The Fiddlehead

Fiddlehead, The

The Fiddlehead, LITERARY MAGAZINE foundedd 1945 at Fredericton, NB, by A.G. BAILEY as a mimeographed in-house organ of the Bliss Carman Poetry Society. Prominent in the magazine's early years were Bailey, Elizabeth BREWSTER, Fred COGSWELL, Frances Firth, Donald Gammon (the first editor), Robert Gibbs, Desmond PACEY, Robert Richards and A. Robert Rogers. During its early years, the magazine reflected strongly both the poetic techniques of T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats and those masters' desire to fuse the present with the traditional past through the use of myth and symbol.

In 1952, to fill a publishing vacuum among Canadian magazines, The Fiddlehead was converted to an international magazine of poetry and issued in a printed format. Between 1952 and 1966, under Cogswell, it became a quarterly, added a book review section, undertook to publish prose fiction, and established a reputation for eclecticism. In 1967 the magazine became officially the property of UNB; editorial and managerial duties were subdivided among individuals connected with the university and, after a brief flirtation with monthly publication, the magazine continued as a quarterly with an expanded and improved format.