Three Short Interviews with Independent Presses

Featuring Senka Stankovic of flo., Sophie Jin of Briarpatch, and Lisa Whittington-Hill of This Magazine

flo./ Briarpatch/ This

Senka stankovic

is a writer and editor based in Ottawa. She is editor-in-chief of flo. literary magazine, and she is pursuing a master’s in Information Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her work has been published in Room, Common House, and FEED.

FLO. MAGAZINE

TALI VORON: Describe flo. in three words.

SENKA STANKOVIC: Community, creativity, and passion.

TV: Can you tell us the story behind the name? How did flo. come to be?

SS: When we started flo., it was a joint endeavour between myself, Katrina Wilcox, our fiction editor, and Erin Samant, our non-fiction editor and managing editor. I know Katrina through my studies at the University of Ottawa, and I’ve known Erin since I was eleven. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the three of us had an online reading club and we started talking about the possibility of starting a lit mag. And then … we did it.

As far as the name goes, I think that’s probably the least thought-out aspect of everything we’ve done. A big part of our mission statement relates to us being a geographically based magazine, as we’re committed to serving this region. In our mission statement, we write about how Ottawa has three really big rivers running through it, and is the meeting point between them. Ottawa and Gatineau are also in two separate provinces that are essentially functioning as one city split by a body of water. flo. references that aspect, while also referencing how things change and shift over time and that tension of change within the region as well.

TV: flo. is dedicated to publishing works by writers from Ottawa and Gatineau. What marks and makes the writing from this region?

SS: I don’t know if you know much about Ottawa, but it’s known to be quite … boring. It’s a government town, right? There are a lot of people working nine to five. It’s a bit slower, and not much of a party town. That’s not to say that I agree with that statement, but it’s generally how it’s known. Even still, Ottawa is really diverse in so many ways: race, gender, sexuality, and just the lived experiences of the people. In terms of age, based on the people who show up to our events, we have a lot of folks who are younger—some university students, even high school students—and then we also have a much older group of writers who have been really active in the Ottawa region for a long time. Our writing tries to reflect this diversity. We also try not to narrow down what we publish just based on voice, as we’re looking to have a balance of lived experiences. The youngest person we’ve published is seventeen. So, we’re publishing some writers that are still in high school and are just starting out alongside writers that are more established. It’s the diversity in our voices that marks the writing from this region. Now, this is more of an opinion, but I think because it is a sleepier city, the vibe is slower in a lot of ways, and I do think that’s reflected in the writing. We’ve published a few pieces that are focused on the mundane in a way that is very observational, and I do find this to be reflective of the region.

TV: You are both the editor-in-chief and the visual arts editor. What does a day in your role look like?

SS: I will mention that this is a side hustle for everyone on the team. I’m currently doing a master’s of Information Studies. Katrina and our events coordinator, Maya Chorney, are both working on their undergraduate degrees. Erin is doing a master’s in Comparative Literature and Jen is also doing a master’s in English. So, flo. isn’t the primary priority for us, and it isn’t necessarily a day-to-day role. I usually try to dedicate one day a week to any flo.-related work.

My role as editor-in-chief is very functional. I’m doing all the small things that have to happen to keep the magazine running. I have spreadsheets looking at all our finances and make sure that we’re not overspending. We recently got a grant from the Ontario Arts Council, so we’re really trying to stay on top of following the budget that we set out in the grant application. I’m also working on grant applications so that we can continue paying our writers at market rates—and the only reason that we can do that is because of the Ontario Arts Council. I also update the website and answer emails, and I do all of the order fulfillment, too.

I’d say the visual arts editor role is more of the fun one for me. We publish two print issues per year and each issue features one artist throughout. As the visual arts editor, I select the artist. While we have an open call for submissions for the writing we publish, we don’t for art. I tend to select artists whom I’ve seen on Instagram or have met at art events in Ottawa. I actually did my undergraduate studies in visual art, so I have a network of connections through that. I generally have an idea of who I want to feature in each issue and the feature also includes an interview with the artist. I also do the layout for the magazine, and I manage the whole printing process. So I do a lot of work with the visual aspect of the magazine, but also a lot of small, technical things. Before we started the magazine, I don’t think I ever would have thought of these tasks as something that had to be done.

TV: What is one thing you wish all readers knew about flo.?

SS: I wish all readers knew that we actually don’t really know what we’re doing, and we’re just figuring it out as we go! We started the magazine in September 2021, so almost three years ago now. We were three students who wanted to do this thing, but we didn’t know how to do it. There was a lot of Googling and asking ourselves: How are we going to figure this out?

Also, something I’ve picked up on in lit-mag culture is the weird power dynamic of the editor selecting the pieces. And yet, we’re all also participating in it and actively sending out our own writing and getting rejected all of the time, too. We’re selecting pieces not only based on their quality, but also based on how they fit in the magazine, how they respond to the theme, and how they work with the other pieces in the issue. We’ve been in the hard position of needing to reject an amazing piece because it wasn’t a fit for the issue. I want everyone who submits to us to know how much we appreciate them sending us their work and to not interpret a rejection as a sign that they shouldn’t keep writing or that they shouldn’t keep submitting to magazines.

