About Room

Kay Fraser

Kay Fraser is an award winning spoken word artist, published writer, educator and wellness practitioner. Her work strikes a balance between individual musings and social commentary; navigating the experiences that make, shape and break us as individuals and as a whole. Kay marries her passion for wellness, movement and play with inquiry and creativity, and offers performances and integrative programs through a holistic, decolonized, trauma-informed lens. Since 2008, Kay has had the opportunity to teach, compete and perform across Turtle Island, and has shared the stage with artists including: d’bi young, Carlos Andrés Gómez and Theresa tha Songbird.

Gitanjali Divisha Bal

Gitanjali Divisha Bal is a writer and editor living in Tkaronto. She’s currently working on her thesis novella. Her work can be found in Kiwi Collective, Potted Purple and Room.

Melissa Barrientos

Melissa Barrientos is a freelance editor, who enjoys spending her days editing manuscripts and helping self-publishing authors share their work with the world. She holds a HBA in English and Professional Writing & Communication from the University of Toronto and a certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University. Melissa is the co-founder of Archetype: A Literary Journal and volunteer for Editors Canada, gritLIT, and Room. When she is not editing or reading, she is writing about life back home in Lima, Peru.

Selin Berktas

Selin Berktas arrived in Canada from Azerbaijan in 2021. She is a writer, radio producer, and researcher focusing on migrant justice, borders, and postcolonial literature from the Caucasus. She holds a BA in English Literature from the University of British Columbia and is currently working on her first novel.

Serena Lukas Bhandar

Serena Lukas Bhandar is a Punjabi/Welsh/Irish transfemme writer, water witch, and workshop facilitator living as a settler on Lekwungen and WSANEC lands. Her Pushcart Prize-nominated writing has appeared in Nameless Woman: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color and Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture, among other places. She currently splits her time between providing inclusive sexuality education to middle-schoolers, supporting survivors of sexualized violence with the Anti-Violence Project, and mentoring trans, two-spirit, and non-binary youth through the Trans Tipping Point project.

Monica Calderon

Monica is from the Philippines and moved to Canada in 2008. After graduating from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila with a BFA, she worked in animation, publishing, training and graphic design. She has a business providing graphic and web design services to non-profit groups and small businesses. She is an avid runner and dabbles in photography. Check out her portfolio at monicadesigns.ca.

Molly Cross-Blanchard

Molly Cross-Blanchard (she/her) is a white and Métis writer, editor, and educator living on Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg, MB. She is the former Publisher of Room and currently teaches Indigenous Studies at the University of Winnipeg. Her collection of poetry, Exhibitionist, was published in 2021 by Coach House Books and she’s currently working on a collection of short fiction about THW (Truly Horrible Women).

Claire Diamant

Claire Diamant is a writer, editor and actress from the unceded territory of the Lkwungen (Lekwungen) peoples, and the Songhees, Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations. Despite having written obsessively for as long as she can remember, she still can’t spell simultaneously without voice-to-text. New Earth Bandits, a play she wrote and performed in, was runner-up for Best Storytelling at the Victoria Fringe Festival.

Ashton Diduck

Ashton Diduck is a queer writer currently residing in Tiohtià:ke. He graduated from the Honours English and Creative Writing program at Concordia University in 2023. You can find previously published work in New Note Poetry, Eavesdrop Magazine, carte blanche, or forthcoming in Montreal Review of Books and The Capilano Review. @scumb0yyy on Instagram.

Meagan Dyer

Meagan Dyer (she/her) works in publishing in the roles of production editing and digital accessibility. She is also an occasional writer of short stories and essays, and holds a Bachelors of Arts from Vancouver Island University. She is a big champion of flexible style guides, open listening, and using her privilege to help break down barriers in the publishing industry. Her early years were spent in a small farming community on Treaty 7 territory (outside Calgary) before moving west to the beautiful and unceded Coast Salish territories. Today, she lives in what is now known as Vancouver with her partner and her Great Dane/bullmastiff, Gaston.

Natasha Gauthier

Natasha Gauthier is a white and Indigenous hybrid writer and visual artist who lives on the land of the Qayqayt First Nation and Coast Salish peoples, which was stolen and renamed “New Westminster, BC.” Her writing has previously appeared in The Malahat Review, The Capilano Review, CV2/Prairie Fire, and Poetry is Dead. She is the former Prose Editor for PRISM international, and an MFA candidate at UBC. She’s a cool mom, a punkish auntie, and a lover of all things freaky and weird.

Sadie Graham

Sadie is a writer of essays, reviews, and fiction and a web editor at SAD Magazine. Her work has been published by EVENT Magazine, Room Magazine, Electric Literature, Canadian Notes & Queries, The Toronto Star, Vice, Buzzfeed, The Drift, and more.

