Room is Canada’s oldest feminist literary magazine, published quarterly since 1975. Room publishes literature, art, and criticism by cis and trans women, trans men, Two-Spirit, and nonbinary people, and is committed to an intersectional feminist mandate centring 2SLGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and disabled voices.
Works that originally appeared in Room have been anthologized in The Journey Prize Anthology, Best Canadian Poetry, Best Canadian Stories, and Best Canadian Essays, and have won National Magazine Awards. Each issue of Room is edited by a different team from the Growing Room Collective, our rotating editorial board, making space for a variety of unique editorial visions. We publish short stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, art, interviews, and book reviews. We believe in publishing emerging writers alongside established authors, and approximately 90% of the work we publish comes from unsolicited submissions or contest entries.
Room is registered as the West Coast Feminist Literary Magazine Society, a non-profit organization under the BC Societies Act.
If you would like to join the Growing Room Collective and become an editor at Room, please complete our application form. Note that we are not always actively recruiting, but we do keep applications on file for when spots open up.
Don’t want to read or edit, but still want to get involved? Sign up to volunteer at our events or become a RoomMate.
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).
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 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.
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 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.
Ellen Chang-Richardson is an award-winning poet of Taiwanese and Chinese Cambodian descent living on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg. The author/co-author of six poetry chapbooks, their writing has appeared in journals and anthologies across Turtle Island including Augur, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Ex-Puritan, third coast magazine and Watch Your Head. They are an editorial member of Room magazine, a poetry editor for long con magazine, the co-founder of Riverbed Reading Series and a member of the poetry collective VII. Blood Belies (Wolsak & Wynn) is their debut collection.
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 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 (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 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.
Ruchika Gothoskar is an editor, writer, reader, researcher, and settler, currently living and learning on the territory of the Anishinabek, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Ojibway/Chippewa peoples, in Ontario. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English and Cultural Studies from McMaster University, and a Master of Arts in Gender, Feminist, and Women’s Studies from York University. Ruchika is interested in anti-carceral responses to harm, reading more stories by authors of colour, and one day living by the ocean.
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 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 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.
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.
Anna Lee-Popham is a writer, instructor, and editor in Tkaronto. Her debut poetry collection, Empires of the Everyday, was published by McClelland & Stewart in Spring 2024. She holds an MFA Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s Writer’s Studio and University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Education Creative Writing Certificate, where she received the Janice Colbert Poetry Award. Her writing was first runner-up in PRISM international’s Pacific Poetry Prize, shortlisted for The Fiddlehead Creative Nonfiction Contest and Room‘s Poetry Contest, longlisted for CBC’s nonfiction prize, and published in Arc, Brick, Canthius, Riddle Fence, Room, and others.
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 is a Brazilian-Canadian editor, writer, and nerd based in Tkaronto. They are an editor at Room and a managing editor at Augur magazine. 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. By day they edit cookbooks and gardening guides, and after hours you can find them in the nearest patch of woods with their nose in a book. Find their latest work here.
Rose Morris is a British Columbia-based writer and editor with a Master of Arts in 19th-Century Literature from the University of Victoria. Her work has appeared in The Malahat Review, Room Magazine, Vancouver Magazine, Heirloom Gardener, and the occasional postcard.
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.
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 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 is Scottish, Austrian, Hungarian, Stó:lō, and has ancestral roots in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation. She is a member of Leq’á:mel First Nation, but was raised in an urban environment on the unceded lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəjˀəm, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She is a writer and editor with pieces featured in SAD Mag and Understorey Magazine and is currently a member of the Indigenous Brilliance Collective. Currently, she resides in Wet’suwet’en territory.
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.
Geffen Semach, originally from Vancouver, now lives in Toronto where she works at Penguin Random House Canada. For the last few years, she was living in London, England, where she worked as a Literary Agent’s Assistant at Aitken Alexander. Geffen has also worked at Profile Books and in foreign rights at Andrew Nurnberg Associates in London. She has been an online editor, a creative copywriter at a marketing agency, as well as held an editorial assistant position with The Nabokov Online Journal. Geffen completed the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford University in 2017.
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 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.
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.
Shristi Uprety (she/her) is a Nepali writer from Kathmandu, living and working on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples in Vancouver BC. She has an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. You can find her on Twitter @_ShristiUprety.
Délani Valin is a Cree-Métis writer living on Snuneymuxw traditional territory. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Vancouver Island University. Her poetry has been awarded The Malahat Review’s Long Poem Prize, subTerrain’s Lush Triumphant Award, and was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2018. She has read for Room’s Indigenous Brilliance series, and her work has also appeared in Exile Editions’ Those Who Make Us, Adbusters, and Soliloquies Anthology, among others.
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 (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 is a queer creator whose work is deeply informed by grassroots communities. She wrote two poetry collections, Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines (San Press, 2021) and Beast At Every Threshold (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022). Born in Singapore to Malaysian parents, Natalie is currently a settler in Tkaronto.
Managing Editor
Chimedum Ohaegbu
managingeditor [at] roommagazine [dot] com
submissions [at] roommagazine [dot] com
Publisher
circulation [at] roommagazine [dot] com
publisher [at] roommagazine [dot] com
outreach [at] roommagazine [dot] com
Marketing and Communications Lead
Natalie Wee
marketing [at] roommagazine [dot] com
Book Reviews Editor
Eleni Vlahiotis
reviews [at] roommagazine [dot] com
Contest Coordinator
Ruchika Gothoskar
contests [at] roommagazine [dot] com
Website Manager
Monica Calderon
monica[at]monicadesigns[dot]ca
Indigenous Brilliance Collective
indigenousbrilliance [at] roommagazine [dot] com
Gitanjali Divisha Bal, Melissa Barrientos, Serena Lukas Bhandar, Claire Diamant, Ashton Diduck, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Natasha Gauthier, Ruchika Gothoskar, Sadie Graham, Aris Keshav, Micah Killjoy, Holly Lam, Annick MacAskill, Nara Monteiro, Rose Morris, Chimedum Ohaegbu, Fran Pacchiano, Lindsey Peacock, Tara Preissl, Vanessa Sanginiti, Geffen Semach, Hamdah Shabbir, Jane Shi, Sylvia Symons, Rachel Thompson, Shristi Uprety, Délani Valin, Eleni Vlahiotis, Kailee Wakeman
Sarah Jama, Ronika Khanna, Mridula Morgan