Room (magazine)
| Categories | Literary magazine |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Circulation | 1,400[1] |
| Publisher | West Coast Feminist Literary Magazine Society |
| First issue | 1975 |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Website |
www |
| ISSN | 0316-1609 |
Room (formerly Room of One's Own) is a Canadian quarterly literary journal that features the work of emerging and established women and genderqueer writers and artists.[2] Launched in Vancouver in 1975 by the West Coast Feminist Literary Magazine Society, or the Growing Room Collective, the journal has published an estimated 3,000 women, serving as an important launching pad for emerging writers. Currently, Room publishes short fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, art, feature interviews, and regular features that promote dialogue between readers, writers and the collective, including "Roommate" (a profile of a Room reader or collective member) and "The Back Room" (back page interviews on feminist topics of interest). Collective members are regular participants in literary and arts festivals in Greater Vancouver and Toronto.
History
The journal's original title (1975-2006) Room of One's Own came from Virginia Woolf's essay A Room of One's Own. In 2007, the collective relaunched the magazine as Room,[3] reflecting a more outward-facing, conversational editorial mandate; however, the original name and its inspiration is reflected in a quote from the Woolf essay that always appears on the back cover of the magazine.
Room magazine has always been operated by an editorial collective. Former collective members include author Gayla Reid, CBC broadcaster Eleanor Wachtel, University of British Columbia Press editor Jean Wilson, and Geist senior editor Mary Schendlinger.[4]
Works that originally appeared in Room have been anthologized the Journey Prize Anthology, Best Canadian Poetry,[5] Best Canadian Essays, and Best Canadian Stories.
Notable Contributors
Past contributors to Room include Marian Engel, Carol Shields, Eden Robinson, Nalo Hopkinson, Larissa Lai, Lorna Crozier, Evelyn Lau, Ivan Coyote, Kate Braid, Susan Point, Hiromi Goto, Susan Musgrave, Shani Mootoo, Elizabeth Hay, Karen Solie, Erìn Moure, Yasuko Thanh, Bronwen Wallace, Nancy Richler, Eliza Robertson, Carmen Rodríguez, and Elizabeth Bachinsky, among many other acclaimed writers and artists. Recent issues have included interviews with Ursula K. LeGuin, Miriam Toews, Joy Kogawa, Gail Anderson-Dargatz, supermodel Stacey McKenzie, and horror comic artist Emily Carroll.
Writing Contests
Room currently offers three writing contests, which are open to both Canadian and international writers who identify as women or genderqueer. The deadline for the fiction and poetry contests is in mid-July, while the deadline for the creative non-fiction contest is currently on March 8, which is also International Women's Day. The creative non-fiction contest was originally added to the other two genres in 2008, and moved to the March deadline starting in 2015.[6]
Cover Art Contest
In 2015, Room introduced a cover art contest with a deadline of November 30.[7]