For nearly seven years, the Stanford Storytelling Project’s podcast, “Off the Page,” served as a resource for anyone curious about the secrets behind creative writing. 

The podcast is a product of a collaboration between the Stanford Storytelling Project and Stanford’s Creative Writing program. Since 2008, the Stanford Storytelling Project has sponsored initiatives ranging from workshops to fellowships with the aim of highlighting the transformative power of oral storytelling. 

Every episode of “Off the Page” begins with a Stanford-affiliated writer reading their work, often a short story or a suite of poems. Then, the writer is interviewed by Mark Labowskie — a former Stegner Fellow, current Jones Lecturer and the host and curator of “Off the Page.” The interviews cover literary topics writer’s craft to the creative journey. Student producers help record the episodes, edit recordings and support the distribution of the podcast on platforms like Podbean and Spotify.

However, the most recent episode of “Off the Page,” featuring current Stegner Fellow Faith Merino, might be its final episode. Labowskie has decided to step down as the podcast’s host after the 2024-25 academic year, and production will be put on an indefinite hiatus due to University-wide budget cuts. 

“It was a chance to peek behind the curtain and hear about… how a certain story, or essay or group of poems got made,” Labowskie said. 

The first episode of “Off the Page” aired in 2018 and featured Jones Lecturer Brittany Perham. The episode centered around Perham’s poetry collection “Double Portrait,” which was based on the visual art from which it derives its name. Perham began the episode by reading “Double Portrait B21,” a poem built on resemblances between “kiss”, “miss”, “kill” and “keep”. In the episode, Perham elaborated on various writing techniques, such as adherence to poetic forms. According to Perham, a poetic form can be “like a house to put the poem in.”

“Off the Page” was meant to be a pedagogical tool for Stanford’s creative writing students, Jonah Willihnganz, the director of the Stanford Storytelling Project, said. As a lecturer in several creative writing courses, Willihnganz observed that reading works aloud was often helpful for editing. 

According to Megan Calfas ’18 M.A. ’20, the senior producer, “Off the Page” is “a unique opportunity for students to dig deeper with the many writers that are here on campus and get to be in more direct conversation with them about their craft.” 

Recent episodes have also featured undergraduates and alumni. Sarah Lewis ’24 M.A. ’25, who majored in English with a concentration in creative writing, read a story in her episode about a woman who turns into a rat and joins a rat ballet, explaining how the story’s narrator becomes liberated through her transformation.

“It was an interesting kind of exercise in both performing and writing,” said Lewis on the experience of reading her work aloud for “Off the Page.” “You kind of have to adapt to the medium of storytelling.”

“Off the Page” features more than published and edited works — several episodes featured early drafts, preserving details that did not make their way into the final version. In one episode, Jones Lecturer Sterling HolyWhiteMountain read the first ten pages of a story that would later be edited and published in The New Yorker as “False Star”. 

Labowskie described hearing the process and past drafts as having a “kind of a backstage quality to it, where people were showing work at different stages.” 

Through “Off the Page,” Labowskie said he has discovered the interconnectedness of Stanford’s creative writing community. Labowskie’s colleagues have taught several of the undergrads interviewed, and Labowskie said hosting the podcast allowed him to form connections with several cohorts of Stegner Fellows, who are only at Stanford for two years.

“It [is] kind of an audio record of the cohesiveness in the creative writing community,” said Labowskie. 

The episodes of “Off the Page” are currently archived on the Stanford Storytelling Project’s website. Meanwhile, The Storytelling Project is preparing alternative opportunities to explore podcast-based storytelling. 

Their upcoming project, “The Story Pharmacy,” aims to give the microphone to students. Students will gain experience with podcasting while interviewing members of the Stanford community about stories, published or otherwise, that have helped them navigate their lives.