Aris Keshav

Aris Keshav is a poet and teacher living in Tio’tia:ke (Montréal) and studying English at Concordia University. Their writing has appeared in CV2, The New Quarterly, Canadian Notes & Queries, and elsewhere. Their debut chapbook TAUNTING AUGUST was published in 2022 by Ethel Zine and Micro-Press. You can find their collage poetry on Instagram at @ambiance.queer.

Micah Killjoy

Micah Killjoy was born and raised on coastal Salish land. They are a writer, editor, and BFA student at the University of British Columbia. They enjoy urban exploration, daydreaming, doggo walks, and solarpunk aesthetics.

Moe Kirkpatrick

Moe Kirkpatrick is a queer, trans game writer and critic based out of Vancouver, BC. He has a BFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. His poetry, nonfiction, and criticism has appeared in Room Magazine, Artemis, R.KV.R.Y. Quarterly, and The Ubyssey. He previously worked at Archiact Interactive on the VR game based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, Journey to Foundation. Find him online at moekirkpatrick.wordpress.com.

Holly Lam

Holly Lam is a Chinese/Scottish/Irish settler living on the territories of the Lekwungen people. She studied creative writing at the University of Victoria and her fiction has been published in carte blanche, Plenitude, and Grain. Holly currently works in theatre administration and loves storytelling for its ability to create compassion, representation, and change. When not reading and writing, she listens to podcasts, absorbs moderately useless knowledge about queer celebrity news and TV shows, and cares for her many house plants.

Annick MacAskill

Annick MacAskill’s poems have appeared in journals and anthologies across Canada and abroad, including Room, Plenitude, Prism, Canadian Notes & Queries, Arc, The Fiddlehead, Best Canadian Poetry, and The Stinging Fly. Her debut collection, No Meeting Without Body (Gaspereau Press, 2018), was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and shortlisted for the Atlantic Book Awards’ J.M. Abraham Poetry Award. Her second collection is due to be published by Gaspereau in the spring of 2020. She currently lives and writes in Kjipuktuk (Halifax) on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq.

Nara Monteiro

Nara Monteiro is a Brazilian-Canadian editor, writer, and nerd based in Tkaronto. They edit for Room, serve as a managing editor at Augur magazine, and by day they crunch numbers for House of Anansi and Groundwood. Nara has a Master of Publishing from Simon Fraser University, where they wrote their thesis on the impact and survival of feminist literary magazines in Canada while serving as Room’s publisher. After hours you can find them in the nearest patch of woods with their nose in a book. Find their latest work here and connect here.

Nicole Opong-Agyare

Nicole Opong-Agyare is a Vancouver-based Ghanaian-Canadian writer currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She is a member of both KPU’s Creative Writing Guild and the Federation of BC Writers and also serves as junior prose editor of pulp MAG. She loves to volunteer with literary events including Word Vancouver and the Vancouver Writers Fest and is also the founder of the arts non-profit Writing BC.

Iheoma Uzomba

Iheoma Uzomba goes by the stage name Oma is Loud. Her work spans performance poetry and interdisciplinary storytelling. Her writing has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Rattle Magazine, Palette Poetry, The Chestnut Review, The Shore Poetry and other journals, earning honours such as the Glenna Luschei Award for Poetry (2025) and the Lagos–London Poetry Prize (2022). In 2026, she has won the Canadian Poetry Slam Nationals and the Bernadine Evaristo Prize for African Poetry. She is a Poetry Translation Center (UK) UNDERTOW Fellow. Her poetry-theatre production, Pretty Dangerous: Four Acts on Womanhood, premiered at the Calgary Central Library in March 2026.

Diana Samu-Visser

Diana Samu-Visser (she/her) is a researcher living in London, Ontario, on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron peoples. She has a Master’s degree in English Language and Literature (Western University) and is heavily involved in the performing arts scene as a dancer, musical theater performer, and burlesque and drag artist. She also loves distance running, gardening, fiber arts, and devouring short story collections.

Mridula Morgan

Mridula Morgan is a first generation settler/ally from India and currently resides on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people (commonly referred to as Vancouver BC). She’s had a love affair with words since childhood, completed an MA in Education and a Creative Writing Certificate through The Writer’s Studio at SFU, and has worked in social services for 30+ years. She is a strong proponent of anti-oppression work and has applied her learning and skills in this area in both collective and non-collective workspaces, including her current workplace that she helped unionize. Juggling work and caregiving commitments, Mridula dabbles in creative non fiction and has published articles and book reviews in print and short flash pieces online. She’s currently working on a memoir that honours the spirits of her grandmothers and mother.

Chimedum Ohaegbu

Chimedum Ohaegbu resides in Moh’kinstsis, colonially known as Calgary, Alberta. She is a three-time Hugo Award winner, and formerly worked as Uncanny Magazine’s managing and poetry editor. She loves insect facts, the theatre and stageplays, birds, and orchestral videogame music. Her work can be found in Strange Horizons, Arc Poetry Magazine, Contemporary Verse 2, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and the Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Vol.3, among others. She is currently working on her first novel. You can find her online at chimedum.com.

