Well, take a look at that.
Welcome to Talk Vomit, the lit-mag-thing formerly known as Manqué.
Manqué started last May as a passion project for Monica after completing her MFA. She was inspired to create a space that felt different from the ones she had seen cultivated and prioritized during her time in school. Mary joined shortly before launching to help with the Instagram and some of the other creative aspects because she was bored and looking for something to do after she got dumped. (Different reasons for joining, same high hopes for Manqué’s potential).
The goal of the site was and is to highlight voices and art that are not seen in the forefront of media and the “writing community.” What we learned over the past year is that this is a lot harder to do than we thought. As two people who try their hardest to be laid back and approachable, Manqué did not always feel like that, and in fact, at times felt like it was teetering on the edge of being one of the professional spaces we worked so hard to avoid.
TLDR: The site felt inaccessible to people who were not already a part of the “lit world” and we realized we didn’t like that.
While the rebrand was inevitable, it was in some ways catalyzed by the recent Black Lives Matter protests and the resulting conversations about media gatekeeping and accessibility. We read and learned a lot about how the publishing world can both overtly and covertly hinder Black and other minority voices from gaining access to platforms both large and small, including ours, and decided we needed to make some serious changes. This was always meant to be an open space, but the sterile feel that Manqué had at times, from our name to even our submissions page, may not have done the best job of getting that message across.
And so, we bring to you: Talk Vomit, a lit-zine whose name and texture we believe more accurately represents what it is we’re trying to do here. We are not saying that a name change is going to magically make this a better site. We are, though, saying that we are committed to doing our best to make sure our site showcases our values and what we are ultimately trying to do — promote accessibility, celebrate irreverence, and share work that people actually want to read.
xoxo
Monica and Mary