Off Assignment

How to Write Picture Books — Off Assignment A literary space for the candid tales behind official stories.

What if your "too small" story is actually perfect for a picture book? Join award-winning @kyomaclear.bsky.social, @dirtbagg.bsky.social, @matthewburgessj.bsky.social, X Fang, & @bottomshelfbks.bsky.social for our five-week course on writing picture books this September.

How to Write Picture Books — Off Assignment A literary space for the candid tales behind official stories.

"Writing Picture Books" starts tomorrow! Join @kyomaclear.bsky.social , @bottomshelfbks.bsky.social , X. Fang, @matthewburgessj.bsky.social , & @dirtbagg.bsky.social to learn techniques and generate new approaches to picture book writing.

Register now:

This kicked off this past Saturday and it’s such vital discussion! Thanks @offassignment.bsky.social

Goodbye to the Chicago Intersection Where I Was Reborn — Off Assignment “In August of 2022, I rode the purple line from Evanston into Chicago. I was going to Madison and Halsted. Madison and Halsted is a mythical place in my imagination. It’s the intersection where…

Imagine you come to consciousness with no memory of who you are and what just happened . For @ingridrojasc.bsky.social, who rose from a roadside accident in Chicago in a state of amnesia, that feeling was ecstasy. What happens when she returns to the site of the crash?

Goodbye to a rebirth In August of 2022, I rode the purple line from Evanston into Chicago. I was going to Madison and Halsted. Madison and Halsted is a mythical place in my imagination. It’s the intersection where…

In this week's "Behind the Essay" interview, @ingridrojasc.bsky.social tells us about her favorite modes of transportation, what the form of a farewell essay unlocked for her about goodbyes, and the great classics and forthcoming books that have been on her reading list.

Read here:

Goodbye to the Chicago Intersection Where I Was Reborn — Off Assignment “In August of 2022, I rode the purple line from Evanston into Chicago. I was going to Madison and Halsted. Madison and Halsted is a mythical place in my imagination. It’s the intersection where fiftee...

Ingrid Rojas Contreras lost her memory entirely when she was hit by a car at a nondescript Chicago intersection. It became a symbol of heartbreak, ecstasy, rebirth.

When she returns for the first time, what will she find? www.offassignment.com/gttp/ingrid-...

We're delighted to announce Carey Baraka is now our Editor-at-Large! Since 2022, Carey has played an instrumental role in curating and editing OA essays from a wide range of international writers. Raising a virtual toast to an editor extraordinaire, and here's to many more astounding essays to come!

How to Write Autofiction — Off Assignment A literary space for the candid tales behind official stories.

What is autofiction? Join @aubereylescure.bsky.social and four legends in the realm of autobiographical fiction for this upcoming five-week Masters' Series: @alexanderchee.bsky.social, Laura Van Den Berg, Zinzi Clemmons, & Andrew Sean Greer.

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To the Woli Who Read My Brother's Future — Off Assignment “You told him that he would lead a life so miserable he’d contemplate killing himself. Was that what he wanted? You asked. My brother, terrified of and threatened by this gloom, replied no. Was he…

Congratulations to OA contributor Olajide Omojarabi, whose short story "Messenger Meg" appears in this summer's issue of Ploughshares Journal! Olajide is currently at work on his debut novel and collection of short stories. Get a taste of his stunning writing at Off Assignment:

How to Write About the Body — Off Assignment A literary space for the candid tales behind official stories.

Registration closes soon for "Writing the Body" with @margosteines.bsky.social! Write about embodied experiences with nuance and power, joined by renowned guest authors @sarahmanguso.bsky.social, Krys Malcolm Belc, @porochista.bsky.social, & @christinajcooke.bsky.social.

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So Many Ways to Dance: Reading Raymond Carver in Wilmington — Off Assignment “On the North Carolina coast in late September, M and I went to an old-time jam in a friend’s backyard. The southern humidity had started to lift, and the air felt clean. Standing near the fence, we…

"I'm partial to 'So Many Ways to Dance: Reading Raymond Carver in Wilmington.' I 've always loved Jamie Tews' work, but the way she navigates a breakup in this essay holds a new level of insight and vulnerability." —Emily Lowe

Read this "Under the Influence" essay here:

In our latest "Letter to a Stranger" essay by Emily Lowe, we learn to leave the trail and follow the tracks. It may be reckless, but the desire for an adventure, and the desire to be part of her father's epic tales at the campfire, drove Emily onwards.

Read the essay buff.ly/7DdNV0r

To My Siberian Hiking Companion — Off Assignment “It appeared most households on Olkhon Island, a crescent of land in Lake Baikal, had a dog, and that the pets were left to roam free. It made sense. How far could they — you — even go, surrounded as…

Not all strangers in the "Letter to a Stranger" archive are human! Like Emily Lowe's last week, Sebastian Modak's essay is to a Siberian dog who accompanied him on a lonesome hike to Lake Baikal while he was on assignment for the NY Times' 52 Places column.

Read it here:

Rethinking Travel Writing — Off Assignment A literary space for the candid tales behind official stories.

Travel writing is a beloved genre--and yet, historically, so much of it has gone awry.

