A registered Canadian non-profit literary magazine, run by a team spanning high school through postgraduate study and literary professionals. Built to the standard of a peer-reviewed journal.
Harbour Works is a registered Canadian non-profit literary magazine — and we are building it to a standard that does not exist yet in this space. We are not a course project. We are not a club newsletter. There are no shareholders and no owner taking a cut; every dollar and every hour goes back into the work. Our team spans high schoolers, undergraduates, and graduate students through to master's, PhD, and working literary professionals. We are working, deliberately and seriously, toward becoming a fully peer-reviewed journal: the most rigorous, most prestigious literary publication of its kind in the country.
Every submission enters a multi-stage blind review process. A minimum of three editors read each piece independently before any discussion begins. Decisions are made by argument and consensus, not by majority vote. Work is accepted because it earns it — not because there are pages to fill.
We publish fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, visual art, photography, and hybrid work. We are drawn to writing that takes risks — formally, politically, emotionally — and to writers who understand the page is not a safe place.
We are open to high school and university students worldwide. We believe the most vital creative work is happening in student hands right now — not after graduation, not once someone decides it's ready. The only question we ask of a piece is whether it is alive.
"We are not building another student magazine. We are building the most prestigious literary journal of its kind in Canada — and we are holding it to that standard from day one."
Harbour Works is a registered Canadian non-profit — no shareholders, no owner taking a cut. Every issue is built to the standard of a peer-reviewed journal, from a blind editorial process to where the work ends up after the issue closes. Here's what that means for you.
Three things we will not compromise on.
We don't publish because of who you are. We publish because of what you made. The submission process is fully anonymous. Editors are asked to read without knowing who wrote the piece.
We are working toward full peer-reviewed journal accreditation. That means multi-stage blind review, editorial consensus over majority vote, and a rejection rate that reflects genuine selectivity. We are not there yet — but every issue is built as if we already are.
We reject the premise that work made by students exists in a lesser category. The history of literature is full of writers who produced their most enduring work before anyone told them they were allowed to. Canada has those writers. We intend to find them.