TV: What can you tell us about your most recent issue?

SS: We recently released Issue 5 on the theme of movement called “Sojourns and Odysseys.” We wanted to take movement as getting from point A to point B, so there are a few pieces about travelling. Then there are a couple of pieces on public transit. I really enjoyed putting that issue together and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

Our next print issue is coming out in the summer. Our fiction editor, Katrina, selected the theme for it: “Summer Camp”! We’re really going for writing that reflects that summer energy. Feelings of nostalgia, lakes and sunburns, ghost stories and stargazing … we’re open for submissions until the end of May, and more information can be found on our website: flolitmag.com/submissions.

sophie jin

is the interim editor of Briarpatch; they were part of the editorial collective for both the National Magazine Award-nominated Prison Abolition Issue and the Disability Justice Issue; and they have written for Briarpatch, the Sask Dispatch, This Magazine, the Monitor, and more.

briarpatch magazine

TALI VORON: Since its inception as Notes from the Briarpatch in 1971, Briarpatch Magazine has had a long history of using the written word as a tool for advocacy and fighting for justice. What responsibility do you believe that magazines, and journalism more broadly, have for creating change?

SOPHIE JIN: I feel that this has become obvious to me during Israel’s genocide in Gaza, especially now. It’s the differences we’re seeing in the way the media reports on certain incidents, while people on the ground are livestreaming what’s happening. We see the discrepancy. I think we, at Briarpatch, have a responsibility to tell stories from the perspectives of people who are most affected. In this way, we have the opportunity to map a better future.

TV: Briarpatch is described as “Fiercely independent and proudly polemical … offer[ing] original reporting, insight, and analysis from a grassroots perspective. As a reader-supported publication, Briarpatch is not just devoted to reporting on social movements—it’s committed to building them.” This is a noble and imperative mission and one that, I’m sure, has not come without its challenges. What challenges have you faced during your time with the magazine, and how have you overcome them?

SJ: It’s a really good question, especially as we’re seeing the cuts happening in Canadian media right now. It’s very difficult to remain a non-profit, fully independent, reader-funded magazine. One of our main challenges is that the cost of printing has gone up exponentially. We want to keep bringing the same strong reporting and analysis to readers, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do so. We’re really lucky that over the last fifty years our community of readers—that started in Regina—has grown and allowed us to expand to a nationalmagazine through their commitment and financial support. People really want to see Briarpatch alive. There is a hunger to hear from organizers and people who are trying to improve the world. Briarpatch is one of the few places where you can publish more fiery, political work, like Rehab Nazzal’s photo essay remembering Palestinian martyrs and former Global News journalist Zahraa Al-Akhrass’s essay on mainstream media’s pro-Israel bias.

We also face the challenges of funding and staying afloat. We have the typical challenges of being non-profit like small staff—we’re only two people—and wishing that we could pay writers more, while also keeping everything accessible, and free online for readers. We want more people to get their news for free, rather than locked behind a paywall. We’re grateful for our readership, our writers, illustrators, and everyone who contributes to Briarpatch that sustain us.

TV: What is one piece from a past, current, or forthcoming issue that you call essential reading, and why?

SJ: We published a piece in our March/April issue on anti-hate and political policing, which I would call essential reading right now. It speaks to how the police are using this anti-hate framework to crack down on Palestine solidarity protests and solidarity with Palestinians, claiming that they’re hateful, and charging people with hate crimes. I think the author does a really amazing job of cutting through all the noise, digging deep into where anti-hate policing comes. It also touches on the impact of anti-hate and political policing on trans and queer solidarity in the G20 aftermath, and really dives into the history as a way to show us that anti-hate is actually not a friend of the left. It’s a really smart way for the police to crack down on leftist movements, and I feel like it’s really important that we know that as we continue organizing for Palestine.

TV: What is one thing you wish all readers knew about Briarpatch?

SJ: I want everyone to know the origins of where we started. Briarpatch was started in Regina by a group of people on welfare. It was by and for people on welfare in Regina; it was a truly community-based magazine. I think that knowing those origins is really important to understand the kind of community that we want to create with Briarpatch. If this is your first time pitching to a magazine and you have a solid idea on organizing something that hasn’t been written about before, we want to work with you. We work with seasoned journalists, but we’re also really eager to hear from people who have never been published before, who otherwise maybe wouldn’t find a magazine that’s good fit for them, or an editor who’s down to work with a first-time writer. We think that’s where the most interesting stories come from.

TV: What can you tell us about your next issue?

SJ: In our July/August issue, you can look forward to reporting on Indigenous resistance to silica sand mining in Manitoba, the fight against the far right in Vancouver, and more reporting on Palestine.

