Letter from the Editor

Speak began as a reaction to both my own personal and broader circumstances. I had just finished a job at a leading tech company, where I had felt my outsiderness. As a writer finding my voice, I struggled to find publications that paid anything to help me sustain being a writer as full-time work. It was when I stepped back and acknowledged my own privileges that I started Speak with the aim to create a platform for writers and artists from around the world. I sought the physicality of a magazine, the touch and the smell of ink on paper, but the world has changed hugely in these last few months. Speak 5 is moving online and by reducing printing and mailing costs, I hope we can give a bigger stage to the voices that need to be heard in times like this. Voices from the margins, voices from the center, voices that call out to us about who we are beyond the prescribed norms. I hope you as a reader, contributor, and supporter will find a home in Speak, like I have.

Storytelling is a way of bearing witness to our times.

Stay safe and if you are American also please vote.

Photo courtesy: Katya Guseva