Off Assignment

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Off Assignment An online literary magazine with a penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers. We’re not here to guide vacations. We don’t cover spas or centennials.

Off Assignment is a literary magazine with a penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers. We’re made up of writers who travel, poets who wander, essayists with a sense of place, reporters with swollen notebooks, and gourmands with street cart taste. We have a taste for offbeat places. We care about voice and story. We want the writer on the page—sweating, tripping, and telling a tale.

08/14/2026

Meghan Gunn () is the ultimate OA story: a recommendation by Off Assignment OG Ted Conover () led her to our slush pile, where we plucked out her essay to publish, and it went on to win a spot in Best American Travel Writing! She's written more beautiful essays since then — about nature and youth and adventure and so much more, and is a much-loved member of our Advisory Council. Onwards and upwards, Meg, thanks for being on this journey with us!

08/10/2026

When we first met Jess Tran () as a guest author in Ali Francis' (.me) "Business of Freelancing" course, we knew at once we wanted to be friends. And when she read a stunning essay at our live reading with in Brooklyn later that year, it was official. We're so lucky to have such generous and talented people in our orbit. Thanks, Jess — here's to more firsts ahead!

These truly are the dog days of summer — treat yourself to some summery OA essays, from the doldrums of a Polish family'...
08/09/2026

These truly are the dog days of summer — treat yourself to some summery OA essays, from the doldrums of a Polish family's vacation in Mallorca to Julia Glass' (Julie Glass) magical encounter with a stranger in Italy; from Olaya Barr's (Olaya Barr) Spanish childhood summers to Jamil Jan Kochai's (Jamil Jan Kochai) encounter with an old man in a field in Logar, Afghanistan. Head to the link in bio to read this selection of summer-themed essays.

Ready, steady, veggie!On September 2nd, author Ali Francis joins Michael Robinov at Farm To People | Food Delivery for t...
08/06/2026

Ready, steady, veggie!

On September 2nd, author Ali Francis joins Michael Robinov at Farm To People | Food Delivery for the global launch of her new book, The Curious Life of Vegetables, and a live Know Your Food recording on biodiversity, regenerative farming, and extraordinary produce.

Tickets start at $25 and include a drink and appetizers highlighting seasonal produce. $40 tickets include a pre-release copy of the book. Make sure to pre-order when selecting your ticket type, as books won’t be sold at the event. Ali will be available following the talk to sign copies!

Visit the link in our bio for tickets and more info.

A message from our founder, director, and intrepid leader Colleen Kinder (Colleen Kinder) at a milestone moment.
06/11/2026

A message from our founder, director, and intrepid leader Colleen Kinder (Colleen Kinder) at a milestone moment.

A few thousand words: That’s all a short story writer has to work with. And yet, the greatest practitioners of the form ...
04/30/2026

A few thousand words: That’s all a short story writer has to work with. And yet, the greatest practitioners of the form have built entire worlds, made us fall in love, and stunned us with plot-twists in the span of a single story.

This four-week course, led by Sanjena Sathian () unpacks how fiction writers are able to master the short form, with special attention to structure, the invisible architecture that makes a story function. Whether you’re a writer of short fiction or a lover of long novels, there’s much to glean from closely studying how a great story is built. By honing your structural x-ray vision, you’ll begin to see how every choice—from a section break to a subtle omission—shapes the whole.

Each class session will feature an acclaimed short story writer—Tony Tulathimutte (), Senaa Ahmad, Aimee Bender, and Maria Kuznetsova ()—with whom we’ll explore the questions that befall all fiction writers: Should you begin with character? Conceit? Voice? Should you have an ending in mind or do you work your way towards it? How do you decide what information to reveal and when? What do you leave out entirely? Hearing these varied and candid approaches will expand your notions of what’s possible and illuminate the mechanisms that make a short story sing.

This is not a workshop course—there’s no peer feedback—but you’ll generate plenty of new material through customized prompts and weekly assignments. By the end of the course, you’ll be better equipped to turn an idea or an exploratory draft into a piece of fiction that moves, breathes, and surprises, as a great story should.

