A Short History of Stand Magazine

Stand first appeared in 1952 when Jon Silkin used his £5 redundancy money, received after trying to organise some of his fellow manual workers, to found a magazine which would 'Stand' against injustice and oppression, and 'Stand' for the role that the arts, poetry and fiction in particular, could and should play in that fight.

In its 50 plus years Stand has published early work by many writers who have gone on to become established figures - Ken Smith, Tony Harrison, Michael Hamburger, Douglas Dunn, Jeffrey Wainwright and George MacBeth are just a few. The magazine has also played a major role in bringing the work of Russian and East European writers in translation to an English-speaking audience.

The search for inventive or radical or experimental work goes on, as Stand appears quarterly, featuring the best in new writing, poetry, fiction and criticism.

Stand first appeared in London, then moved to Leeds when Jon Silkin was Gregory Fellow in Poetry, and where he studied for a degree in English. It moved again to Newcastle in 1965, returning to Leeds in 1999 after Jon Silkin's death. Stand is an independent company, but works in close association with the School of English at the University of Leeds, and the School was proud to be able to host the 50th birthday celebrations for this distinguished magazine, and to look forward to to its future under a new editorial team.