About The Wolf: a poetry magazine's own account of its aims and team

The Wolf's own about page described the magazine as a poetry title founded by James Byrne and Nicholas Cobic in April 2002. Its stated aim was to publish emerging poets alongside established ones. At the time of the page it appeared three times a year under Byrne's editorship, and it said it had received Arts Council funding since January 2008, a change that let it grow its content by a third and move to a perfect-bound format.

The page claimed that the early years had made The Wolf a leading independent poetry magazine in Britain. As evidence it cited the publisher and editor Neil Astley of Bloodaxe, who in a lecture for the Stanza festival had called it the next magazine to watch. It said that more than 350 poets from every continent had appeared, and it named international translation, critical prose and interviews with leading poets as the features most often mentioned in its favour. Poems, it stated, came only from submitted work, with no friends' pile and no special treatment for any writer. It added that it also carried artwork.

Each year the magazine staged a poetry tour around its launches. The page mentioned earlier visits to Paris, London and Wales, and a 2008 tour with readings in Manchester, Glasgow, London and Norwich in October. It also said, like most poetry magazines, that it depended on subscriptions to survive.

The team listed was Byrne as editor, Kim Howey and Sandeep Parmar as reviews editors, an advisory panel of Carolyn Forché, John Kinsella and Robert Minhinnick, translation advisers Paschalis Nikolaou and Stephen Watts, Nikki Dudley for subscriptions and distribution, and Jon Currie as administrator. For anyone studying British little magazines of the 2000s, it records the aims and staffing the magazine claimed for itself.

a young editorial team who aren't afraid to ruffle a few feathers

Neil Astley, The Wolf