Early bird pricing is available for the next three weeks, and scholarships are available! Learn more and register through the link in our bio.

Congratulations to OA contributor Tamiko Nimura (), whose memoir "A Place for What We Lose" is out this week with ! Tami...
04/29/2026

Congratulations to OA contributor Tamiko Nimura (), whose memoir "A Place for What We Lose" is out this week with ! Tamiko wrote a deeply touching "Letter to a Stranger" essay back in 2021: "To My 11-Year-Old Father in the Camp." It lives on in another form in this important book on concentration camps for Japanese Americans during WWII. Get the book and read her OA essay through the link in our bio!

Heartbreak is, unfortunately, a universal experience. Whether it's romantic, familial, personal, or professional — to li...
04/28/2026

Heartbreak is, unfortunately, a universal experience. Whether it's romantic, familial, personal, or professional — to live is to love and to love is to run the risk and inevitability of heartbreak. We all deal with it differently; but how can we write with heartbreak? How can we write from heartbreak?

Join us and returning teacher Chloé Caldwell () for "Writing Heartbreak" this summer! Each of the four sessions features an exciting visit from a guest author whose work showcases innovative approaches to writing heartbreak: Zaina Arafat (), Scaachi Koul (), Tommy Pico (), and Hannah Pittard (). You'll have the opportunity to pose questions directly to these authors and to experiment with writing prompts inspired by their work. By the end of the course, you will have 20,000 words on heartbreak produced, catalyzed by the head teacher’s encouragement and a group accountability spreadsheet.

Early bird pricing ends this Thursday April 30, so sign up now through the link in our bio!

Though we seem so very literary (and we are!), OA is much more than a bunch of wordsmiths: We’re a masthead of frog catc...
02/24/2026

Though we seem so very literary (and we are!), OA is much more than a bunch of wordsmiths: We’re a masthead of frog catchers, once-DJs, sea voyagers, fierce competitors, and so much more! Introducing…things you didn’t know about the OA staff!

🏓 Logan (), our Writing Courses Manager, is a ping pong champion! She plays wherever and whenever she can—which, she admits, is quite often.

🐸 Aube (), our beloved Editor-in-Chief, is not only a seriously impressive long-distance walker, but has over three decades of experience catching frogs.

👟 Jane (), our ever-creative illustrator, describes themself as a "slow but steady runnner." Go Jane, go!

🎷 Editor-at-Large Carey (), out in Nairobi, is a saxophone player—who knew!

🎧 Stephen (), as well as being our multi-skilled Marketing Strategist, once moonlit as Miss Teen USA, a DJ who spun post-punk vinyl across Pittsburgh. Not only that—he met his wife through a Craigslist Missed Connections post after DJing an event!

🛳 Co-founder Colleen (.kinder) once sailed all around the world on a cruise ship (while working on it).

🌽 Anya (), Managing Editor, has a master’s degree in porn—yes, really. Pictured is her presenting at an academic conference, and no she will not be taking questions at this time 😉

🧘‍♀️ Isabel, when not in an OA Zoom room supporting our teachers and students, spends a ton of time upside-down. She’s taught aerial yoga for eight years, and hasn’t gotten dizzy yet!

🧶 Tusshara (.ns) is an earnest, beginner knitter. She's made a scarf, fingerless gloves, and a hat. She's working on a purple sweater vest, which will hopefully be ready for autumn.

Yes, our Slack has been ALIGHT with all the new things we just learned about each other (it was hard to narrow down each of us to just one tidbit) — so we hope you enjoy this wee glimpse as well.

There’s long been a healthy overlap between the writers we publish and the writers who teach with us. Rather than preten...
02/05/2026

There’s long been a healthy overlap between the writers we publish and the writers who teach with us. Rather than pretending those worlds don’t touch—essays over here, courses over there—we want to lean into that confluence.

So today, we’re delighted to share a small collection that lives right at that intersection: Ten essays by writers who’ve both guided our courses and written pieces that illuminate the world in ways only Off Assignment can. These essays provide a glimpse behind the curtain: the thinking, feeling, and lived attention that informs both how these writers teach and how they show up on the page. Browse and enjoy through the link in our bio.

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