calling in

Like most lit mags of our age, we historically came from a predominantly white, middle-class, and heteronormative perspective, so the issue calls this out and invites women of colour to talk about the experience of race and being racialized. The reason we could do this was because of the "calling in" that came before it—looking around the table and seeing who wasn't represented in our pages and on our editorial board. Instead of throwing up our hands and claiming we have a meritocracy, or that we blind read submissions, we asked ourselves hard questions, like why aren't more diverse women applying for the collective positions or submitting to the magazine? And then we found we had to seek out those communities and build trust. The response to the Women of Colour issue call for submissions was outstanding—so many submissions came in. It goes to show that if you invite people explicitly to the table, and really do the work to welcome people in, amazing things can happen.

- Rachel Thompson, discussing her work as an editor with Room magazine, in interview with James Lindsay for Open Book Toronto. You can read the whole thing here.