variant

This special issue of Variant magazine is in memory of former editor Leigh French, who died suddenly in May 2023. Variant existed in two iterations: volume 1 (1984–94) and volume 2 (1996–2012). For the duration of the second volume — in a savvy and economical free tabloid magazine format — it was under the editorship of Leigh, initially alongside Billy Clark, then Daniel Jewesbury, and then with a wider editorial collective for the final two issues (including Gesa Helms, Leigh’s long-term partner). Variant was last issued in 2012 when it was defunded by Creative Scotland. In our view, no magazine or journal in Scotland has taken its place in terms of a depth of critical engagement with questions of culture, society, economics and their imbrication. Its critical boldness, pugnaciousness — and a humour often missed — has been sorely absent in the interim.