text is a free, bi-monthly in-print & online literary magazine with a focus on the concise & eclectic; founded in 2014 by Shaleeta Harper and Philip Gordon in Nanaimo, BC.

When we first envisioned text, our number one priority was to make poetry accessible; we wanted to share all the poetry* around us–in all of its forms–with all the people around us. We wanted to dust poetry off from the dark corners of magazine racks. Since our launch in October last year, we have printed three issues which have found their way onto the shelves of more than a dozen welcoming business’ across Nanaimo, British Columbia, as well as one loving business in Toronto, Ontario. The response and encouragement so far from our community and readers has been phenomenal, and we’re excited to continue to bring poetry everywhere.

*Things which we consider poetry: lyrics, brief narratives,  social media epigrams, the text on the back of your favourite candy wrappers, artwork, photographs, and any other scraps of culture so long as they offer a poetic purpose. text is about the art of the everyday.

With text, we look at poetry from all angles, and accept submissions year-round. If you’d like to submit to text, please first review our submission guidelines. If you’d like to support our initiative, please consider purchasing a subscription or ad space,  or backing our Indiegogo campaign. Full contact details can be found here.

FOUNDERS OF TEXT

Shaleeta Harper, Editor-in-Chief & Publisher

Shaleeta is currently in her fifth year of studies at Vancouver Island University, with a major in Creative Writing, and a double-minor in English and Visual Arts. Her publishing experience includes Portal literary magazine (both as a student and as a paid employee), as well as involvement as editor of the Gustafson Poetry Series chapbooks. Shaleeta is a poet, a sculptor, and a procrastinator.

Philip Gordon , Co-Editor
Philip is only in his third year as a Creative Writing student at Vancouver Island University, but he is already paving his way to success with a sizable portfolio of published works in magazines, both printed and online, and with numerous professional recognition of his talent in poetry. Philip is also known to temporarily alleviate the procrastination of Shaleeta Harper, for which she is very grateful.

PROOFREADERS

Silvia Pikal fell in love with short stories after taking a creative writing course at Mount Royal University, where she completed her Bachelor of Communication. Silvia’s flash fiction has been published in text and she looks forward to contributing as proofreader. She has experience writing and editing for magazines, newspapers, corporate clients and non-profit organizations. You can communicate with her in 140 characters or less @silviapikal. If you tweet her in rhyme, you will receive an imaginary peanut butter cookie.