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Introducing Okay Donkey (again)
Meet the OKD team, what we published in November, and more
Okay Donkey
January 06, 2025
Welcome to Okay Donkey’s (new) newsletter! We’re really happy you’re here, especially if you’re receiving this via email as one of our first subscribers. If you’re reading this on web, or if someone forwarded this to you, you can subscribe right here, right now:
What is this? Each month, you’ll receive some basics — news and updates from us, what we’ve published in the past month — as well as one longer feature, like an interview with a contributor (or this month’s Staff Spotlight!), and a list of past contributors who have something cool going on, like a book release. We’re really excited to see how this idea morphs over time, and especially to do it with some of the best people in the literary space (you) (that’s you).
Without further ado, let’s goooooo:
🫏 OKD Updates
Our Vision
With the new year upon us, we’d like to take a quick moment to share OKD’s vision — what we’d like to see in submissions, as well as the general vibe we hope the mag reflects. We also encourage anyone considering submitting to check out our Nominations & Awards page to read pieces we really like.
Okay Donkey is a literary magazine that likes to read the odd, the off-kilter, and the just plain weird. We like work that’s funny, that’s sad, and that’s both funny and sad at the same time. We especially enjoy the experimental, the surreal, the magical realist, and the genre-bending.
Some of our favorite poets are Amy Gerstler, Danez Smith, Tracy K. Smith, Brenda Shaughnessy, Alison Benis White, Jericho Brown, Claudia Rankine, James Tate, Dean Young, and Ilya Kaminsky.
Some of our favorite flash fiction and short story writers are Amy Hempel, Lydia Davis, Deb Olin Unferth, Amber Sparks, Roxane Gay, Carmen Maria Machado, George Saunders, Brian Evenson, and Ben Loory.
Call for Poetry Readers
Now that you’re well-acquainted with our whole deal, guess what? We’re looking for volunteer poetry readers! Poetry readers are expected to read 10 poetry submissions every two weeks and vote “yes,” “no,” or “maybe” for publication. Check out our published poems on our Poetry page if you’re not yet familiar with what we publish. If this opportunity sounds like it’s up your alley, fill out the reader application form by the end of the day on Friday, January 10!
ICYMI
Finally, our founders penned a beautiful letter about some of our changes lately:
A note from OKD’s founders, Eric and Genevieve, on some changes you may have noticed around here lately…
— Okay Donkey Magazine (@okaydonkey.bsky.social)2024-12-09T15:53:04.809Z
🌟 Staff Spotlight
For our first newsletter, we rounded up as many OKD staff members as we could and asked them to share some more about themselves. You might have seen our posts on social media throughout December, and we’re super excited to present them here in full. Enjoy!
Steve Chang, Fiction Editor
What Steve wants to see in the queue: “Think of diamonds: cut, clarity, and color. I’m looking for vision, control, and audacity. Moving forward, I’ll add ‘earned emotion’ to that list.”
Quick bio: <3 videos about unlikely animal friends. Bad puns. Blockheaded humor.
One OKD fave in 2024: SO many great pieces — some represented in our awards noms. But special shoutout to “The Machine” by Dana Jaye Cadman. It got to me, emotionally. It has a generosity of spirit without sappy that I don’t often see in our queue. I like to feel feelings from time to time.
Media recs: *deep inhale* ...the new FRASIER is not bad! Also, for fans of horror, saw a video on IG of a kangaroo fighting a punching bag. Bro used his tail like a BAR STOOL and kicked with both legs... The work of a demon.
2025 outlook: Just live.
Plug: The Okay Donkey Newsletter v2.0! Put together by our fabulous social media team: Christine Salek and Ashley McCurry! (Editor’s note: 🥰)
Heidi Marjamäki, Associate Fiction Editor
What Heidi wants to see in the queue: “I’m constantly surprised and delighted by the inventiveness of the writers who share their work with us, so really just happy to keep receiving and reading all of it! If you're not sure, try us anyway. It might be just the thing for us!”
Quick bio: I’m originally from Finland but I studied in Scotland and lived in Oxford and London before moving to Berlin some years ago. I’m a recovering tech PM and basically just an intensely bookish person who loves all things to do with reading / writing / editing.
One OKD fave in 2024: I’ll say “Dadoo” by Skyler Melnick. What a totally weird, wonderful, awe-inspiring marvel this piece is.
Media recs: A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enríquez. I love her short stories and this is another great collection.
