Room: A Sketchbook for Analytic Action is an interdisciplinary magazine that was conceived as an agent of community building and transformation. Room’s innovative and accessible forum is an intersection of psychoanalysis, politics, and culture. Bringing different perspectives to bear on the complex problems facing us, Room invites greater familiarity with psychoanalysis as an important lens for personal, cultural, and political discourse.       

ROOM isn’t a research publication or an academic journal. ROOM is a unique magazine that offers a dynamic, public, analytic space designed to create and deepen connections between ourselves and our communities through writing, art, and activism.  Room is a community action that cultivates meaning and new perspectives through quality work, and accessibility.        

ROOM publishes 3 issues per year in February, June, and October. The magazine is free and is delivered in 3 formats: a digital PDF for download, a Website conceived as an archive, and a printed version on demand.       

After each new issue is published, authors are invited to ROOM Roundtables, to engage with each other in a deeper conversation. The roundtables have attracted a diverse group of psychoanalysts as well as non-mental health participants. Some of ROOM ‘s authors and artists who don’t live in NYC have traveled to NYC in order to attend in person, others have taken part remotely.       

ROOM is witness to our quickly changing socio-political reality. Psychoanalysts understand that the connection between the present, the past and the future provides a valuable framework to understand the concept of social change and act in consequence. From the perspective of archival work, we believe that ROOM’s website is becoming and will remain, a valuable and unusual analytic cultural contribution.    

Our submissions have come from all four regions of the United States, as well as analysts and mental health professionals and artists in Venezuela, Mexico, Great Britain, Korea, Europe, Palestine, and Israel.       

How does the selection process work?       

Just as each analytic session adapts to wherever the patient and analyst are at the present moment, ROOM is a dynamic media space that adapts to the present in every issue. In this way ROOM’s submission process is similar to free association: we have no set agendas, themes or plans. Contributors respond to each other and to the outside world. As in the analytic process, the editorial board encourages submissions of lesser-heard voices while providing space for stronger more established voices to be heard in new interdisciplinary contexts.      

We welcome: 

• Essays in any language* | Max. 1,500 words
• Creative Writing and Memoir | Written in English | Max. 2,000 words
• Poetry | 1-5 Poems, Formats: Written, audio, video, and/or mixed media
• Artists and Photographers are curated by invitation only.

 (*) Text in languages other than English are accepted and will be translated by ROOM's translators working by hand with the author whenever possible.  

Eligibility 

1. ROOM is open to all.
2. The text must be in an editable Word document. PDF is not accepted.
3. The entry must be submitted by the author or his/her representative.
4. Only one entry per author is permitted.
5. Authors can submit individually or group-written projects.
6. We only review previously unpublished work.
7. The text submitted must be original and entirely the author’s own work.