Room (magazine)

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[3] 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.[4] Room publishes short fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, art, feature interviews, and 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[5] and Toronto.[6]

Room
Issue 38.2 "How We Relate" (Summer 2015). Cover art: "Climbing Into My Imagination" by Emily Cooper (2009)
EditorShristi Uprety
CategoriesLiterary magazine
FrequencyQuarterly
Circulation1,700[1]
PublisherMolly Cross-Blanchard
Founded1975
CountryCanada
Based inVancouver
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.roommagazine.com
ISSN0316-1609

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,[7] 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.[8]

Works that originally appeared in Room have been anthologized the Journey Prize Anthology, Best Canadian Poetry,[9] Best Canadian Essays, and Best Canadian Stories, and have been nominated for National Magazine Awards.[10]

Approximately 90% of the content Room publishes comes from unsolicited submissions.[11]

Notable contributors

Past contributors to Room include Marian Engel, Carol Shields, Eden Robinson, Nalo Hopkinson, Larissa Lai, Lorna Crozier, Evelyn Lau, Ivan Coyote, Audrey Thomas, Kate Braid, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Susan Point, Hiromi Goto, Susan Musgrave, Shani Mootoo, Elizabeth Hay, Karen Solie, Erín Moure, Yasuko Thanh, Cynthia Flood, Gail Anderson-Dargatz, M. NourbeSe Philip, Daphne Marlatt, Bronwen Wallace, Carmen Aguirre, Ayelet Tsabari, Nancy Richler, Eliza Robertson, Carmen Rodríguez, Marie Annharte Baker, Betsy Warland, Lydia Kwa, and Elizabeth Bachinsky, among many other acclaimed writers and artists. Recent issues have included interviews with Ursula K. Le Guin, Miriam Toews, Joy Kogawa, Lisa Charleyboy, Stacey McKenzie, d'bi young, Jillian Tamaki, Janie Chang, and Mariko Tamaki.

Writing contests

Room currently offers four 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 8 March, 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.[12]

In 2016, Room launched their first Short Forms Contest, a multi-genre / genre-blending contest for flash fiction, flash CNF, and prose poetry of 500 words and under, with an inaugural deadline of 15 January 2017.[13]

In addition to offering contests, Room presents one contributor each year with a $500 Emerging Writer Award.[14]

Cover art contest

In 2015, Room introduced a cover art contest with a deadline of 30 November.[15]

Making Room: Forty Years of Room Magazine

In 2017, Room published the anthology, Making Room: Forty Years of Room Magazine. The anthology contains a selection of works featured in Room between 1975 and 2016.[16][17] The anthology is broken up chronologically and follows Canadian feminist writing throughout different eras of feminism.[18] 80 pieces are featured in Making Room.[19] The Making Room project was coordinated by Meghan Bell.[20]

Anthology contributors

Growing Room Festival

Room launched Growing Room: A Feminist Literary Festival in 2017.[21] The first festival was planned to celebrate both Room's 40th anniversary and International Women's Day and ran from 8 to 12 March in Vancouver, British Columbia.[22] Growing Room features panels and from female and genderqueer Canadian writers as well as dancing and music.[23]

The 2018 iteration of Growing Room was held from 1 to 4 March of that year.[24] The 2019 festival was held from 8 to 17 March and featured approximately 100 writers and over 50 events.[23] Growing Room 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19.[25]

See also

References
  1. Magazines
  2. "Frequently Asked Questions". Room Magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  3. Eugene Benson; L.W. Conolly (30 November 2004). Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. Routledge. p. 897. ISBN 978-1-134-46848-5. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  4. Knight, Chelene. "Shout, shout, let it all out". Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  5. "International Women's Day: Literary Event Round-up". SFU. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  6. Morand, Tatiana. "The Literary Community; The New Quarterly". Tnq.ca. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  7. "Room of One's Own". MMemoryBC. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  8. Hubbard, Taryn. "Roomies". Room Magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  9. Tightrope Books
  10. "A Writer's Guide to Canadian Literary Magazines & Journals". National Magazine Awards Blog. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  11. "Room Magazine". Poets & Writers. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  12. "Room's Annual CNF, Poetry & Fiction, and Cover Art Contests". Room Magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  13. "Room's Annual CNF, Poetry & Fiction, and Cover Art Contests". Room Magazine. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  14. "Emerging Writer Award". Room Magazine. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  15. "Room's Annual CNF, Poetry & Fiction, and Cover Art Contests". Room Magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  16. Maxwell, John (11 February 2017). "Making Room 40 Years of Room Magazine Archives". Publishing @ SFU. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  17. "Special Feature: Celebrating 40 Years of Feminist Publishing with Room Magazine". open-book.ca. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  18. Wilson, Kate (1 March 2017). "Room magazine marks four decades of feminist writing with a bold new literary festival". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  19. Murdoch, Sarah (25 March 2017). "From museums to myths, the latest anthologies offer expert insight". Toronto Star. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  20. "Room's 40th Anniversary Anthology | Room Magazine". roommagazine.com. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  21. Robertson, Becky (19 January 2017). "Room magazine to host Canada's first feminist literary festival". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  22. Lederman, Marsha (3 March 2017). "Feminist literary festival in Vancouver makes room for controversy". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  23. Gee, Dana (6 March 2019). "Festival flourishes in third year with broad literary focus". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  24. Johns, Jessica (20 February 2018). "Unceded: Making Room For Indigenous Feminisms". CiTR. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  25. Smith, Janet (13 March 2020). "Due to COVID-19 scare, Growing Room Festival cancels remainder of events "with a heavy heart"". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
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