NMFG

(No Money From the Government)

In spite of a setback, Poetry Quebec begins its second year with renewed energy. In the spring, we applied to the Canada Council so that we could start paying our contributors. We wanted to practice what we preached in a “Soapbox” that appeared in Issue 2 called “Pay the Poets.” However, on July 7, 2010 we received our “P.F.O” letter.

 

The members of the peer assessment committee “made some favourable comments regarding [y]our mandate, but found that the online magazine required further refinement and development of its content and approach.” We were “encouraged to pay attention to clearly articulating [y]our mandate, [y]our submissions policy, [y]our frequency of publication, and how these aspects on the online magazine are displayed to the reader.”

 

After the initial disappointment, we engaged in some detailed analysis of the peer assessment comments:

 

1. We were happy to know that they made favourable comments regarding our mandate. What these are, we don’t know, but we assume that since our mandate is the following:

 

PQ is committed to remembering and promoting the important contribution of Quebec’s English language poets— past and present— to poetry in Quebec. We believe that poetry matters when it engages the world locally and globally. PQ   will publish the poetry of English language poets of Quebec as well as articles and essays that do not always reflect the opinions of its editors … to be engaged and inclusive and to provoke healthy debate.

 

1. They approved of PQ  remembering and promoting the important contribution of Quebec’s English language poets—past and present— to poetry in Quebec. We believe that poetry matters when it engages the world locally and globally. PQ will publish the poetry of English language poets of Quebec as well as articles and essays that do not always reflect the opinions of its editors…to be engaged and inclusive and to provoke healthy debate.

 

2. The peer assessment committee then told us to clearly articulate our mandate. This comment seems to be a direct contradiction of their previous praise of our mandate. We don’t know how we can articulate this more clearly, but we certainly welcome concrete suggestions.

 

3. The peer assessment committee told us to “further refine and develop” our content and approach. We do not contest that we need further refinement and development of our content and approach. This is precisely why we requested funding— in order to pay the contributors and the website developers. And though money is not the total answer, we feel that depending on the kindness of unpaid contributors will get us only so far: it demeans their labour and goes against our principle that a contributor’s work deserves at least a token wage. Our voluntary contributors submit high quality work, whether we pay them or not. However, offering payment    would allow us to reach further afield. The same goes for the design. Although are constantly improving our design— and do believe that we have a solid format— in order to progress, we need funding to move forward.

 

4. Finally, the committee encouraged us “to pay attention to clearly articulating…[y]our submissions policy, [y]our frequency of publication, and how these aspects on the online magazine are displayed to the reader.” It is true that we have not stated our frequency of publication (4 times per year).  However, in terms of the clarity (or non-clarity) our submission policy, all we can do is reprint it here and let our readers judge for themselves:

Submission
Guidelines:		Info@poetry-quebec.com Send work as an attachment to retain original formatting Keep a copy of your manuscript/image and an accurate record of the date you sent it. Do not send previously published material or material that is currently under consideration by another magazine or periodical. Our reporting time is approximately 101 days. Please do not inquire about the status of your work unless 101 or more days have passed. Do not send multiple submissions. Allow us to reply before you send more work. Copyright automatically reverts to the author upon publication. At the moment, PQ cannot pay for submissions. Please credit Poetry Quebec for reprints of a poem, essay, article, interview, image that has previously appeared in PQ.
Poetry:		Do not submit more than 5 poems at a time; send as a single file Indicate whether the poem is a single page or more. ( i.e. 1/1 or 1/3, 2/3, 3/3, etc.)
Book Reviews:		Poets and publishers may send books for review to 800 Gordon, Suite 205 Verdun, Quebec  (need Postal Code) PQ only reviews English language poetry books by Quebec poets. PQ selects its reviewers from across the country. PQ encourages thoughtful and in-depth reviews. Reviews may be any length. Contributors have 90 days to write their review.
Articles & Essays:		PQ encourages you to write articles on any subject related to poetry. Please submit a one-paragraph proposal of the article you wish to write. For essays, please use the MLA style
Images:		PQ encourages submission of images related to poetry: readings, launches, performances, etc. Make your submission in JPG and no higher than 300 pixels.

 

 

 

Despite our disappointment, perplexity and poverty, we will continue to follow our clear/unclear mandate and seek to improve our content and form. We will also pursue our Sisyphusian task of applying next year.

A footnote to the story: We wanted to apply to the Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec (CALQ) as well but, unfortunately, CALQ had not yet finalized their policy for funding online magazines. Since then, we have heard through the grapevine that they are at the post-consultative stage. Maybe by 2011, they will have a program in place.

  

The Editors