RESIDENT RESEARCHER

Alanna Okun (b. 1990, Boston, MA) is a writer, educator, game designer, and textile artist. Her practice concerns the connections between craft, creativity, and computation.

Okun’s latest projects center on homemade electronics, soft materials, and interactive storytelling (often at the same time). She makes small, personal video games exploring what it means to be a person in the world, and uses handmaking techniques — particularly knitting — to understand and interrogate code, circuitry, and digital technology. Her work has most recently been featured at the Open Hardware Summit (Berlin), Narrascope 2026, Brooklyn Comic Con, the Horological Society of New York, and the American Institute for Graphic Arts. 

She is the author of two books of nonfiction — The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater: Essays on Crafting (Macmillan 2018) and Knit a Hat: A Beginner’s Guide to Knitting (Abrams 2020). Professionally, Okun spent over a decade working as an essays and features editor for publications including BuzzFeed, Racked, and Vox. Based in New York City, she received a Master’s degree from NYU ITP in 2026, where she currently works as a research resident. She is represented by Kate McKean at Morhaim Literary.