https://offcourse.org
 ISSN 1556-4975

A journal for poetry, criticism, reviews, stories and essays published by Ricardo and Isabel Nirenberg since 1998.
See our guidelines.   Mail queries, comments, and contributions to: inirenberg@albany.edu

Ricardo Nirenberg's lectures 1996-1997, Project Renaissance.

Welcome to https://offcourse.org, home of Offcourse Literary Journal.

---

See Older Issues

Issue #106, September 2026

• Two Poems by Rilke with Translations by Rose Mary Boehm
• Poems by Tony Dawson
• "Dada Dedication in Albany, NY," by Joachim Frank.
• "Panic and Vision," an essay by Louis Gallo
• "Of Words and Names," meditations by Lois Greene Stone
• "The Story of Love", by Mark Jacobs
• "Prurience" and "Metamorphosis Nearly Done," poems by Bob McAfee
• "Summer" and "Communion," poems by Jeff Miller
• "Est et non: Presence and Absence," an essay by Ricardo Nirenberg
• Two Poems by Jimmy Pappas
• "Nightbox" and "Head," poems by Fred Pollack
• "Australian Rules," a sketch by Ian C. Smith
• "The Vet in my Class" and more poems by J.R. Solonche
• "On Interleaves (a Meager Mumbleful) and the Evolution of Angels," a poem by R.L. Swihart
• Three Poems from the Last Words series, by Richard Weaver
• "The Dirt Eater," a short story by Ken Wetherington

Congratulations to Lois Greene Stone on the publication of her new novel, Bells and Blades, and to Philip Fried on the review by Richard Hoffman, in Solstice, of his new book,  to be and not to be (Salmon Poetry, Ireland, 2026)  (https://solsticelitmag.org/content/to-be-and-not-to-be-by-philip-fried/).

 

---

We sadly announce the recent death of Eric Freedman (Newcastle, UK 1941 - Paris 2026), good friend and distinguished historian of the spoliation under the Vichy regime. His poems appeared in Offcourse #24 and #34.

 

Issue #105, June 2026

• "Night Fall", "Music Lesson", and "In Slant Light", poems and pictures by Ruth Bavetta
• Poems by Ana Cecilia Blum translated from the Spanish by Alexis Levitin
• "My Answer to Sor Juana’s Sonnet as Translated Into English by Rhina Espaillat" and other poems by Rose Mary Boehm
• "The Arctic," flash fiction by John Brantingham
• "Ghosted Ships" and "Burning Memories In", poems by Garrett R. Bruner
• Two Poems by Tony Dawson
• Poems by Louis Gallo
• "Where does it hurt, exactly" and other poems by J.A. Karpinska
• Two Poems by Judy Kronenfeld
• Two Poems by Miriam Kotzin
• “The Old Man, He Ordered,” “Mixology,” and “My God,” poems by Bruce Morton 
• "On Spiders and Wasps," an essay by Ricardo Nirenberg
• "Lady Hamilton Regrets," a poem by Charles Rammelkamp
• "More than a Silence" and other poems by Gordon Scapens
• "All Rise" and "Extras", poems by Barry Seiler
• "Once I was new," a story by Lilly Stradling
• "A Couple of Painters," a story by Robert Wexelblatt
• "In Syria" and other poems by Sarah White

Congratulations to Rebecca Foust on the second edition of YOU ARE LEAVING THE AMERICAN SECTOR: Love Poems, Blue Light Press, and to Rose Mary Boehm, whose collection Life Stuff, Kelsay Books, 2023, took a Bronze Medal at the Reader's Choice Book Awards.

---

Issue #104, March 2026

• "Shestov, Gascoyne, and a Spiritual Crisis of Reason," an essay by Daniel Barbiero
• "Lady Buddha" and other poems by Rose Mary Boehm
• "Not the Final Interview with the Buddha," anachronistic fiction by James Brewer
• "Remembering Chris Rea," a poem by Tony Dawson
• "Occupants of the Red House," a story by Salvatore Difalco
• "Witness to the Execution," a story by Joachim Frank
• "The Beginning of November," a poem by George Freek
• Poems by Lou Gallo
• "Why Offcourse?," an essay by Lois Greene Stone
• "We Magicians" and "Some Things can't be Helped", poems by John Grey
• Three Poems by Mercedes Lawry
• "Calypso," a story by Alexis Levitin
• "Two Skies over Salamanca" Part II of an essay by Ricardo L. Nirenberg
• "The Trouble with Mornings," a poem by Louis Phillips
• "The Ancients" and "Apotheosis," poems by Terry Savoie
• "August 6, 2025", and "Innocence", poems by David Siff
• "Bulletins of the Broken Hearted" by Ian C. Smith
• "Things you can do in 85 seconds," a poem by J. R. Solonche
• "Hsi-Wei and the Broken Engagement," a story by Robert Wexelblatt
• " Scenes from 'A Girl’s Brief Life: Julia Newberry'," by Sarah White

 

Congratulations to:

• Philip Fried, whose new book has just been published by Salmon Books.
• E. M. Schorb: The 2026 Independent Press Award recognized “Gravity Flow: The Jimmy Whistler Stories” by E. M. Schorb in the category of General Fiction as a distinguished favorite.

 

---