New Online Magazine Will Explore Issues, Tell The Stories Of Atlantic Canadians
FREDERICTON – The Deep Magazine, a new online long-form Atlantic Canadian publication, is bringing one of its storytelling events to the capital city tonight.
Matthew Halliday and Chelsea Murray, in partnership with Halifax’s The Coast, co-founded the subscription-based publication that will put out one story every month, the first of which was released this week.
It’s the story of how New Brunswick veteran Fabian Henry made the small town of Oromocto Canada’s medical-cannabis capital for veterans. Halliday says its the kind of story they had in mind when they first got the ball rolling.
“It’s exactly the kind of thing in terms of looking at important issues or important news-worthy topics but doing it in a way that is through personal narrative, narrative about people in the region and exploring those untold stories and getting at issues through great, classic narrative magazine writing,” he says.
The Deep got initial funding for the first crop of stories through a Kickstarter campaign, but will be pursuing a mix of revenue sources to keep the publication going. The website currently operates on a soft paywall model with the first two stories being free to readers.
Halliday says additional revenue will come from sponsored stories and storytelling events like tonight’s in Fredericton.
“Every month we’re going to be partnering with different sponsors so this month it’s Goose Lane Editions in Fredericton, which is a great independent literary publisher,” he says.
“We’re going to be pursuing other businesses throughout the region that we think are in keeping with what our audience is looking for and in keeping with sort of our spirit as a publication.”
Halliday says in addition to the original content they’re producing, they’ll also be re-releasing classics of Atlantic long-form to provide readers with more value.
Tonight’s event will feature storytellers from the Fredericton community telling 10-minute personal stories at The Picaroons Roundhouse. The Deep’s official launch event will be September 12 at Lot Six Bar & Restaurant in Halifax. Halliday says events like these they’ve hosted so far have had great success.
“The special thing about them has been that each one sort of takes on the feel of the community,” he says.
“So Halifax felt very Halifax. In Saint John, we felt like we had put together this group of people who told stories there who really embodied the spirit of that city. Sackville, it felt like it was a mixture of the agricultural community and the university town. It felt very much like that community. We’re eager to see what Fredericton feels like.”