Magazines Canada has announced it will be printing a biannual print publication, Canadian Magazines canadiens with the first issue dropping in February 2011.

The bilingual magazine is being launched to fill a void in the industry, says Magazines Canada general manager and publisher Barbara Zatyko. “Mark Jamison and Terry Sellwood went to an International Association of the Periodical Press (FIPP) conference and no one had heard of all the things we are doing in the Canadian publishing industry,” she says.

Editing the magazine will be Chantal Tranchemontagne, the editorial consultant will be Kim Pittaway and the publishing consultant is Deb Rosser. Advertising for the magazine will be sold as part of MagNet sponsorship sales by Barbara Gould, who also manages the National Magazine Awards and KRW Awards.

Production of the magazine will be done by Spafax, which also publishes enRoute. “A critical element in putting this project together is the partnernship between Magazines Canada and Spafax, who is designing and producing the publication,” says Zatyko. “ We couldn’t have done this without the amazing team at Spafax, including editorial director Arjun Basu and art director Erik Mohr.”

The first issue of the magazine will have a circulation of 3,000, being distributed to Magazines Canada members, MPs and polybagged to publishers in the U.S. and Great Britain with FIPP material.