Roof magazine covers

Founded in 1976 by James Sherry at the Naropa Institute, Roof began as a poetry magazine. Over ten issues published between 1976 and 1979, it became an important publication for Language poetry, an avant-garde movement that emerged in the late 1960s as a response to the conventions of mainstream American poetry.

For Language poets, reading is an active process. Meaning is not simply delivered to the reader. You have to find it, piece it together, and make your own way through the text.

Roof's cover designs do the same. Set in Antique Olive, words drift and realign, break and reassemble. Reading is no longer linear. It becomes a search, following clues and playing along with the text.

In 1976, as an extension of Roof magazine, James Sherry founded Roof Books. The publishing house built on the same editorial vision, shaping its catalogue around experimental, innovative and avant-garde poetry and criticism.