It was established in 1975 by Leland Bardwell (1922–2016), Pearse Hutchinson (1927–2012), Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, and Macdara Woods (1942–2018).
Bardwell retired in 2012; Woods continued working until the final weeks of his life — even reading submissions while in his hospital bed.
Titles considered by the editors for their new publication included Landrail, The Blackbird, and Waterhouse Clock.
She was called Cypher — a name borrowed from several of Woods' poems — based on the Arabic word for "zero" and also referring to a code.
[7] One of the co-founders commented that though the magazine was commonly thought to intend to support new writers, this was not specifically the case at all, but that it had helped "several emergences" anyway.