Who we are
Okie Modern is a quarterly literary journal dedicated to exhibiting the best of Oklahoma writing. We publish work about Oklahoma or work created by writers and artists from Oklahoma. Our aim is to create a venue for Oklahoma literature and art. In doing so, we hope to build community among Oklahoma creators and spark further literary and artistic development in the state. We platform Oklahoma literature and art, making it available and accessible to all.
While we emphasize work from writers who were born, raised, worked in, or who consider themselves to be connected to the state, we also accept work from creators who do not have a direct connection to the state, but whose writing in some way features Oklahoma.
Outside of our literary and artistic publications, Okie Modern also hosts a blog about Oklahoma literary history and contemporary literary culture. We accept pitches and full pieces.
Meet the Team
Elizabeth J. Wenger
Founder, EditorElizabeth J. Wenger is a queer writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her works have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Anthology. She is the winner of the Baltimore Review Winter Prize in flash nonfiction and was shortlisted for the Breakwater Review Fiction Prize. Her essay collection was selected as a finalist for the Black Lawrence Press Hudson Prose Prize. As a journalist, she’s covered Oklahoma arts and music for over five years. Wenger earned her MFA at Iowa State University’s program for Creative Writing and Environment. She is currently based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan where she is serving as a Princeton in Asia Fellow at the American University of Central Asia. Her website is wengerwrites.com
Madeline C. Roper
Co-EditorMadeline Roper is a writer and consultant from Tulsa, OK. Her work has been published in ASLUT Zine, Orange Peel Magazine, The Tulsa Voice and more. She currently lives in Nashville, TN with her boyfriend and two cats.
Allison J. Wenger
Visual Arts EditorAllie Wenger is a medical student at the University of Oklahoma. In her free time, she is a fiber artist specializing in needle and wet felt. Her work has been featured on the cover of Blood and Thunder, OU College of Medicine's literary art magazine, and won the 2024 Conley Art in Medicine competition for a quilt piece. Her art is featured at DNA Galleries in downtown OKC.
Julie Packett
ReaderJulie Packett is a writer and editor based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her books explore literacy and meaning-making and have been published by Bloomsbury Academic and Peter Lang. She holds a doctorate from Columbia University and has extensive experience working with literary and scholarly writing. She is enthusiastic about supporting Oklahoma writers and artists.
Samuel Rucks
Poetry EditorSamuel Rucks is a poet and writing instructor from Tulsa, Oklahoma. His work has been featured in the Stardust Review, the Bangalore Review, Yas Poetry Series, and Frontier Mosaic. Sam earned his MFA at the University of New Hampshire, where he’s currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric while teaching first-year writing. He is currently based in Dover, New Hampshire.
Corinne Gaston
Nonfiction EditorCorinne Gaston is a Tulsa-based writer who writes a monthly dating column at The Pickup, and runs a monthly writers’ critique group of Tulsan writers. She is a 2025 recipient of the Artists Creative Fund, which she used to produce a generative poetry workshop series and showcase. Her poem For Evelyn won second place in the 2025 Gordon Parks Museum poetry contest, and her poetry has appeared in Literary Orphans and Rose Red Review. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Southern California.
Contact us
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!