Descant (1970 – 2015) was a quarterly literary magazine that published new and established contemporary writers and visual artists from Canada and around the world, reflecting "a cosmopolitan awareness.

135, winter 2006) and include: Margaret Atwood, bill bissett, Nicole Brossard, Anne Carson, Camilla Gibb, Barbara Gowdy, Dennis Lee, Daphne Marlatt, Anne Michaels, Michael Ondaatje, Al Purdy, Leon Rooke, Jane Urquhart and Jan Zwicky.

[5] The magazine's extensive archives are located in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto.

There are approximately 25 contributors per issue, in poetry, fiction and non-fiction, as well as visual artists in photography, painting and mixed media.

[12] Four anthologies of student-teacher writing were published as part of Descant's Students, Writers and Teachers (SWAT) outreach programme: Armadillo (2008), Barracuda (2009), Capybara (2011) and Dromedary (2011).

[13] In 1995, HarperCollins published Paper Guitar: 27 Writers Celebrate 25 Years of Descant Magazine including contributions from Margaret Atwood, Rosemary Sullivan, Timothy Findley, Alberto Manguel, Katherine Govier, Leon Rooke, Evelyn Lau and W. P.

[5] The Master of Ceremonies was author Antanas Sileika, former Descant co-editor, and Director of the Humber College School for Writers.

Descant magazine maintains a limited social media presence through their website, blog and Twitter account.

Contributing editors to the magazine were: Kay Armatage, Mark Kingwell, Alberto Manguel, and Rosemary Sullivan.

[15] Among other sources of financial support, Descant received the following operating grants from 1974 to 2014:[20] Descant developed and received funding for a number of literary outreach programs: SWAT (students, writers and teachers workshops), Operation Springboard (writing workshops with young people in conflict with the law[21]), Now Hear This!