Hancock, Geoffrey F., 1926-2011

The first issue of the Canadian Fiction Magazine (CFM), edited by Janie Kennon and R.W. Stedingh, appeared in 1971 as a student publication at the University of British Columbia. Geoff Hancock took over as editor in summer 1975 after Stedingh retired. Published as a quarterly, CFM was probably the foremost literary vehicle of its kind during this period for the Canadian short story in English and for its speciality issues on Native fiction, magic realism, Latin fiction, and fiction in translation, all of which were later turned into anthologies by Hancock. During its peak years, CFM published works by some of Canada's best-known writers and artists, including: Margaret Atwood, Michael Bullock, Matt Cohen, Mavis Gallant, Alberto Manguel, Eugene McNamara, Alice Munro, Susan Musgrave, Rikki, Leon Rooke, Jane Rule, Josef Skvorecký, Jane Urquhart, Miriam Waddington, bp Nichol, David Watmough, George Woodcock, Ann Copeland, and Sam Tata. Published for twenty-seven years primarily under Hancock's editorship, CFM ceased in 1998 when government grants and other funding were not available as a subvention for publication.