Find Heidi online: Bluesky
Carolene Kurien, Poetry Editor
What Carolene wants to see in the queue: “I’m looking for poems with a unique and singular voice that are unabashed in their hilarity, innovation, and most importantly, earnestness. Give me your funny, your wild, your strange, your sincere — if it’s well-crafted with a lot of heart, I’m all in.”
Quick bio: I’m a Malayali-American poet from South Florida. When I’m not writing and reading, I’m playing the piano & guitar, traveling within the U.S. to see my friends, watching sitcoms, or going to concerts.
One OKD fave in 2024: “Magazine City” by Katherine Schmidt
Media recs: Strip by Jessica Abughattas, Virgin by Analicia Sotelo; Circe by Madeline Miller; The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
2025 outlook: I’m getting pubbed in three of my dream lit mags in 2025, and I’m very excited for those!
Plug: I've been toying with the idea of creating a virtual poetry writing accountability group/book club/general informal community space for poets where we can meet over Zoom. If anyone would be interested in something within that vibe realm, reach out to me via the contact page on my website or DM me on Twitter/Bluesky!
Eric Lochridge, Associate Poetry Editor
What Eric wants to see in the queue: “I like poems that recognize feeling as a kind of meaning, poems in which intellectual meaning takes a back seat.”
Quick bio: I’m just a poet hiding out in the Pacific Northwest.
One OKD fave in 2024: “A Poem Buried Under the Floorboards” by Amanda Roth
Media recs: Moving the Bones by Rick Barot is well worth the time.
2025 outlook: I’ll graduate with my MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop in July. I’m hoping the creative thesis for my degree turns out to be the manuscript for my next book of poetry.
Jonah Meyer, Associate Poetry Editor
Quick bio: Jonah is a writer, editor, and poet based in North Carolina, whose work has been featured in more than sixty publications. When not poeming, he plays guitar, piano, and banjo; shoots street photography; studies Buddhism; and acts in theatre.
Christine Salek, Social Media Manager
Quick bio: I’m a zinester, musician, and women’s sports enthusiast with a library degree.
One OKD fave in 2024: “Revised Boy Rankings for the Upcoming Term” by Andreas Trolf
Media recs: My ASMRtist of the moment, Batala’s ASMR.
2025 outlook: I’ve had this “Dragon Tales” fanfiction idea kicking around for several years that I believe will be my magnum opus.
Plug: As always, LADY BIRD (2017)
Ashley McCurry, Social Media Associate
Quick bio: I’m a chronically anxious Xennial living with my best-friend-turned-husband and four rescue dogs in the mountains of Northern Alabama (please don’t judge). At any given time, I’m singing 80s dark wave, badly playing drums, buying year-round Halloween decor, or dreaming about how to be a full-time writer instead of a speech therapist.
One OKD fave in 2024: “Deserving” by Marie Hoy-Kenny
Media recs: I’m working my way through some arbitrary “Greatest Novels of All Time” list and didn’t realize how much I’d love The Great Gatsby. It’s one I skipped in high school, but I’ve fallen madly in love with it. I highly recommend revisiting the classic novels you may have avoided as an adolescent. :)
2025 outlook: Do I leave my career to do a third graduate degree? That elusive (and expensive) MFA is mighty tempting. In all honesty, I guess I need to finish my novella-in-flash.
Eleanor Ball, Fiction Reader
Quick bio: I’m studying library & information science at the University of Iowa, where I work at the law library. In my free time, I write flash and poetry about queerness, the body, Catholicism, and family heritage.
One OKD fave in 2024: “this because dog is god spelled backwards” by Erinola E. Daranijo
Media recs: The Last Catastrophe by Allegra Hyde; Museum of Objects Burned by the Souls in Purgatory by Jeffrey Thomson.
2025 outlook: I will be guest-editing Carmen et Error’s summer 2025 issue!
Jessica Heron, Poetry Reader
Quick bio: Jessica “Jess” Heron is a pizza bagel poet and applied linguist from NYC living at the Jersey Shore. She puts the BABE in DISABLED and keeps two beds in her one-bedroom apartment in defiance of all the rules.
One OKD fave in 2024: “FLORIDA” by ALUKAH
Media recs: ALIEN: ROMULUS (2024), THELMA (2024), POSSESSION (1981)
Jingyu Li, Poetry Reader
Quick bio: I have two friendly kittens and a metaphysical dog named Doug. My favorite food is hotpot.
One OKD fave in 2024: “Poetry Is Not About the Price of Gasoline” by Amorak Huey
Media recs: Currently obsessed with Arcane; book-wise, Jen Chang’s An Authentic Life, Carl Phillips’s Scattered Snows, to the North, and Diane Seuss!
