Editors’ Blog

Even students who love writing aren’t thrilled about first-year composition. If not taught well, the classwork and assignments feel routine, like practice with no chance for game time.

Amazon riled up the book-reading world again, using a price-checking app promotion to declare war on the brick-and-mortars. Richard Russo eloquently told Amazon to suck it, while some guy at Slate made the type of rebuttal you’d expect to hear from a third-year business student trying to get an English major into bed. By now, [...]

Ho Ho Ho

Congrats to Michelle Lawrence and CJ Hallman for making storySouth’s list of Notable Stories of 2010. Both stories remain in the running for the Million Writers Award. The ten finalists will be announced May 20th, followed by a public vote to determine the winner. We wish CJ and Michelle luck in their quest for the [...]

Identity Theory will return the week of April 4th.

On and off for the last year I’ve been developing a project called Readsfeed, a website that automatically shares snippets and links to short stories, poems, and reviews by literary publications on the web.Soon a beta version will be ready for testing, and I’d like to invite Identity Theory readers like you to try it [...]

I’m a few hours away from getting on a long cross-country flight, and naturally I’ve brought a book to read.It’s not a new book. In fact it’s probably the oldest, most beat-up book I own: my high school U.S. History textbook, Nation of Nations.I love the book for two reasons. It’s unusually well-written for a [...]

A version of this post also appears at FungibleConvictions.com.I recently rediscovered the virtues of journaling, something slower, more reflective, and of course more private than blogging.For about five years—from the end of high school through my first year or so in Boston—I wrote in a journal nearly every day. Since then—another five years—I’ve thought a [...]

Members of the Identity Theory Facebook Group were recently asked to name their favorite Identity Theory story of all time.Several stories received strong endorsements, but Rone Shavers’ 2007 fiction piece “Interpellation Made Simple” won the most votes from our readers by virtue of a strong showing in the Midwest.Everyone who entered the contest was entered [...]

We have been publishing for nine years now, and the sands of time–along with several redesigns–have eroded the presence of many older Identity Theory articles.Recently, I have been digging through the archives and discovering old gems, including:Trash and Serious Literature in America: Aristotle Blows the Whistle on Us by Tom BradleyRoad Rage by Frederick ZackelDenarration [...]

We are pleased to announce the addition of two bright young editors to the Identity Theory staff: John Madera and Hilarie Ashton.John Madera will be serving as an assistant fiction editor, replacing Sumanth Prabhaker, who moved on to launch Madras Press, a publisher of short fictions.Hilarie Ashton will be serving as an assistant editor, helping [...]

The alt-weekly newspaper in Vermont, where Identity Theory is headquartered, recently featured us in its “State of the Arts” section:Burlington Resident Explores Identity Theory in His High-Profile E-JournalThe article gives an excellent background on our site’s history, people and philosophy and concludes:“Identity Theory may sound like something in a sociology paper. But the point, says [...]

Hello. As you might be aware, our poetry submissions have been closed for some time, and we still haven’t added a new poetry editor. (You should apply.) However, I have decided to re-open poetry submissions temporarily, with one condition: they have to be about money.Identity Theory will accept poetry submissions about money, via email, for [...]

Just a quick note to, first, thank Sumanth Prabhaker, one of our assistant fiction editors for the last year and a half, who leaves us to spend full time building on his new publishing company. Sumanth came to our attention back in 2006, when he laid hard into our inbox with the spectacular story “A [...]

Do you love reading (sometimes very bad) poetry from random internet strangers? Does the thought of writing tactful rejection letters instead of crafting your own verse make you jump for joy? Do you have editorial experience and/or an unhealthy obsession with poetry?Do you have (at least) a few hours a week to spare? If you [...]

We have several copies of Christian Moerk’s Darling Jim to give away. If you’d like a free copy, send an email to editor@identitytheory.com with the subject line “Darling Jim” by the end of Wednesday, April 29th. We will announce the three winners Thursday, April 30th.For more on Darling Jim, “A modern gothic novel of suspense [...]

We have recently undergone a change in our nonfiction section, adding new editors such as Amy Lee Scott and Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich to the roster. “Noise” by Emily Meg Weinstein was the first essay we’ve posted since the change, and I think it’s an excellent start.This essay was selected because of the author’s writing style and [...]

I created this blog as a forum for announcing site-related news (such as calls for submissions, contests, new blogs…) as well as commenting on stories we are publishing.I expect we’ll also use it to some degree like a general-interest blog with links to eclectic miscellany that is in some way related to our site.If you’re [...]