Thank you for considering Room for the publication of your original short stories, poems, creative non-fiction, or art. Room publishes work by people of all marginalized genders, including cis and trans women, trans men, nonbinary and Two-Spirit people. Visit https://roommagazine.com for more!


Submission Periods

Unsolicited submissions to Room are free, and make up over 90% of our published submissions. We open for submissions four times a year. 

March 47.4: closed

May 48.1 HUMOUR: closed

Aug (unthemed): will open for submissions soon, stay tuned!

Nov (theme TBD)

Submission periods are open for approximately 4-6 weeks, and will close once the submission limit is reached, and will not open again until the following submission period.



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Before submitting please see here for our genre submissions guidelines

We also strongly suggest you get a sense of our tastes by reviewing material we've published in recent issues—buy newsstand copies, subscribe, borrow from a library, or visit our latest edition online. Alternatively, you can order single copies of specific issues, including soldout digital exclusives for just $10.

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Contests

Our Poetry contest is currently open! 

Visit our contests page for more information about our contests.

DEADLINE: AUGUST 30

FIRST PRIZE: $1,000 + publication in Room
SECOND PRIZE: $250 + publication in Room
HONOURABLE MENTION: $100 + publication on Room's website

Poetry Contest Guidelines:

Entry Fees 

  • All first submissions include a one-year subscription to Room. Residence is based on the address associated with your Submittable account, as this is where your subscription will be shipped. Our entry fees are designed to cover shipping costs and are:
  • If you reside in Canada: $35 CAD
  • If you reside in the US: 45 CAD
  • If you reside outside North America: 55 CAD
  • Additional entries are $7 CAD and do not come with another subscription. 
  • You must submit an initial entry before submitting an additional entry. If you submit an additional entry without first submitting an initial entry, your additional entry may be disqualified without refund.
  • Under "Fee," select the correct payment amount from the drop-down menu. You must choose the appropriate submission fee option, or your piece may be disqualified. No refunds are provided for selecting the incorrect fee option. 


Contest Rules

  • An entry (both initial and additional) can include up to three poems or 150 lines of poetry in a single document. Please start each poem at the top of a new page.
  • Unless form requires, submit your work in 12-point font, Times New Roman preferred.
  • You can only upload ONE document (.pdf, .doc, or .docx preferred; can also accept .rtf) per submission on Submittable, so you must submit your entire poetry submission in one file. 
  • Submissions must be anonymous—please do not include your name or personal details anywhere in your document, including the file name. You will have a chance to include your contact information on the Submittable form. Cover letters and bios are not necessary and will not be forwarded to the judge.
  • Each entry must be original and unpublished.
  • We accept simultaneous submissions, but if your submission is accepted elsewhere, please notify us and withdraw your submission immediately. 
  • Room's contests are open to women (cisgender and transgender), transgender men, Two-Spirit and nonbinary people. We specifically encourage writers with overlapping under-represented identities to submit their work.
  • Previously commissioned Room writers are disqualified from entering the contest.
  • Any submission that does not meet these guidelines will be disqualified. The submission fee is non-refundable. 
  • Please direct any questions or concerns to contests@roommagazine.com

This form is for "Canadian writers." Please use this form if you live within Canadian territories and provinces, or are a Canadian resident who lives overseas. Since our eligibility for national and local grants depends on a majority of our published content being Canadian, we kindly request that only Canadian writers use this form.

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Fill Room with laughter for the one and only “Humour” issue! Genocides, heat waves, floods, fascism, an ongoing mass disabling event:the world is burning and it’s no laughing matter. But humour can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, a sacred instinct that keeps us alive and living amid the most devastating conditions. We laugh to not cry. We laugh to critique. We laugh to remind ourselves that we aren’t powerless. We laugh to offer tenderness to a room, to ward off despair, to open our chests and lower our shoulders—so we can be brave. We laugh to play, to remind ourselves we still can.
 

Send us works that uplift to role of laughter in resistance, break comedic genres, explore the uses and limits of irony, upend white supremacist and ableist origins of standup—tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, alive-pan, cringe, unbelievable, absurd. Reinvent tragicomedy. Insist on the transformative power of the pun. Break open the anatomy of a meme. Send us stories about your favourite inside jokes, the funniest member of your family, the importance of play and improvisation in survival, fighting back, and building a new world. Make us believe again in the blithering power ofsatire in a world that satirizes itself.Make us roll on the floor spitting out our drinks, until we cry.

Edited by Jane Shi, Sadie Graham, Tara Preissl, and Gitanjali Bal


This issue has a rolling submissions period. Submissions will close once our submission limit is reached, and will not open again until our next issue.


 

Guidelines:

  • Before submitting, please read about us to see if your work fits within Room’s mandate.
  • Your entry must be original and unpublished (in print or online)
  • We accept submissions upto 3500 words. Longer submissions will be rejected automatically.
  • Please submit in 12 point font. Times New Roman preferred but not required. 
  • We gladly accept simultaneous submissions. If another publication accepts your work for publication, please notify us and withdraw your piece immediately.
  • Please do not send a second submission in the same genre until you have heard back from us considering the first one (Note: You may enter our contests and submit a regular submission at the same time so long as the materials are different.)


 

This form is for "Canadian writers." Please use this form if you live within Canadian territories and provinces, or are a Canadian resident who lives overseas. Since our eligibility for national and local grants depends on a majority of our published content being Canadian, we kindly request that only Canadian writers use this form.

_______


Fill Room with laughter for the one and only “Humour” issue! Genocides, heat waves, floods, fascism, an ongoing mass disabling event:the world is burning and it’s no laughing matter. But humour can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, a sacred instinct that keeps us alive and living amid the most devastating conditions. We laugh to not cry. We laugh to critique. We laugh to remind ourselves that we aren’t powerless. We laugh to offer tenderness to a room, to ward off despair, to open our chests and lower our shoulders—so we can be brave. We laugh to play, to remind ourselves we still can.  

Send us works that uplift to role of laughter in resistance, break comedic genres, explore the uses and limits of irony, upend white supremacist and ableist origins of standup—tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, alive-pan, cringe, unbelievable, absurd. Reinvent tragicomedy. Insist on the transformative power of the pun. Break open the anatomy of a meme. Send us stories about your favourite inside jokes, the funniest member of your family, the importance of play and improvisation in survival, fighting back, and building a new world. Make us believe again in the blithering power ofsatire in a world that satirizes itself.Make us roll on the floor spitting out our drinks, until we cry.

Edited by Jane Shi, Sadie Graham, Tara Preissl, and Gitanjali Bal


This issue has a rolling submissions period. Submissions will close once our submission limit is reached, and will not open again until our next issue.


Guidelines:

  • Your entry must be original and unpublished (in print or online)
  • We accept submissions upto 3500 words. Longer submissions will be rejected automatically.
  • Please submit in 12 point font. Times New Roman preferred but not required. 
  • We gladly accept simultaneous submissions. If another publication accepts your work for publication, please notify us and withdraw your piece immediately.
  • Please do not send a second submission in the same genre until you have heard back from us considering the first one (Note: You may enter our contests and submit a regular submission at the same time so long as the materials are different.)
     
Room