Off Assignment

Off Assignment began as a reading series in New York City, inspired by a candid talk the travel writer Pico Iyer gave at Yale in 2013. A community of journalists and travel writers galvanized around the idea that “the detour is the story” and hosted themed storytelling nights, in which writers divulged untold travel tales. Full backstory in this short video.

In spring 2016, OA launched a weekly web column called “Letter to a Stranger," and unfurled the "Behind the Feature" column shortly thereafter. The first print volume of OA stories was released in the summer of 2017, featuring the best of four years of OA storytelling. See here for a look at this 100-page collection.

Off Assignment’s co-founders are now seeking:

1. an Executive Director to carry forward the project’s grassroots mission
2. an Assistant Editor to oversee the "Letter to a Stranger" column and solicit new content