Off the Record

Information for Off the Record

Thank you for your interest in Off the Record! Off the Record is a new creative section of the Record that will seek to publish creative pieces by students bi-weekly online and in print once a semester. Published pieces will include works of creative writing such as poetry, micro-fiction, creative nonfiction, and fiction, personal essays such as non-fiction or memoir-styled essays; visual art such as photography, drawings, or graphic art; and other work such as recipes, playlists, advice, etc.

This addition to the Record will aim to amplify the creative community on campus through the Record’s platform, which already has an active, diverse, and dedicated viewership. By providing creative publication opportunities, the Record will create a space for students to share their work with the campus community and will serve as a liaison for creative writers and artists who are beginning to seek publication outside of the College. Along with this, online publications will be accompanied by correlated visual work, providing further opportunities for involvement within the campus’ artistic community beyond direct publication.

At the beginning of each semester, the OTR staff will meet to decide on the theme for the semester and end-of-semester final publication. This theme will provide clearer direction for readers when evaluating submissions and will curate creative cohesion in publications, though not every piece will have to fit the theme. Potential themes can include issues of exclusion, cross-cultural dialogue, contemplations on power dynamics, the natural world, etc.

When pieces get submitted, they will be read by readers. Readers will be divided into sections to take charge of pieces they feel comfortable with or have expertise in. For example, a reader who is familiar with poetry will be assigned primarily poetry submissions. Readers do not edit the pieces, but rather give general broad feedback and vote on if pieces should or should not be published. Please note that reader positions are open to all students, and readers can also be contributors!

A contributor can be any member of the Williams community looking to submit creative writing such as poetry, micro-fiction, creative nonfiction, and fiction, personal essays such as non-fiction or memoir styled essays; visual art such as photography, drawings, or graphic art; and other work such as recipes, playlists, advice, etc. Please note that anyone at all is welcome to be a contributor!

If you are interested in joining Off the Record, please email us (email below) for more information.

SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO [email protected].

Get involved with Off the Record!

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