"The Thrill of Discovering Something Great." A Chat with Aube Rey Lescure, Editor-in-Chief of Off Assignment

"The power of a prompt"

Good day! I come with tidings of a new editor interview, freshly wrapped.

Today I had the pleasure of chatting with Aube Rey Lescure, Editor-in-Chief of Off Assignment.

Before I tell you all about it, a quick note that I’ve updated the June schedule with the day and time for the interview with the editors of Sewanee Review. You can visit here to get those details, learn more and register.

Now, on to Off Assignment!

Off Assignment is a non-profit literary magazine with a penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers. Born out of a desire to tell “the story behind the story," we’ve evolved from a journalists’ after-hour parlor to a home for literary essays about journeys, broadly defined….

Off Assignment aims to put forth a new kind of travel writing: one that not only transports readers across geographical borders, but plunges them deeper into the human experience.

The magazine was begun by Colleen Kinder in 2016 after an interesting experience with journalist Pico Iyer. Iyer was invited to visit Kinder’s class. Rather than talk about his writing,

he digressed into a tale he had never put to the page, about a magnetic local with whom he’d wandered Iceland’s unfading summer streets. This stranger dominated Pico’s memories of his reporting trip. Struck by this, Colleen asked fellow writers: Have you ever had a story you wanted to write, behind an assignment? They answered: Always.

Thus Off Assignment was born, a journal dedicated to what Aube described as the story “behind the reporting.”

In today’s conversation, Aube took us on a journey of the different kinds of work this unconventional travel magazine seeks. These editors are interested in personal essays. This means that the narrator ought to be wrestling with an idea, taking a deep dive into an emotional experience, and/or sharing a moment of growth or transformation.

Travel need not necessarily mean trips to far-off places. I asked whether a trip to a grocery store in an unfamiliar neighborhood might be a suitable subject. Aube said not only is it suitable, but they have a piece coming out soon on this very topic. What matters to these editors is not necessarily the exotic or breathtaking locale, but how the writer experiences something new at their destination, a shift in perspective or a deeper understanding of the world.

Off Assignment has various categories in which writers can submit work. These include “Letters to a Stranger,” “No Equivalent,” “Under the Influence,” and others.

These, too, can be interpreted in unconventional ways. For “Letters to a Stranger,” Aube discussed one writer who wrote a letter to a dog, another who wrote to an uncle who was revealed to have been a spy, and one writer who wrote a letter to her own body after an illness that created a personal and physical sense of estrangement.

In terms of what this magazine prefers stylistically, Aube made frequent mention of “literary quality” as the judging criteria. She also mentioned “depth,” “thought-provoking” and “well-told.”

Off Assignment has a solid and consistent readership, and the editors work to promote their writers’ work both through their newsletter and social media. They also feature interviews with their writers and keep in contact to promote future projects. Several writers have gone on to find agents after appearing in this magazine.

What are some tropes that these editors see a lot of? What are common reasons for rejection? What is the editorial process here? And what excites Aube most about doing this work?

For all that and more, dear friends, you will have to tune in!

Submissions to Off Assignment are open year-round. There is no fee to submit. Writers are paid $100-$500.

To everyone who came out today, thank you for showing up! Your faces are the cool lemonade on my super-humid-hair-frizz of a city day!

And, of course, thank you to Aube for taking the time to take us behind the scenes of another lovely little magazine.

Happy viewing!

Views expressed by any interview guest do not necessarily reflect my own.