Managing Editor
Nikki Palladino (she/her) is writer and sommelier based in Medford, New Jersey. With dual degrees in writing, as well as a JD, Nikki’s true passion is wine studies. A graduate of the The International Culinary Center’s Intensive Sommelier Training Program and a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas, when she isn’t selling wine, she’s reading and writing about it for literary magazines, as well as newspapers. Check out her monthly column, “Wining & Dining,” in The Italian American Herald and follow her @nikki_pall.
Assistant Managing Editor – Production
Amanda Kreklau (she/they) is an editor, writer, and artist currently living in Northern California with her spouse and two poodles. Holding a BA in History, an MA in Cultural Production from Brandeis University, and an MA in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University, she was drawn into the editorial world but still finds time for supporting public culture as co-founder of the nonprofit NorCal Vocal Arts Community. She has self-published two contemporary romance novellas and Only Mostly Functional, a book of strategies and tips for surviving adult life with mental illness and/or intellectual disabilities, drawn from her experience with late-diagnosed anxiety, depression, ADHD, and autism. She loves tea, reading cookbooks like novels, and singing with her choir.
Assistant Managing Editor – Marketing
Shreya Banerji is a liberal arts student from Symbiosis International University based in India. She is currently pursuing a major in Media Studies with a minor in Psychology, honors, with research while working as a junior brand copywriter and strategist for her idol Megha Sawhney, fondly known as the “Desicopywriter.” Coming from a progressive Bengali family, Shreya grew up amidst the intersection of art, literature, music, and theatre. She loves exploring different cultures, adopting their languages and believes in embracing the popular saying, “When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do.” She is deeply interested in researching the intersection of culture and media and always prides herself on having the best film recommendations.
Production Editor
Sarah Garcia (she/they) is a speculative fiction writer who self-describes as a bisexual disaster, loves fairy tales, and crafts stories about the weird, horrific, and fantastical. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she has a BA in English from UCLA, an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College, and a Copyediting Certificate from UCSD. They currently work as a communications manager for a nonprofit, while their career has previously led them to opportunities and internships with 580 Split, BreakBread Magazine, Writers House, and Penguin Random House. Sarah’s writing has featured in FEM Newsmagazine, Fairy Tale Magazine, BreakBread Magazine, and The Ana, and while attending Mills College, she was awarded several prizes for her writing, including the Amanda Davis MFA Thesis in Fiction Prize.
Marketing Specialist
Alyssa Hinson completed her masters at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, where she specialized in literary and cultural studies with a focus on analyzing classic texts through contemporary lenses and extracting narratives relevant to modern discourse. She served as vice president of the department’s Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society chapter while working as a graduate assistant in the English department and as a receptionist for UNCW’s Housing and Residence Life for two years. She loves horror movies, manga, and her two adorable tabby cats.
Director, MAYDAY:Black
Carla Bell is a journalist and editorial consultant in Washington, DC, with bylines at Ebony and Essence magazines, Electric Literature, The North Star, first established by Frederick Douglass in 1847, and many others. Find her work on her website.
Culture Editors
Clement Obropta is an editor and film journalist living in Edinburgh. His work has appeared in publications such as Film Inquiry, Film Daze, and Wanderlust Journal. Poetry published elsewhere.
Lisa Ströhm Winberg is a culture editor and exhibition curator at MAYDAY. She has studied at London College of Contemporary Arts, and holds a BA (hons) degree in Fashion Communication from Heriot-Watt University. At MAYDAY she combines her extensive visual arts knowledge, and background in fashion, with her flair for the written word. Lisa is also a visual artist in her own right, specializing in fine art, fashion and portrait photography. Her art can be found on Instagram.
Nonfiction Editors
Eleanor Whitney (she/her) is a writer, musician, marketer, and community builder based in Brooklyn and the California high desert. Her book Riot Woman, which takes a celebratory but critical look at the Riot Grrrl movement, was published by Microcosm Publishing in 2021 and her book on literary community and book marketing, Promote Your Book, was published by Microcosm in 2023. She recently completed her MFA in creative nonfiction at Queens College and holds a bachelor’s degree in cultural studies from Eugene Lang College and a Masters in Public Administration from Baruch College. Her work has appeared in Windmill magazine, Divagations, Art F City, Weird Sister, and the beloved-but-defunct Bitch and Venus magazines.
Leah Mandel (she/her) is a writer and editor from New York City. She received her MFA in creative nonfiction from Columbia University, and her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, Real Life, Majuscule, and more. Her interests and work ranges widely—from music to digital culture, sculpture to baseball, and beyond—and she is partial to hybrid and experimental forms of nonfiction.
Kelsey Wallace (she/her) is a writer/nonfiction editor from Saipan and Texas. She is an MFA Candidate at New England College where she is currently working on essays and short stories steeped in geography and environmental concerns with elements of memoir and magical realism mixed in. She lives near a river with spectacular cliffs where she knits, hikes with her dogs, and runs a short story club.
