Source : Globe & Mail

The Walrus, Canada's much-honoured current-affairs magazine, has a new publisher, Shelley Ambrose, a former public-affairs officer for the Canadian consulate in New York and assistant to the late CBC Radio host Peter Gzowski, among other jobs.

Ambrose, 44, assumes her new position as well as that of executive director of the non-profit Toronto-based Walrus Foundation tomorrow, succeeding Bernard Schiff, who resigned in September after a long disagreement with the magazine's co-founder and editor, Ken Alexander.

Ambrose, who recently co-organized the mammoth birthday celebration/fundraiser for former U.S. president Bill Clinton in Toronto, said in an interview yesterday that she has "been exceedingly aware of The Walrus" since its inception three years ago, and helped to organize a launch event for it in New York in late September, 2003, while assisting former Canadian consul-general Pamela Wallin.

"The mandate and the charitable status of the foundation depends on extending public discourse," Ambrose said. "And the magazine is the cornerstone of that."

But, she added, the periodical, published 10 times a year, is "only the beginning of a wide range of projects" and private and public collaborations she hopes to initiate as a way of "extending [The Walrus] brand," much as The New Yorker has done with its fall festival.

While The Walrus received 17 citations at the National Magazine Awards this year, it has had a tumultuous history and until it gained charitable status last year, it seemed it might go the way of Saturday Night, The Canadian Forum, Elm Street, The Idler and other now-defunct publications. Indeed, today only five staffers -- Alexander (who started as publisher), information-systems head Jesse Hirsh, associate editor Joshua Knelman, production editor Sharon Coates and creative director Antonio De Luca -- remain from the original complement that produced the magazine's first issues.

Ambrose isn't fazed by her new employer's stormy history. "The way I look at it, it's seen itself through the most difficult period, namely the start-up. . . . I'm not surprised it's finding its way," she said.

Alexander called her "a really dynamic character . . . [who's] incredibly well-connected. She's been everything from a head-honcho fundraiser to chase producer [in broadcasting], right across the board. Just look at her success rate; Shelley's a worker. And this is about hard work. I think she is ideally qualified."

According to the Canadian Circulations Audit Board, The Walrus in 2005 had a paid per-issue circulation of more than 43,000, with close to 70 per cent of this coming from subscription sales.

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