Katherine O’Hara
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katherineohara.bsky.social
Katherine O’Hara
@katherineohara.bsky.social
690 followers 470 following 210 posts
Freelancing at Macmillan + | Previously: prose reader Electric Literature | MFA UNCW | Tin House ‘20 | Best American Essays Notable ‘23 | 🏳️‍🌈

katherinegohara.com
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katherineohara.bsky.social
Thankful to all the artists who shaped my life and reflections this year
Katherine’s Favorites of 2023 Books: Lo by Melissa Crowe, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, Good Women by Halle Hill, Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Book of Delights by Ross Gay, Freedom House by KB Brookins, and Call Up the Waters by Amber Caron. Podcasts: Vibe Check, To the Best of Our Knowledge, Search Engine, and On Being
December 30, 2023 at 1:05 AM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Absolutely shocked! My memoir excerpt “You Have to Trust Me” from @hfrlitmag is a Best American Essays Notable! Thank you HFR for publishing this piece, to @ninadegramont.bsky.social
for shepherding the beginnings of this project, and of course to my mama who I’ll never stop writing about. ❤️
Photo of the latest Best American Essays edited by Vivian Gornick. The cover is yellow with black line details. The book is held in front of a white background Page in the Notable section of BAE that lists my name “Katherine O’Hara” and essay “You Have to Trust Me. Hayden’s Ferry Review, #70”
October 25, 2023 at 12:28 AM
katherineohara.bsky.social
40 lovely souls attended my generative writing class this morning and many others who couldn’t make it texted their excitement for the recording. A bright spot in the day. Thank you UNCW’s Department of Creative Writing for the opportunity
Photo of a laptop open to a Zoom session of writers writing. A coffee mug is to the right of the laptop that reads “Proud parent of a sheepadoodle who is sometimes an asshole and that’s okay.”
October 20, 2023 at 7:21 PM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Show me your pet and who they’re named after
A black/gray sheepadoodle wearing a blue and green patterned bandanna. He’s sitting with one paw raised in the air. This is post visit to the groomers so he’s fluffy but neatly trimmed so not super wooly like he usually is in the winter Me and My Arrow by Harry Nilsson. This song was written for Nilsson’s animated movie called, “The Point!” It was the theme song for the main character, Oblio, and his dog Arrow.
September 21, 2023 at 1:53 AM
katherineohara.bsky.social
My personality in the passenger seat: a sweatshirt from my spin class studio, a Milkweed Books tote, and a bag of Trader Joe’s groceries
September 7, 2023 at 3:04 AM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Some professional news: I’m contracting with Macmillan Publishing for the Macmillan Speakers Bureau! I’m excited for this next chapter in my career as a freelancer. I look forward to this opportunity and many more opportunities in the future!
Image of a laptop with a screensaver that says Macmillan on it. The laptop sits in a leather chair. In the background is a bookshelf filled with books.
September 5, 2023 at 11:16 PM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Happiest of mail days because the ARC and pre-order of GOOD WOMEN by Halle Hill are here! Title recently featured in PEOPLE’s Best Books of Fall! Halle is an unbelievable talent. Order now @hubcitypress.bsky.social. Pub date 9/12
September 2, 2023 at 7:12 PM
katherineohara.bsky.social
A favorite from reading Emily Paige Wilson’s JALUBÍ tonight
Once I lost a pair of garnets / a graduation gift. Pomegranate / seeds fashioned into earrings, / facets cut to hold light in deep / fuchsia folds. Whenever trinkets go / missing, we know to blame Gladys. / her spirit, really, that shows itself / by hiding things. Bobby pins, buttons, rings. / should it surprise / us, the way jewelry attracts these hauntings? Pieces made to showcase / the body. How earrings cast shadows / on expose shoulders, how tiny a wrist / seems when slipped into a bracelet’s / obliging mouth. A necklace resting / in the slender curves of a clavicle. Isn’t this / what spirits are after: a reminder / of the shape of the bodies They’ve misplaced? To enter or rest / on skin, without causing harm, to stay / comfortably afloat? I dreamt, / weeks after I lost my earrings, / that they had fallen from the shelf. / and there they were in the morning, / waiting on the carpet underneath. / Bright red and ready to be worn.
August 24, 2023 at 1:00 AM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Sending you all the puppy snuggles!
August 12, 2023 at 5:12 PM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Between Justin’s birthday and mine, we have a lot of cake in the house. So I’ve been bombarding my friends and giving them cake. Here’s episode 5 of the cake redistribution system
A black sheepadoodle sniffing a container with different slices of cake: carrot and Bundt cake slices
July 27, 2023 at 10:53 PM
katherineohara.bsky.social
So @tylerawhichard.bsky.social found the best sweatshirt that sums up my entire personality 1000/10 🔥
A gray sweatshirt that says “I don’t want to go but I want to be invited” with blue text and yellow smiley faces
July 27, 2023 at 7:47 PM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Hi Barbie! It’s my birthday!
Katherine is a white woman with brown hair. She has a lavender tattoo on her inner left arm. She is wearing a red dress that has a slit on the left leg. She is wearing gold glasses. She’s trying to make a model face lol Katherine is a white woman with brown hair. She has a lavender tattoo on her inner left arm. She is wearing a red dress that has a slit on the left leg. She is wearing gold glasses. She’s trying to make a model face lol. She’s looking off into the distance
July 24, 2023 at 1:44 AM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Almost 4 grams of cayenne peppers harvested! Featuring one that looks like a cat taking a nap!
A blue basket of cayenne peppers. Varying in sizes but all bright red. The basket sits in the middle of a row with cayenne pepper plants on the left-hand side and basil plants on the right. A bright red cayenne pepper, twisted and curled, looking like a snail shell, or a cat taking a nap
July 21, 2023 at 2:22 PM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Picking only one poem to share from KB BROOKINS’s FREEDOM HOUSE was like picking between collections of awe and reckoning and gasps. Reading this in one sitting, saying to myself “damn they’re a movement. They’re a world in bloom.” Dear friend, you are the truth and the hope.
July 15, 2023 at 2:37 AM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Hey y'all! Don't forget submissions open on MONDAY for The Commuter. I'm excited to potentially read your work.

Also, this means nothing, but the deadline, July 23, is my birthday so that's kinda cute 😌
Call for submissions. The commuter. Open July 17-23. Short prose, poetry, and graphic narratives. Poetry and prose categories will be capped at 375 submissions each. More info on the EL submittable.
July 13, 2023 at 6:17 PM
katherineohara.bsky.social
A harvest photo from last week at the community farm. Summer season means lots of squash and cucumbers
Medium sized cucumbers and squash in shades of dark green and yellow green. They sit on a drying rack after being washed from harvesting at the farm
July 6, 2023 at 7:44 PM
katherineohara.bsky.social
Get your prose submissions ready! I want to read them! The Commuter opens July 17. 💡
Call for Submissions: The Commuter. Open July 17 - 23. Short prose, poetry, and graphic narratives. Poetry and prose categories will be capped at 375 submissions each. More info on the EL Submittable.
July 5, 2023 at 12:14 PM