2025 outlook: I will be continuing my MFA and walking my kittens in their new stroller.
Jessica Nirvana Ram, Poetry Reader
Quick bio: Jessica Nirvana Ram is an Indo-Guyanese poet and essayist.
One OKD fave in 2024: “Pikachu as Van Gogh with Grey Felt Hat” by Matthew Murrey
Media recs: I recently finally read The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and it broke my heart, it was so stunning.
2025 outlook: Currently still looking for tour events for my debut collection Earthly Gods, and submitting my second book for publication.
Plug: My debut collection of poetry Earthly Gods is out now with Variant Literature!
Paul Ruta, Fiction Reader
Quick bio: Old Canadian ad guy living in London by way of Toronto, Singapore and Hong Kong. One wife, 3 kids, 9 guitars. Grilled cheese. Vinyl. Beekeeping. WWII documentaries, where the Nazis always lose.
One OKD fave in 2024: There's something magical about literature in translation, even flash fiction. I love “Sorry, but you’re mistaking me for her” by Anita Harag (translated by Walter Burgess and Marietta Morry).
Media recs: Slow Horses, Killing Eve and Toronto Blue Jays baseball. Recent reading is mostly music biographies for pleasure and research (Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Viv Albertine, John Peel, Kathleen Hanna, Chris Frantz...) plus loads of children’s books from Jon Klassen to Neil Gaiman.
2025 outlook: (1) Finish a draft of a novel length (but not a novel) piece of adult fiction and find an agent. (2) Find an agent for my growing pile of children's stories.
Plug: Please join your local library and visit often. Consider also joining the British Library online.
Find Paul online: Bluesky #1, Bluesky #2, Instagram, website
Jeanette Smith, Fiction Reader
Quick bio: I am a copyeditor, self-editing instructor, and content/fiction writer based in Fort Worth, Texas. When I’m not at my desk, you can find me mermaiding, crafting, or trying to make my cats Instagram famous.
One OKD fave in 2024: “A House on Two Legs” by Kendra Marie Pintor
Media recs: If you have a chance, watch Dimension 20 on Dropout TV. It’s a televised D&D game, which sounds nerdy, but it’s an amazing vehicle for storytelling and might help inspire your creativity for your own stories.
2025 outlook: I have crafted a self-editing course I will be debuting for fiction writers in 2025. I also plan to finish a short story collection and begin shopping it around for publication.
Plug: I am a full-time freelance copyeditor, and I am always ready to help polish an author’s work to make their voice and story shine without readers being distracted by the words themselves. Authors can visit jeanettethewriter.com to learn more.
Gina Thayer, Fiction Reader
Quick bio: Gina is a speculative fiction writer and horror fan living in Minneapolis.
One OKD fave in 2024: “Dadoo” by Skyler Melnick
Media recs: I can’t get over Mouth: Stories by Puloma Ghosh.
2025 outlook: I’ve just started seeking a publisher for my debut short fiction collection!
📚 November at OKD
“The Machine,” flash fiction by Dana Jaye Cadman (Best Small Fictions nominee)
“FLORIDA,” poetry by ALUKAH
“Almost Plea to My Ex-Therapist,” flash fiction by Rachel Laverdiere
“Dragonfly,” poetry by Christian Ward
“Two Micros,” flash fiction by Jeffrey Hermann
🔎 Check Us Out
We love when past contributors keep us updated on their lives! If your work has ever appeared in OKD, reach out and tell us about your new book, project, album, etc. We’ll give you a shoutout on our socials and here in the newsletter.
The latest Best Small Fictions anthology came out in November, in which two OKD originals appear: Avitus B. Carle’s “Like Real Women Do” and Jeffrey Yamaguchi’s “Last Day Cupcakes.”
Speaking of Avitus B. Carle, she has a book of flash fiction out now called These Worn Bodies.
Amy Stuber’s short story collection Sad Grownups came out in October. OKD has published two of Amy’s stories: “Togetherland” and “Dead? Yes, Dead.“
Tara Isabel Zambrano’s Ruined a Little When We Are Born also dropped in October. We’ve published Tara’s work three times: “Feeding Time,” “Closer,” and “My Mother Visits Me in America and is Offended by What the Dishwasher Can Do.”
Ewen Glass’s chapbook The Art of Washing What You Can’t Touch includes the poem “Litter,” which first appeared in OKD in June.
Get in touch: Submissions • Twitter • Bluesky • Instagram