Oh my, what have we done? Don’t worry, I’ll tell you: we’ve been live for one whole year.
It snuck up on us, which I think is a good thing because it at least suggests we’ve focused more on tasks in front of us than we have on self-congratulatory milestones. But whether or not we have paid attention, by the skin of our necks, and often haphazardly, time has passed, columns have started, stories have been shared, and here we are, still.
I started Manqué because I wanted to carve out a small space for writers and other creators to share their weird, passionate work. Especially if that work is the kind of stuff that would struggle to find a home elsewhere, and particularly if it pushed against the never-ending and mind-numbing “is this good art” conversation promulgated by the Big Institutions. I was and remain personally exhausted by measuring sticks posing as criticism.
Some things have changed a bit. We have a podcast, which I have a stupid amount of fun working on. We also have a newsletter and a book club and a Patreon. We lean much more heavily into book talk and discussions about mental health than we did originally, having realized that Mary and I both are actually quite passionate about the things we spent six years of our adult lives studying — who knew!
It seems obvious to me but I’ll acknowledge anyhow that we are still finding our footing, still stretching out our joints and finding what, exactly, feels best for Manqué. I hope this growth never stops.
I originally planned to link to some highlights from the last year, but decided not to because, honestly? Just scroll through the site. Any of the 103 things we have published are reflective of what we value, what we enjoy, what we aim to promote. Our contributors have astonished, amused, and impressed me every step of the way. Please, keep sending us your bizarre short stories and your ruminative personal essays! (And your comics and your satire and your movie reviews and your column pitches.) We love reading them, and even more so, we love sharing them.
And, of course, readers, however you found us, thank you for stopping by. We hope you found someone at home.
Onward!
XX
boop boop
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