Lisa Whittington-Hill

is the publisher of This Magazine. Her writing has appeared in Longreads, The Globe and Mail, The Walrus, Hazlitt, Catapult, and more. In 2022, she was nominated in the Personal Journalism category at the National Magazine Awards for her piece “OCD Is Not a Joke” in The Walrus. She is the author of a book in Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 music series on Beauty and the Beat by The Go-Go’s and Girls, Interrupted, her collection of essays on how pop culture is failing women, was published by Véhicule Press in 2023.

this magazine

TALI VORON: This is “fiercely independent and proudly subversive … a critical, gutsy voice in today’s media landscape.” How do you see This Magazine’s role in the Canadian publishing landscape?

LISA WHITTINGTON-HILL: I love that description of This Magazine. We turned fifty-eight this year, so we are the longest-running progressive magazine in Canada, which is pretty amazing. I think we’re unique in that we publish in print, which sometimes feels unique these days. It’s also unique that we publish politics art, ideas, and culture. We’re pretty wide in terms of what we cover. We’re also national in focus and in readership, which sets us apart while still being very small, and very indie. We’ve been around for fifty-eight years on a shoestring budget. There are some magazines that focus entirely on politics or on arts and culture, or publish fiction and poetry every issue. We have a wide range of coverage and certainly the publishing landscape in Canada has changed so much in nearly six decades. We used to be able to say we were one of the only progressive voices in Canada, and now that’s opened up to many more publications that focus on similar things, which I think is great. More magazines makes us all better.

TV: What is one thing you wish all readers knew about This Magazine?

LWH: I wish everyone knew it existed. When I tell people This Magazine has been around for fifty-eight years, they assume we have much more money and staff than we do. It really breaks my heart when I tell people that I’m the publisher of This Magazine and they’re like, “What’s this magazine?” But you know, when people say, what is This, I’m always excited to tell people what This is.I just wish everyone knew that This Magazine existed and that they read it. I wish everyone would read all the fabulous stories and check out all the amazing writers we publish, and illustrators and photographers. I just wish we had a wider reach and everyone was enjoying This. And I wish we could also do it all on our existing marketing budget, which is very, very small. So, world domination on a very small budget.

TV: What does a day in the role of publisher at This look like?

LWH: One of the things I love about being publisher is that every day looks different. I love being the publisher of a small magazine because you get to do a bit of everything and we only have two full-time staff: an editor and a publisher. So we really work as a team. As publisher, I get to be involved in areas that many publishers of bigger magazines don’t get to be involved in. Like cover concepts or deciding on editorial lineups or looking at story pitches. I’m maybe more involved on the editorial side than I would be at a bigger magazine. I really get to do a little bit of everything because we have such a small staff. I am the advertising department, and the grant-writing department, and the fundraising department, and the circulation, marketing, accounting, emptying-the-recycling department. I always laugh when I go to meetings and people are like, “You’ll just want to send this over to your advertising department and liaise with them.” I’m like, “Okay, great, I’ll just liaise with myself!” I really love being involved in all parts of the magazine and seeing how it all comes together though. It’s certainly stressful and there are long hours, but I really, really love it. I often say I have the best job in the world.

TV: What responsibility do you believe that magazines and journalism more broadly have for creating change?

LWH: I think they have a huge responsibility. One of the things I love about magazines like This is that there really is an opportunity to inform and inspire people to take action and create change. We are writing about issues and communities and topics that people don’t read about in mainstream media. I really love the idea that people are inspired when they read an issue of This Magazine. I received an email recently after we published a short piece on activists fighting for bike lanes in Kingston and someone wanted some copies of the issue so they could take them to a meeting they were having with the Kingston City Council. We’re not just an information source, but a source of inspiration. There is so much fake news out there, and the news cycle changes so quickly that I think that there is a real opportunity and a real role for magazines like This Magazine. We also place a lot of emphasis on working with emerging writers and I think there are fewer and fewer places for that. Journalism is hard to break into, and it’s only getting harder. Supporting emerging talent is a role and responsibility of the magazine that we take really, really seriously.

TV: What is one recently published article in This that you’d describe as essential reading and why?

LWH: I think they’re all essential reading, but if I had to pick one … I was just doing some work this morning on our January/February issue, and we have this amazing cover story that I love and haven’t seen it covered anywhere else. It’s about East African organizations that are working together in Toronto to create a purpose-built neighborhood for residents of the Rwandan community. We hear a lot about the housing crisis, especially living in Toronto, and about how rent is skyrocketing and there’s no affordable housing. Looking at it from the perspective of the Rwandan community in Toronto and how they’re banding together to build this community, support each other, and support refugees and asylum seekers coming to Canada, is amazing. I hadn’t read about it anywhere else. I don’t care about reading about the housing crisis through the perspective of condo developers and how hard they have it. I want to read about how it actually impacts people. One of the great things I love about This Magazine is that we focus on how issues are actually affecting people, rather than just talking to policymakers or politicians. Here we get to read how this particular community in Toronto is dealing with the crisis and how what they’ve gone through, in coming to Canada and in their home country, has influenced the kind of solution they’re coming up with. It’s really an interesting story.