Dear Roomies,
As the world becomes increasingly challenging for people whose genders and identities are systematically oppressed— the people whose voices we seek to elevate— feminist literary magazines need your support.
As we open our call for submissions this May, we will also implement modest optional submission fees of $3.00 or $5.00 moving forward. These small fees allow us to pay our contributors, editors, and staff equitably; plan accessible events that engage and reflect the community we serve; and keep up with rising material costs of publishing. This year the living wage where our office is based in Vancouver reached $27.05 an hour. Canada Post has just increased their fees that we pay to distribute the magazines we sell. And, Room wants to do more than just survive: we want to be responsive to a world where our values and our community is so needed.
We know even a small fee can be a barrier for folks, and that is the last thing we want; to opt out, you simply select the “opt out” option in Submittable. But if you do have the capacity to contribute, we hope you do.
Many of us are impacted by the increase in costs across industries, by the threat of tariffs and the economic changes that will bring, and by, frankly, never having had much to go around in the first place. We feel it too.
That’s why it’s so vital now to sow our seeds in community, to enable resistance against oppression to grow and thrive, whether that’s through publishing the voices of the oppressed, including BIPOC, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and people with disabilities, or through the gatherings we hold that unite us in community. This is a way you can help fund a necessary space as we continue to champion justice, equality, and crucial literature for the times.