Rina Shamilov (she/they) is a writer from Brooklyn, New York, and an MFA candidate at Notre Dame’s Creative Writing Program. Her favorite literary genres are southern/ gothic horror, American 20th century modernism, and creative nonfiction. Rina’s writing has been featured in The Foundationalist, Lilith Magazine, New Voices Magazine, and The Forward.
Poetry Editors
Sean Karns is the author of the chapbook Premise of My Confession: A Dramatis Personae (Finishing Line Press, 2019) and the poetry collection Jar of Pennies (New American Press, 2015). He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Illinois. His work has appeared in the Birmingham Poetry Review, Rattle, Pleiades, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Kate Polak is a writer, artist, performer, and scholar specializing in comics, poetry, 21st century women writers, and the literatures of genocide. Her first book, Ethics in the Gutter: Empathy and Historical Fiction in Comics, was nominated for an Eisner Award. She co-edited Science Fiction and the Historical Novel: Days of Future Pasts with Dr. Ian MacDonald. Her scholarship has appeared in Diegesis, Trespassing, and several collected editions. Her creative writing, including poetry and comics, have appeared in a variety of venues. She is currently developing a graphic novel on teenaged girlhood and Cincinnati during the 1990s, a monograph tentatively entitled The Poetics of Comics, and assorted other nonsense.
Rebecca E. Williams is a poet, essayist, and painter. She is currently working on a collection of poetry, The Mistress of Holes. Rebecca’s writing has been featured in Talking River Review, Camas Magazine, Canthius: Feminism and Literary Arts, and The Georgia Review. Her work centers around ecopoetics, especially the necropastoral, and takes influence from Kim Hysoon, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Maggie Nelson, and Anne Carson.
Naomi Wilson is a poet and photographer from Massachusetts. She holds an MFA from Texas State University, where she teaches writing. Her work considers lineage, self-fashioning, and the intersections of the archival and the interior.
Translation
Pepper Cunningham (she/her) is a writer and editor based in the mountains of Southern Ecuador. She is a Translation Editor at MAYDAY Magazine. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Split Lip, Rust + Moth, Rough Cut Press, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, Hope Is The Thing With Teeth, was released this fall with Bottlecap Press. She occasionally tweets.
Lobaba Shehab is an Egyptian literary creative based in Cairo. Her interdisciplinary work spans the written and the visual. She is a multilingual writer, editor, poet, translator, and filmmaker. Lobaba believes in the power of art in all its forms, especially poetry, and holds a masters degree in modern Spanish poetry. She currently works at Mauzoun Writing & Publishing where she helped translate Malaka Gharib’s two graphic novels, It Won’t Always Be Like This and I Was their American Dream.
Fiction Editors
Jo Ferreira is a Brooklyn born-and-raised fiction writer and Brooklyn College alum. Her horror story “Something Outré” was recently published in the Black women-owned literary journal Midnight & Indigo as part of their speculative fiction series. Interests include horror, history, and putting things into little boxes.
Gianna Gaetano (she/her) is a writer from New Jersey and South Carolina. She is a fiction candidate at the Ohio State University, where she is pursuing her MFA in fiction writing. She is also a co-fiction editor for The Journal. Her work has been shortlisted for The Masters Review Spring Small Fiction awards. When not writing, she can be found making pots of coffee, attempting to befriend her boyfriend’s cat, and painting palm trees after a glass of wine. You can find her on Instagram.
Dean Hill is a postgraduate researcher in English Literature at the University of Birmingham, where his work explores the intersections of literature and technology, with a particular focus on Orwell, dystopia, and the uncanny in contemporary and Victorian narratives. He is a Senior Reader for Ploughshares, an Associate Editor at Zimmer Books, and the former Editor and Project Manager of a human rights academic journal. With a background in media and communications, he brings a multimedia perspective to his literary work, drawing from experiences in publishing, broadcasting and digital storytelling. His writing, teaching, and conference presentations examine themes ranging from Dickensian creativity in the AI age to ecological engagement in narrative form. He is currently completing a book of essays.
Kristin Kessler is a book nerd with an MFA in creative writing who is currently pursuing a PhD in creative writing and cross-cultural studies. She has a background in developmental editing and fiction editing. She currently teaches a multimedia story-lab class of her own creation because she believes in the power of telling stories.
Annabelle Morrill is a writer and editor who is currently based in the Inland Northwest, but has roots in the landscapes of the East Coast and Midwest. She has an MFA from Eastern Washington University and is excited by all things strange and squishy.
Contributing Editors
Sloane French
Sophia Kaufman
Raki Kopernik
Daniele Pantano
Kirk Sever
Cal Shook
