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This month, we’re excited to have OKD Fiction Reader Eleonora Balsano discuss writing in a new language — the piece is about immersion, confidence, voice, and so much more. We’ve also got a recap of the OKD presence in the Wigleaf Top 50 and Longlist, as well as our usual shoutouts and a recap of June’s publications.

Enjoy, and see you next month!

🫏 OKD Updates

The Wigleaf Top 50 is out! This list recognizes Wigleaf’s 50 favorite “(very) short fictions” of the past year that are under 1,000 words.

But before we get there, we’d like to shout out two Okay Donkey pieces that made the longlist: “If it’s Not One Thing it’s a Million Things” by Jeffrey Hermann and “Mollusk” by Didi Wood (the latter of which we nominated for Best of the Net and Best Small Fictions).

Turning to the Top 50 itself, we’re excited to recognize ten OKD contributors (and a reader!) whose works at other publications made the list:

• Patricia Q. Bidar

• Lindy Biller

• Eleonora Balsano (current OKD Fiction Reader)

• K-Ming Chang

• Michael Czyzniejewski

• John Jodzio

• Kendra Pintor

• Emily Rinkema

• Becky Robison

• Didi Wood

Congratulations, everyone!

🌟 Let the Language Carry You: On Writing in a New Language

by Eleonora Balsano, OKD Fiction Reader

You’ve been listening for a while when the itch begins. Like a child who waits months before speaking, you take it all in before joining the conversation.

The new language is everywhere. You start picking it up in queues, on the metro, from films and magazines. You write down new phrases, repeat snippets of dialogue, copy the first page of a book you love because someone once said it helps with rhythm. Maybe they were right.

At the beginning, just finishing a story in a language you don’t fully trust yourself in feels extraordinary. If it gets published or wins something, pride comes mixed with disbelief. For a long time, when I placed in a contest, I thought it was because no one else was eligible. Surely hundreds of writers had ignored the word count.

With time, you gain confidence. You begin to play. You stretch the language, twist it, try things. And that’s when you notice two things. First, you’ve gotten very good at pretending fluency. Second, you’ve erased part of yourself to get there.

So if you’re wondering whether you’re allowed to write in a language that isn’t yours, whether everyone will find out you’re a fraud, let me spare you some time.

Language is just a vessel for human feelings and quirks and impulses that exist without a name, beyond grammar or structure. You don’t have to adopt a language like you would a new operating system. You have to let it carry your voice, which is unique only if you preserve it. Your voice shaped by family history, by nursery rhymes, by how your mother lifted the pot from the stove.

Let the language carry your voice, not the other way around. That’s what will make your writing both stand out and be unmistakably yours.

📚 June at OKD

• “Leaving the Wedding in a Fever,” poetry by Cassandra Whitaker

• “Bluffs Surround Us,” flash fiction by Brett Biebel

• “蝴蝶梦 Butterfly Dream,” poetry by Emily Anna King

• “Gallery,” flash fiction by Jane O’Sullivan

🔎 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.

• Amie Souza Reilly’s book Human/Animal came out in April. (OKD: “Thermoregulation,” Oct. 2019)

• OKD Fiction Reader Mileva Anastasiadou had two pieces come out in May: “Sunset Fatigue” (Milk Candy Review) and “Circle” (The Forge). (OKD: “The Sad Song in Every Story,“ Jan. 2020 – prior to joining OKD team)

• OKD Poetry Reader Kyla Guimaraes is a member of the SUNHOUSE Summer Mentorship Mentee Cohort.

• OKD Fiction Reader Megan Garwood is reading at Make It Scarier: Horror Reading & Release Party in NYC on July 18.

To the writers of New Haven, Connecticut who submitted to OKD recently (you know who you are) — we’re rooting for you!

Get in touch: Submissions • Twitter • Bluesky • Instagram • Discord