Elska – A year of local boys and local stories

Elska Magazine which was launched one year ago, is celebrating its first anniversary this month.

Elska has been making its mark as a unique and groundbreaking member of the small community of national LGBT publications.

Its simple goal is to meet, photograph, and present the local men living in cities around the world and has become acknowledged as an honest, unbiased and authentic title.

For each issue, Elska’s small team travels to a different city and takes to social media to call for local men of all ages, races, sizes, and styles to participate.

There is no selection process, no specific type of man sought – everyone is welcome. Then each person gets a photoshoot out in the city or in their home, wearing their own clothes or nothing at all. The images are un-airbrushed, the locations are real, and the themes are always about the person, giving a most personal experience.

Adding to that intimate feeling is that each person writes a short story from their life in the city to accompany their photo spread, letting you get to know them and their town, and reminding you that these are not just models but real people.

“In the beginning, Elska was just an experiment”, says editor and founder Liam Campbell. “I loved travel, culture, language, and photography; and I wanted to find some way to mix it all together. I just went to that first city, Lviv, shot a bunch of guys, and stuck them in a zine with some stories. But then I started to hear from readers about how much Elska touched them, how seeing all kinds of men, all treated as equally beautiful, lifted them. In a world where it can feel like the only way to be validated is to look like a porn star, Elska shows other types of men, yet without fetishising them. But that doesn’t mean we won’t include a guy just ‘cos he’s pretty – everyone is welcome!”

In its first year Elska released seven ‘bookazines’: Lviv (Ukraine), Berlin (Germany), Reykjavík (Iceland), Lisbon (Portugal), Taipei (Taiwan), Istanbul (Turkey), and Cardiff (Wales).

The coming year will see Elska expand its portfolio, covering issues in Europe, Asia, North America. Toronto (Canada) will be the eighth edition.

Elska Magazine is sold in over thirty-five retailers worldwide or for order online.

In addition to the classic print ‘bookazine’, there is also a tablet/iPad version.

For a list of stockists and details of the subscription service, click here: