2016 may have sucked, but on the bright side, it inspired some incredible writing (see #3 on this list). Last year we shared our top 15 most-read posts of 2015, and I thought I’d continue the trend—and so, here are the ten most-read posts on roommagazine.com in 2016.
2016 may have sucked, but on the bright side, it inspired some incredible writing (see #3 on this list). Last year we shared our top 15 most-read posts of 2015, and I thought I’d continue the trend—and so, here are the ten most-read posts on roommagazine.com in 2016. Thank you to all of our readers.
10. An Interview with Emily Carroll: A Fairy-Tale Teller in the Digital Age by Taryn Hubbard (interview)
This interview with web comic artist Emily Carroll (originally published in issue 37.3 Geek Girls) was the tenth most-read post on our website in 2016—perhaps in part because of the well-deserved recognition of Carroll’s first graphic novel, Through The Woods.
9. Notre Freres by Marilyn Dumont (poetry)
We asked Marilyn Dumont’s permission to republish this poem from her 2015 book The Pemmican Eaters to help promote our 2016 poetry contest, which she was judging. I like to think the inspiration that she (and Doretta Lau, our fiction judge, below) provided is one of the reasons our contest submissions were so freaking good this year (winners will be in our June 2017 issue).
8. Best Practices for Time Travel by Doretta Lau (fiction)
Probably one of the most NSFW short stories on our website. (Did I make you click?)
7. 5 Room Writers Show Us Their Writing Rooms by Rachel Thompson (interviews)
Our seventh most-read post of 2016 was this series of five interviews with Room contributors Ayelet Tsabari, Betsy Warland, Christa Couture, Carmen Rodríguez, and Cecily Nicholson, which provided a rare behind-the-scenes peek at their writing spaces and processes.
6. No Comment by Alessandra Naccarato (poetry)
The first piece of writing and the eponymous poem in our No Comment series, which went viral in November. Two other pieces from the series made the list, and, if I’d expanded this post to include our top twenty most-read, several more would have made it. “No Comment” was originally published in our December 2015 issue, “Fieldwork.”
5. I Was Once That Girl by Jen Sookfong Lee (CNF)
Our fifth most-read post was also from the No Comment project—I love this essay, and I think it’s important. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to.
4. 14 Feminist Films of 2014 by Meghan Bell (film list)
This post feels pretty out-of-date now (I can say that because I wrote it with the help of former colleagues at the Vancouver International Film Festival), but I’m glad to see it’s still being shared. Takeaways two years after writing: (1) Belle and Obvious Child are still two of my favourite films (SO GOOD); (2) Selma totally lived up to my expectations; (3) I forgot that The Interview was once a thing, ugh; and (4) Oh, right, when we first started our blog, we had a comments section, but now we just take comments on social media.
3. Sei Turni (6 Spells for #CanLit) by Amber Dawn (poetry)
Technically the second-to-last post in our No Comment series, but in many ways, this was the poem I was waiting to publish before I could retire the project and take a long, much-needed nap. It’s incredible. Amber Dawn is incredible.
2. 50 Books Written by 50 Canadian Women of Colour by Kayi Wong and the Room Collective (reading list)
An essential guide for your book club, or your fifty-book pledge.
1. 14 Aboriginal Women Writers to Read This Summer by Jónína Kirton (reading list)
This excellent reading list from June 2015 was our most-read post in 2015, and takes the top spot again with nearly 15,000 pageviews in 2016. Now, it doesn’t surprise me that our two most-read posts were both reading lists—especially because I know how much work went into curating both of them—but I’m so curious as to whether many—or any—of the thousands of people who read these posts were inspired to go out and buy a book. So, if you’re reading this, and one of our reading lists inspired you to buy a book or borrow it from a library, please feel free to tell us on Twitter or Facebook. Because the goal of these lists isn’t pageviews or retweets or Facebook shares; it’s to advocate for great literature by great authors.
