Off Assignment

A non-profit literary magazine with a penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers.

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[DADDY Magazine @daddymagberlin]

“River East, River West” by Aube Rey Lescure is a mesmerising reversal of the east–west immigrant narrative, set against China’s economic and political rise. The novel is a deeply moving exploration of race, identity, family, capitalism’s false promises and private dreams.

[Diana Hubbell @DianaHubbell]

This past summer, I said goodbye to a lot of things, including my favorite bar in Brooklyn. I wrote about change and letting go (things I fundamentally dislike). Thanks to the dream team at @OffAssignment for giving this a home https://t.co/9CzvCXdhEH

[CLMP @CLMPorg]

“In August of 2022, I rode the purple line from Evanston into Chicago. I was going to Madison and Halsted.”

Read Ingrid Rojas Contreras’s essay, “Goodbye to the Chicago Intersection Where I Was Reborn,” in @OffAssignment! #HispanicHeritageMonth https://t.co/Li4ETAfGoI

[CLMP @CLMPorg]

“You’d chosen a fitting alias—unique enough to stand out from Sean Cody’s stable of all-American jocks named Mark and Ken, but not laughable like Knox or Shamu.”

—Steven Tagle's “To the First-Time Porn Star” in @OffAssignment #FilipinoAmericanHistoryMonth
https://t.co/XNBIA5mb4e

[CLMP @CLMPorg]

“We meet on a rainy evening in early March. Earlier that week, I had been lying in Dolores Park listening to a John Lennon song, and I thought of…”

—from Rolando André López’s “To the Man Who Killed My Poem” in @OffAssignment #HispanicHeritageMonth https://t.co/Uai3l9nPDn

[CLMP @CLMPorg]

“It’s not often that a glass smashes. But it happens. At home, in a restaurant, at a party. And when it does, whether in a gay bar in New York’s West Village…”

Read Mohsin Zaidi’s essay “To the Child I Could Not Help” in @OffAssignment this #PrideMonth:
https://t.co/R51JgXXKST

[CLMP @CLMPorg]

“You sat next to me on the sofa, and asked to take off my shirt when I told you it was wet from wandering in the rain…”

Ani Kayode Somtochukwu’s essay “To Divine, from Grindr” (@OffAssignment) is featured on our reading list for #PrideMonth:
https://t.co/NArl2l3sYd

[Off Assignment @OffAssignment]

#callforsubmissions to our Letter to a Stranger, No Equivalent, Under the Influence, Witching Hour, & What I Didn’t Say columns.

And, we've increased our payment: $500 for long-form essays ($100 for Witching Hour)!

Full submission guidelines here: https://t.co/YFuS2NBpQs

[KimberlyBridson @KimberlyBridson]

Excited to share my latest words in one of my favorite literary magazines @OffAssignment. Thank you to my wonderful editor!
https://t.co/chplkt7Pmw

[Jack Christian @jackchristian_8]

Wrote about my buddy Kate's Garfield from Memory art project for @OffAssignment
https://t.co/58lgLqXWZY

[Split Lip Magazine @splitlipthemag]

If you're looking to attend a writing seminar this summer, check out @OffAssignment's new series on Writing the Body! Guest authors include SLM contributor @christinajcooke and memoir editor @krysmalcolmbelc, so you know it'll be great. Learn more here: https://t.co/00BhG9tAhW

[Off Assignment @OffAssignment]

In this week's "Behind the Essay," @nguyen_p_quemai tells us about what surprised her while writing her Letter to a Stranger, her hopes surrounding the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war, and the books that inspire her. Read the full interview: https://t.co/PxL5WWqJuo

[Off Assignment @OffAssignment]

In 2007, @nguyen_p_quemai stood at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, unable to enter—until a letter at the foot of the black marble changed her life. This month marks the 50th anniversary of Vietnam war; this essay calls for humanity in the face of horror: https://t.co/t6LumuR0Kp

[Off Assignment @OffAssignment]

We've long been thinking about how farewell can mediate our relationships to place: whether it be temporary departure or, in the case of @lsjamison's essay this week, permanent loss. Read about the inspiration behind our new column, Goodbye to That Place: https://t.co/q18IAUKWml

[Off Assignment @OffAssignment]

@juliaOTwriter @lsjamison Yes indeed!

[Off Assignment @OffAssignment]

Introducing our new column—"Goodbye to That Place"—with a gut-punch of a short piece by @lsjamison (one of OA's very first contributors!) about a home—now lost—that witnessed her childhood and adolescence in the Palisades.

Read this stunning piece here: https://t.co/D46ELNp2Qj

[Leslie Jamison @lsjamison]

"Where I practiced what I'd say to everyone on the first day of junior high. (I love how rain looks falling on water.) Where I learned what junior high was really like. Where I was quiet & angry & turned into myself."
An elegy for my childhood home 💔
https://t.co/dFFMeQFcDB

[John Phillips @John___Phillips]

"Where I practiced what I would say to everyone on the first day of junior high. (I love how rain looks falling on water.)" @lsjamison @OffAssignment
https://t.co/C76h7EbWVA

[Aube Rey Lescure @AubeReyLescure]

Launching our new @OffAssignment column, "Goodbye to that Place," with this stunner of an essay by @lsjamison. Please read: short & oh-so-powerful. Writers, if you have your own narrative farewell to a bygone place--start drafting, we'd love to read it.
https://t.co/cbJ7oGShJd

[Steven Tagle @steventagle]

Last summer, @OffAssignment's month-long “Writing the Modern Love Essay” Masters’ Series course, led by @LaviniaSpalding, gave me insight into the column’s structure & helped me answer the trickiest question: What's my unique revelation about the nature of love and relationships?