LARB Digital eDitions #39: The Offing

“The offing” is a nautical term that means “the farthest part of the ocean that can be seen from the shore.” The expression “in the offing” refers, then, to something that is sighted, hoped for, or on the way, which suggests that what is in the offing – and what is in The Offing – moves toward us: a ship coming in, bringing word of what lies beyond the horizon.

The Offing‘s mission is to publish work that challenges, experiments, provokes. It offers a place for new and emerging writers to test their voices, and for established writers to test their limits. And the magazine’s editors actively seek out work by and about those often marginalized in the literary conversation, including people of color, women, gender-nonconforming writers, and members of the LGBTQIA and differently abled communities. Since launching in March 2015, The Offing has published work by over 100 writers, including poetry, essays, fiction, pieces that defy categorization, and works in translation from around the world.

The Offing is proof that the epithets “political,” “experimental,” and “marginal,” far from compromising the work, bring it about. They bring it into harbor, home to us. And they send it out, into the offing, beyond what we can yet see.