It never cracks out to be where we would like it to be. No matter how hard we attempt to draw the attention of our readers to the general plight of most e-zines like ours. We have gone through several evolutions and the word meta could morph into stasis to describe some of the start-and-stop efforts we have made to keep our e-zine alive, since 1986. From hardcopy, 11 times a year to 6 issues per year. From 16 pages to 48 pages. From 4 times per year as a hardcopy to 4 times a year as an e-zine. From a subscription list of 1600 people, to over 300,000 hits per issue, worldwide. In the past few issues we have also received some of the most positive comments about our e-zine. And that is where we have been for the past several years. With some of the best minds of our time, the best reviewers, and the most vibrant poets… we have had those who are emerging writers, new artists and people with alternate thinkspeak gracing our pages.
Since 2010, Montreal Serai has been publishing my poems and paying me for them. Political poems, feminist poems, lyric poems. Poems about writing poems, about being a tourist in Israel, about Montreal, the city in which I was born.
And I have read Montreal Serai's editorials, reviews, musings, and all the other poets' poems. Montreal Serai: it has been a pleasure.
Louise Carson Montreal poet and writer
Your latest issue is fantastic. The entire content is thought provoking.
W. Brandon Lacy Community activist from Minnesota
Just a note to say that I liked and appreciated this thoughtful article extremely. I keep hoping that if alternative media in other countries keep plugging away, a more accurate picture of American foreign policies since WW2 might finally make it into mainstream American media.
Rose Lovell-Smith English teacher from New Zealand
Montreal Serai is one of the best online magazines, indeed. I was always pleasantly surprised by interesting articles and high professional level of this issue…
I feel proud to be the part of your great magazine…. I can imagine, how it's hard to run Serai. I wish you a lot of energy, don't give up, I do believe in your passion and fortune.
Oleg Dergachov Award winning Montreal artist and cartoonist
I was delighted to be published in Montréal Serai because of the beauty of its graphics and layout, the quality of its content and the integrity of its editorial perspective.
It is a wonderful on-line magazine.
Jim Olwell Poet, writer
Montreal Serai presents a high literary standard and a courageous venue for unconventional ideas, both in one. I have been happy to both read Serai and proud to contribute to it over the years. I believe it has been making, and continues to make, a difference and hope it will continue to exist many years into the future.
Ehab Lotayef Montreal poet, writer and engineer and social activist
I encountered Montreal Serai a few years ago, when I moved to Montreal from Ottawa. It's tagline says: Bringing the margins to the centre. It is faithful to this mission, whose relevance has increased with time. I know it has a long and laudable three-decade long history, but I will confine myself to speaking to its present and recent past.
Full disclosure: I have contributed to MS several times and my short story collection (2013) and novel (2018) were also given space here. I have enjoyed working with the editorial team and found them supportive.
A webzine that publishes fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and reviews of film, music, art, exhibitions, theatre and dance, its editorial board picks 4 themes per year and weaves its issues around them, making place for other pieces as well. MS does not follow transient literary or artistic fashions, rather, it has a solid focus on what can broadly be termed as the socio-political sphere. The non-fiction pieces contain critical and reflective perspectives which are intelligent, and at times contain some theory, while remaining accessible to a range of readers. There's often a personal note. I like it that MS is not just text-oriented. The pieces are illustrated with arresting visuals. And MS features the work of a couple of visual artists every issue.
MS contributors come from diverse backgrounds and bring care and courage to their work.
I believe Montreal Serai plays an important role on the Canadian cultural landscape. (It has an international readership.) While staying its course, as mentioned above, it remains open to new ideas and engagements. This includes going bilingual (English-French).
Veena Gokhale
I have enjoyed reading the Montreal Serai for more than a decade and its diversity of essays on literature, art, politics and books reviewed has an international reach that keeps getting stronger. As a local freelance contributor over the years, I have found Rana Bose and the editorial team to be very open minded to articles and materials that compliment theme issues. It has been a stimulating experience both to read and to write for the Montreal Serai which has never looked better.....
Anne Cimon Writer, Montreal
Thank you for running a thought-provoking journal that provides hours of intellectual pleasure
Uma Parameswaran Writer, Professor of English Literature, novelist and playwright
Montreal Serai.....expressions of emotional rescues, outcries, bursts, creativities written into words ,....Montreal Serai...SSOOOOO MMMMUUUCCHHH RESPECT ...in framing perspective, contextualizing, researching, digging beyond and profoundly to seek, better understand, better survive and better make sense... ultimately to better the world. Kudos to Montreal Serai!!!!! I am a proud supporter, reader of Montreal Serai!!! I thank you profusely … the Montreal Serai team and the 100's of writers, contributors who wrote and provided refreshingly rad reflections for a mag that has been completely and freely available to all for over 3 decades!
Janet Lumb Community organizer, facilitator, artist
The Editorial Board, Montreal Serai