Develop a new approach to travel with our "Rethinking Travel Writing" course, led by Faith Adiele—featuring Bani Amor, Pier Nirandara, Carey Baraka, & @noosarowiwa.bsky.social. Register:

This week, we're reading about how young womanhood, and its implications for marriage, has evolved in media; the lessons to be learned from fish while navigating queerness (@elizabethendicott.bsky.social); and a deep dive on a ubiquitous font in Manhattan (@aresluna.org): buff.ly/6tBGqM0

How to Write Autofiction — Off Assignment A literary space for the candid tales behind official stories.

Join our "How to Write Autofiction" course this fall to learn from incredible writers @aubereylescure.bsky.social, @alexanderchee.bsky.social, Laura van den Berg, Andrew Sean Greer, & Zinzi Clemmons.

Find out more and register here:

Take a look behind this week's "Letter to a Stranger" essay as writer Emily Lowe reflects on connecting with nature, bending the rules, and finding new ways to approach the bear that has haunted her stories over the years.

Read the full Q&A through the newsletter: buff.ly/6tBGqM0

We're thrilled to have incredible authors Steve Almond, @meghamaj.bsky.social, Anthony Doerr, Camille Dungy, and @sarahmanguso.bsky.social teaching our "Writing Desire" Masters' Series course this November. Bring your burning questions for this stellar group and register here: buff.ly/CUo4EhW

In this week's new essay, we meet a bear. We follow its paw prints through the woods, imagine it scarfing down berries, and, through it all, feel the wonder and trust of a daughter ready to follow her father anywhere.

Read this heartbreakingly tender essay by Emily Lowe: buff.ly/7DdNV0r

Improve Your Imagination — Off Assignment A literary space for the candid tales behind official stories.

Imagination is essential to creating new worlds, both on and off the page. Join "The Practice of Imagination" w Rachel Khong, Shruti Swamy, @rubenwrites.bsky.social, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, & Hilary Leichter this fall to develop a stronger imaginative practice to fuel your writing:

The Power of the Prompt By Colleen Kinder I’m one of those writing teachers who swears by prompts. Narrative directives like, “Write about a childhood memory, set in a car.” or “Begin every single sentence with ‘I remembe…

At OA, we’ll take a prompt over a blank page any day—all our columns invite writers to respond to a generative prompt!

Read OA co-founder Colleen Kinder ( @colleenkinder.bsky.social) in Brevity ( @dintywmoore.bsky.social) about their potential as creative springboards:

She's taught two OA courses and been a guest at another: Chloé Caldwell's pretty popular around here. So let's congratulate her on her new memoir! Mia Arias Tsang, a guest author at Chloé's most recent OA course, joins her on tour, and catch OA contributors Leslie Jamison & Michelle Tea in NYC & LA!

At Off Assignment, we think a lot about platforming writing outside the western-centric canon of travel literature. Join travel writers Faith Adiele, Pier Nirandara, Carey Baraka, Bani Amor, and @noosarowiwa.bsky.social to reimagine travel writing through these perspectives. buff.ly/OkswTkm

What does it mean to say goodbye: Is it a definitive act, a threshold? In her "Behind the Essay" interview, Holly Brickley looks back on how the farewell essay taught her the place she's writing about cannot truly be left.

Read the full interview in our newsletter: buff.ly/Ub9gkn4

Highly recommended read. I talked to Kat last year on my podcast, and we dug into her Fiona Apple connection:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTAN...

Per Leslie Jamison, reading @margosteines.bsky.social's writing is "journeying to the center of the earth, except the earth is a human body." Learn from Margo, @christinajcooke.bsky.social @porochista.bsky.social @sarahmanguso.bsky.social & Krys Malcom Belc in "Writing the Body." buff.ly/JOxfnwQ

Roadmap: Listening to Fiona Apple in Santa Maria — Off Assignment I buy this CD from the Kmart on Santa Maria Way with a friend the summer before 6th grade. We walk to the store via a shortcut behind the thoroughfare without her parents as chaperones. My family…

Last week's "Goodbye to That Place" essay by Holly Brickley had Donald Fagen lyrics suffusing a farewell to San Francisco, and it made us think of how Katrina Prow used Fiona Apple albums as roadmaps thru her California upbringing in this 2023 "Under the Influence."

Read along here: buff.ly/j8Uzc6k

This one's for all of you who have read picture books to kids and thought: I want to write one too! For dreamers, professionals, and all in between: join @kyomaclear.bsky.social, @dirtbagg.bsky.social, @matthewburgessj.bsky.social, X Fang, & @bottomshelfbks.bsky.social in September. buff.ly/lCHPVNT

This week, we're reading: an article on beavers' 50 years as Canada's national symbol by @brianbanks.bsky.social, a story about the haunting of a mill town by Rebecca Turkewitz, and an essay on shifting landscapes and disasters by Erica Berry.

These and more in our newsletter: buff.ly/nM5NgsI

OA editors @aubereylescure.bsky.social & Tusshara reunited in London! They talked about writing communities, what it means to travel back to same city again and again, and Aube’s preparation for her Masters' Series course “Writing Autofiction.” We love international reunions in our far-flung team! 🥰