The Fifth Corner is made by editors and artists who care deeply about the work.

We are drawn to fiction, poetry, and art with a strong sense of voice. We covet work that feels exact, strange, difficult, beautiful, or hard to forget.

We believe in close reading, careful curation, and giving each piece the space to become fully itself.

Aliona Ciumac is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Fifth Corner and The Fifth Corner Literary Society, where she shapes the publication’s editorial vision and oversees its growing program of literary publishing, prizes, commissioned art, and emerging-writer initiatives.

Her editorial interests centre on literary dark fiction, speculative and psychologically unsettling work.

Under her direction, The Fifth Corner has developed into a multidisciplinary literary project encompassing the journal, The Fifth Corner Press, CODA, and the Society’s Emerging Voices program, with a commitment to rigorous curation, original art, and meaningful compensation for writers and artists.

Brighit Griffin

Brighid Griffin is an editor and writer with professional experience across literary publishing, fiction editing, criticism, and literary programming. She most recently served as Assistant Editor at The Sewanee Review, following earlier editorial work with Virginia Quarterly Review.

At The Fifth Corner, Brighid brings a rigorous literary eye, strong editorial instinct, and a particular sensitivity to fiction that is dark, formally adventurous, psychologically complex, and difficult to categorize. She helps shape the journal’s fiction program alongside the Editor-in-Chief, bringing both discernment and an independent editorial perspective to the work we publish.

Robert Black is an award-winning Canadian poet whose poetry and fiction have been published internationally across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. His work is marked by a distinctive attention to language, identity, displacement, and emotional complexity.

As CODA Poetry Editor, Robert leads the reading and evaluation of poetry submissions, shapes each cycle’s longlist, and helps define the literary standard and evolving voice of CODA alongside the Editor-in-Chief and invited guest judges.

Lyndon Polan is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, installation, video, and performance, with training in Paris, Amsterdam, and Biarritz and exhibitions in Canada and Europe.

As Curatorial Advisor to The Fifth Corner, Lyndon helps shape the journal’s visual direction, advising on commissioned artists, portfolios, and the relationship between image and text. His curatorial eye supports the visual cohesion of each issue while helping develop the journal’s evolving artistic identity.