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Fiction Contest 2019: The Longlist

Fiction Contest 2019: The Longlist

Thank you to all the writers who shared their short stories with us and our esteemed fiction judge, Catherine Hernandez! Here are eight longlisted short stories from this year's contest. Thank you to all the writers who shared their short stories with us and our...

74

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In memoriam Tennyson said Nine years of things about his friend Who’d died. He brought him back by slow Degrees, from sunsets, wind in the trees, In memoriam Tennyson said Nine years of things about his friend Who’d died. He brought him back by slow Degrees, from...

We met at a birthday party.

We met at a birthday party.

We met at a birthday party. You were the only rum drinker in the room. On the couch, Al Purdy was going on about the stunted trees in the Arctic. We met at a birthday party. You were the only rum drinker in the room. On the couch, Al Purdy was going on about the...

Verso 40.6

Verso 40.6

M sent me a photograph by Daguerre. It is of the first human being to be photographed. M sent me a photograph by Daguerre. It is of the first human being to be photographed. Someone is cleaning the shoes of someone. All descriptions of the photograph claim that the...

Here are the Winners of Room’s 2018 Cover Art Contest!

Here are the Winners of Room’s 2018 Cover Art Contest!

The results are in! Congratulations to the following artists on winning Room’s fourth Cover Art Contest! You can find the first place winner’s work on the cover of our very next issue, 42.2, and the second place winner featured in the same issue. We want to give a...

Troll

Troll

He's a mean one, Mr. Troll I wonder what soured his soul enough to tell me I was not attractive enough to worry about being raped? He’s had a hard day at work gets off the elevator at his floor, rattles the key to his apartment door. Once inside, his briefcase slams...

Ripples of Darkness

Ripples of Darkness

A mother's hands stack clean needles, latex gloves. For our children, she says, for the lost ones. For the ones we've saved many times before, For the ones we hope to save just one time more. Why, neighbours ask while politicians gloat. Why chain the monster only to...

Who am I

Who am I

“And if you are not a bird, then beware of coming to rest above an abyss.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche Not an addict but a deflowered thorn, a queen of spades with a punch-hole. A birthday present unwrapped too quickly. Not a junkie but someone who’s put hope in the washer...

10 years to yes

10 years to yes

this is my third war* may 2009 if you can’t see me does it mean I don’t exist yes if you see me but you don’t see what makes me me does it mean you don’t see me yes if you cannot see that the thing that makes me me hurts burns ashes all over if you cannot see me shall...

Satiate

Satiate

This is what I can tell you: On a June night in 1986, my mother drinks from a tall glass of ice water. The radio might be on. If it is on, she is listening to Patti or Luther or The Pointer Sisters or Whitney. She might be singing, voice off-key but still rising...

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ROOM 48.1 WITS END
In times of crisis, we laugh to offer tenderness, to ward off despair— so we can be brave. Gather round ROOM 48.1 WITS END and let humour be a mirror held up to the state of the world as we continue to resist.

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ROOM 47.4 FULL CIRCLE
Step back with Room into the past, to parents, to childhood homes, and to people once known and loved; dig into themes of grief and healing; and ultimately explore what it means to come full circle in literature.

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