selected as Magazine of the Year at the National Magazine Awards. 

The "special collector's edition" f0r the 10th anniversary , on newsstands now, has some provocative stuff, including (among many other things) Tim Falconer finding out why he can't sing, Christopher Szabla exploring why movement such as Occupy and the Arab Spring fail, new fiction by Giller Prize-winner Johanna Skibsrud and an interview with Fredericton-based poet Anita Lahey (who was, until 2011, the editor of ARC Poetry magazine.)