The newest issue of Room (46.1) is themed “Around the Table: Asian Voices.” Editor Michelle Ha introduces the volume, “When we first sent out the call for this issue, we invited Asians from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, and communities to come sit around the table with us and share their stories. The name ‘Around the Table’ came from the realisation that for a lot of Asian cultures many moments, activities, and memories are done and made around the table. In this sense, I wanted this issue to feel similar to that. The dream for 46.1 has always been about supporting and uplifting the voices of Asian writers and artists, as well as to curate this issue as a platform to showcase the vastness that is the Asian collective. As the issue progressed, it became more than that. ‘Around the Table’ became a home to these incredibly wonderful, joyful, and vulnerable pieces that share individual experiences for the collective.”

The cover art, Protect Asian Lives by Paige Jung, “was created in response to the eight lives – six of them belonging to Aisan women – that were unjustly taken on March 16, 2021, during the Atlanta spa shootings. Five portraits, of different ages and backgrounds, are depicted to put faces to the Asian diaspora and call attention to our safety that is being threatened due to racism, fetishization, and discrimination. The piece offer an ironic justaposition of joyful, bright colors with fierce and burdened expressions. It is a cry for justice and for solidarity.”