Fran Pacchiano

Francesca Pacchiano is a recent graduate of Vancouver Island University and has finally stepped out into the real world. She works as a journalist for Take 5 Newsmagazine and as the managing editor for GOOEY magazine. When she’s not working, she’s trying to read her way through a very long list of books.

Lindsey Peacock

Lindsey is a born-and-bred Southerner who has called Canada home for the last 14 years. She’s a recovering newspaper and magazine journalist and her byline in business and tech publications across the country. When she isn’t slinging copy, you’ll find her exploring Toronto with Charlie, her ginger husky.

Tara Preissl

Tara Preissl (She/Her) is a queer, chronically ill, settler (Scottish, Austrian, Hungarian) and Indigenous (Stó:lō) writer, editor, and community organizer who has been a member of Room’s Editorial Board and partner organization, the Indigenous Brilliance Collective, since 2022. She is a citizen of Leq’á:mel First Nation (Jasper/Johnson family), but was raised in a suburban environment on the stolen lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəjˀəm, and səlilwətaɬ Nations. Currently, she resides in the rural community of Smithers, BC on Gidimt’en clan territory of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.

Vanessa Sanginiti

Vanessa Sanginiti is a writer who graduated from OCAD University’s Creative Writing program. Her works consist of analyzing and discussing film, media, and culture while utilizing feminist, gender, and anti-capitalist theories. Her film reviews can be found on Exclaim!’s website. Vanessa loves her dog, reading, and hockey. You can probably find her at a pop punk show or taking pictures with her camera whenever she is free. @vanessaonfilms on Twitter, Instagram, and Letterboxd.

Hamdah Shabbir

Hamdah Shabbir is an aspiring author and editor from Toronto with an MA in Creative Writing and Publishing. She is currently working on her debut novel – a mystery fiction that explores feminism, the music industry, and the myth of sirens. On the rare occasions when she is not immersed in the world of books, she enjoys painting, crocheting, and taking photos of her beloved cat, Flynn.

Jane Shi

Jane Shi is a poet, writer, editor, and organizer living on the occupied, stolen, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. She is the author of the chapbook Leaving Chang’e on Read (Rahila’s Ghost Press, 2022) and the winner of The Capilano Review’s 2022 In(ter)ventions in the Archive Contest. Her essays and poems can also be found in Read This When Things Fall Apart (AK Press, 2025), We Are Each Other’s Liberation: Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities (Haymarket Books, 2025), Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry (Arsenal Pulp Press), the Disability Visibility Project blog, The Offing, and Seventh Wave, among others. Her debut poetry collection echolalia echolalia (Brick Books, 2024) was shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award. She wants to live in a world where love is not a limited resource, land is not mined, hearts are not filched, and bodies are not violated.

Sylvia Symons

Sylvia Symons’ writing appears in Best Canadian Poetry, EVENT, Geist, Room Magazine, Prairie Fire, CV2, The Sustenance Anthology (Anvil Press), Thimbleberry, Arc Poetry Magazine, and The Malahat Review. Originally from Lheidli T’enneh territory in North-central BC, she lives with her husband on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh land in Vancouver.

Rachel Thompson

Rachel Thompson is a poet and memoirist, former Managing Editor at Room, and current editorial collective member. She is a settler-Canadian, born on Treaty 1 territory and raised on Treaty 2 territory in Manitoba. She has also lived on the traditional territories of the Kanien’kehá:ka, and the Anishinabeg peoples in Montreal, Quebec, and on the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh lands in Vancouver, B.C. She teaches writing courses at rachelthompson.co. Find her on Twitter: @rachelthompson and Instagram: @rachelthompsonauthor.

Eleni Vlahiotis

Eleni Vlahiotis is an editor, freelance writer and critic living on the West Coast of Canada. She has a Master’s degree in journalism from the University of British Columbia, where she also studied creative writing. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and writing fantasy, horror, and speculative fiction that pushes the boundaries of their respective genres. You can find her online @elenitrena and her work at elenivlahiotis.com.

Kailee Wakeman

Kailee Wakeman (she/her) is a Prairie-raised non-profit leader based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax). She holds degrees in studio arts, literature, and education, and would love to collect more. Kailee is an editor and co-founder of the digital arts & literature quarterly, long con magazine. She is also a printmaker, painter, textile artist, gardener, and wants to play all the sports all the time.

Natalie Wee

Natalie Wee is a queer cultural worker, writer, and artist who believes in a future of collective liberation. Natalie is the author of two poetry collections, Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines (tehzi/San Press, 2021) and Beast at Every Threshold (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022), with the latter being a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry. Born in Singapore to Malaysian parents, Natalie currently operates out of Tkarón:to, Dish with One Spoon territory.

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