News & Events

NEXT WEEK, JUNE 10: THE WALRUS AT LUMINATO!

To mark the release of The Walrus summer reading issue, managing editor Jared Bland hosts a discussion about genre fiction: westerns, sci fi, fantasy, romances, and ghost stories. Walrus contributors Stephen Marche and Guy Gavriel Kay will share their thoughts.

As part of Luminato's lunchtime Illuminations series, admission to this event is FREE!

THE WALRUS WINS AT THE UTNE AWARDS!

The Walrus has won the 2009 Utne Independent Press Award for Best Writing. The awards, presented by the Utne Reader, were given on the evening of May 18, 2009, at the Independent Magazine Conference in Boulder, Colorado. "The goal is to honor independently minded publications that don't shy away from tough stories and innovative ideas," the magazine explained.

"It is, once again, the year of The Walrus. Since launching in 2003, the Canadian general-interest magazine “with an international outlook” has nabbed three Utne Independent Press Award nominations, taking the prize in 2004 for best new publication. Five years later and counting, it’s been consistently delightful to read—and last year the magazine outdid itself, its sparkling articles and fluid essays orbiting high above the rest of us earthbound publications.

"As a digest charged with reprinting “the best of the alternative press,” we were exceptionally grateful to have it at our disposal. We culled Moira Farr’s exquisite “Minor Keys” about the emotional power of music and Charles Montgomery’s droll and heartwarming “Me Want More Square Footage.” All year long, the magazine’s Field Notes bulged with unpredictable global vignettes, from a visit to Somaliland’s only mental hospital to the history of Paraguay’s 100-year-old colony of Germans.

"Walrus writers have a knack for telling personal stories and infusing them with contemporary meaning, giving its global news a beating, human heart. In “The First Little Mosque on the Prairie,” for example, a family saga gives way to the history of Islam in Canada. “Fat of the Land” whisks readers along on a trip to Borneo, unraveling the human and environmental consequences of the trans fat ban. Pick up the Walrus and you will read about things you never knew existed; you will be delighted, challenged, and, above all, sated."

Other magazines nominated in the Best Writing category included the Columbia Journalism Review, the New Republic, the Texas Observer, and the Virginia Quarterly Review.

Read more at the Utne Press website.

NEW! THE THIRD WALRUS LIVELY LUNCHTIME DEBATE

Presented by BMO Financial Group in broadcast partnership with BNN Business News Network.

Starting in 2009, BMO's Tom Milroy and John Macfarlane, editor and co-publisher of The Walrus, host four debates taken from the pages of Canada's best magazine.

DEBATE THREE: Sept 24

Join John Lorinc, urban affairs, business writer, and Walrus contributor, for a debate on:

MARK CARNEY AND THE FUTURE OF THE BANK OF CANADA

Thursday, Sept 24 at noon, York Room, 68th Floor, First Canadian Place, Toronto

Tickets for a table of 8 are $1,000 (tax receipt for $750), Individual tickets are $125 (tax receipt for $75). Buy tickets online with your credit card at The Walrus Store.

For further information, call 416-971-5004 ext. 222, or email shelley.ambrose@walrusmagazine.com.

See BNN's video of the first debate.

Fearless. Witty. Thoughtful. Canadian. All this — and lunch too.

CRUISE WITH THE WALRUS!
Labrador and the East Coast Arts Float, September 26 - October 6, 2009.

Join the Walrus Foundation on a southerly route which will take us on a journey of artistic and intellectual exploration. Traveling through the grand landscape and stimulated by a world class resource team, we'll draw our inspiration from the riches of Atlantic Canada.

Here, in the wilds of Labrador, the Torngat Mountains meet the Atlantic Ocean — this is one of the most breathtaking landscapes in all of Canada! Guided expeditionary stops and Zodiac cruises along Labrador's coast will allow time for wildlife viewing, spectacular tundra hikes, sketching, painting and photography. While in the Big Land we visit the region of Nunatsiavut, home of the Labrador Inuit we will visit both natural and cultural sites of importance.

Further south we examine the merchant and Maritime Archaic histories enroute through the Strait to Belle Isle. After stopping in Gros Morne, and a few days along Newfoundland's remote south shore we make our way down the east coast of Nova Scotia before completing our journey in Halifax.

This new concept will bring on a selection of Artists, Photographers, Musicians and Writers together on a floating creative platform with workshops, special projects and small-group instruction — all inspired by the beauty of Canada?s East Coast. Together we will work together to create works onboard, and share them with the communities and the world at large on our final night in Halifax at our special gallery event.

Download the brochure for more info, or go to the Adventure Canada website.