| Categories | Literary magazine, Canadian culture |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Circulation | 10,000 |
| Founder | Stephen Osborne |
| First issue | 1990 |
| Company | The Geist Foundation |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | Canadian English |
| Website | geist.com |
| ISSN | 1181-6554 |
Geist is a Canadian literary magazine[1] published quarterly since 1990. The magazine takes its name from the German word geist (meaning "mind" or "spirit").
Geist was co-founded in 1990 by Stephen Osborne and Mary Schendlinger in their living room, with financing of just $7,500.[2] On April 20, 2015, Geist announced that Osborne and Schendlinger would be stepping down and staff members Michał Kozłowski and AnnMarie MacKinnon would be taking over.[3]
The magazine is known in part for its series of Canadian maps (e.g. "Canadian placenames that sound impolite," "The Beer Map of Canada," etc.)[4] and for spearheading various campaigns, such as petitions to have folk singer Stan Rogers inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame[5] and the Geist Annual Literal Literary Postcard Contest.[6][7]
Geist has received numerous award nominations, including National Magazine Awards in 2010[8] and 2017.[9] It won the 2017 Gold Medal for Photojournalism & Photo Essay for Terence Byrnes' South of Buck Creek.[10] In 2019 Geist was nominated for two National Magazine Awards in the Personal Journalism and Column categories.[11] Lisa Bird-Wilson won the Silver Column award for "Clowns, Cakes, Canoes: This is Canada?"[12][13] Geist has been featured in the Utne Reader.[14]