The Rook: new journal for nonfiction stories

The Rook: masthead

The Rook anthology is a new collection of experimental and literary journalism that showcases innovative forms of non-fiction storytelling.

Why The Rook? Roehampton derives from the Old English, “the homestead of the rook”. Communal by nature, the Corvus frugilegus roosts in great numbers across our campus.

Propitiously, a gathering of rooks can be called a parliament, a clamour, or a storytelling. Rooks form a circle, in the middle of which a solitary bird caws, as if telling a story.

Our first anthology explores the theme “Citizens of Nowhere”. We are interested in submissions that explore Citizenship, National Identities, Place and Space, in response to the wider questions raised by Brexit, but we also want to extend the parameters of the debate. Possible submissions could include reportage from Brexitland, features on global citizenship or polemics on space and place. We are open to all subjects and submissions that respond to the theme.

We are calling for contributions from all of our university communities. Staff, students and alumni are encouraged to submit unpublished journalism of between 500 and 5000 words by September 1 2017 May 21, 2018.

We are open to submissions that explore the boundaries of journalism and encourage experimentation with form. We only ask for accuracy, veracity, and most of all, originality.

The Rook aims to build a community of lively writers from our corner of London.

Please respond to our call! Send an email to:

John Doyle – j.a.doyle (at) sussex.ac.uk
Juan Perez-Gonzalez – j.perez-gonzalez (at) roehampton.ac.uk