The Polyglot is a community hub, magazine, and publisher created out of an overwhelming urge to respect, promote, and celebrate heritage and Indigenous languages that are often ignored or neglected in the literary, art, and publishing worlds.
Founded in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Canada) in 2016 by poet, researcher, and educator Adriana Oniță, it was billed as the first biannual online magazine devoted to publishing multilingual poetry and art in Canada. We have since expanded to publish poetry, art, stories, essays, and translations by both Canadian and international contributors.
It is important to document why this project was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. At the time of launching The Polyglot, Edmonton was leading the pack in terms of linguistic diversity growth. Data showed the number of people in Edmonton who use a language other than English or French as their mother tongue surged 31 per cent between the 2011 and 2016 censuses — a faster rate than in any of Canada’s other big cities. More than 345,000 Edmontonians claimed a non-official first language, nearly double the number of the 1996 census and making up around a quarter of the metro area’s 1.3 million people.
However, of those, 87,115 regularly spoke an immigrant language at home, according to Statistics Canada, and all Indigenous languages reported were endangered. Thus, we felt that we had a role to play in maintaining heritage and Indigenous languages by providing the first platform where multilingual artists and writers could freely live, write, gather, and hold events in other languages.
OUR MISSION
The Polyglot's mission is to be the hub for multilingual creativity. We advocate for multilingual voices to be heard through projects that harness the power of art, words, and technology, including:
The Polyglot magazine
Chapbook series
Online monthly art lab
Educational programming
Artist retreats, and more!
