Italian Americana

Editor: Carla A. Simonini

DETAILS

Current Volume: 41 (2023)
Summer and Winter
ISSN: 0096-8846
eISSN: 2327-753X

About

Italian Americana is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal dedicated to exploring the Italian emigrant/immigrant experience through both scholarly and creative works. Founded in 1974 by Richard Gambino, together with Ernest Falbo and Bruno Arcudi, the journal was first published at Queens College, City University of New York. In 1989 Italian Americana’s founders turned over the publication and editorship to Carol Bonomo Albright, who published the journal at the University of Rhode Island up until her retirement in the spring of 2015. The journal’s next appointed editor, Carla A. Simonini, relocated Italian Americana first to Youngstown State University in Youngstown, OH, and later, in 2018, to Loyola University Chicago, where it now serves as a cornerstone of Loyola’s endowed Paul and Ann Rubino Italian American Studies Program.

Although the journal has undergone several changes in editorial leadership, its mission has remained consistent since its original founding — i.e. to publish scholarly and creative works that explore the topic of Italian Americanness from a wide variety of perspectives. Italian Americana today maintains its long tradition of printing innovative articles by historians, social scientists, literary critics, and visual artists, among others, as well as presenting original works of fiction, poetry, and memoir. A number of writers whose early works first appeared in Italian Americana have, in fact, gone on to achieve national and international acclaim, which is a particular point of pride for the editorial team.

Beyond scholarly and creative offerings, each issue also features a book review section, which aims to introduce readers to the most recent contributions to the interdisciplinary field of Italian American Studies. We, the members of the journal’s editorial staff at Loyola University Chicago University, are pleased to be able to maintain the legacy of Italian Americana and to continue to print the journal semi-annually, bringing our readership a winter and summer issue.

We are currently accepting submissions of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction (including personal essays and works of memoir). Please consult our “Submissions” page for complete instructions on how to forward us your work.


Indexes

America: History & Life with Full Text, America: History and Life, Current Abstracts, Dietrich's Index Philosophicus, Ethnic Diversity Source, Historical Abstracts (Online), IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur, Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes - und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur, MLA International Bibliography, Periodicals Index Online, Poetry & Short Story Reference Center, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, TOC Premier


SUBSCRIPTION RATES

Click here to subscribe.

Individuals:1 Year
Print Only$20
Online Only$30
Print + Online$40
Institutions:1 Year
Print Only$40
Online Only $50*
Print + Online$70*
*Institutional 'Online Only' and 'Print + Online' subscriptions must be purchased through the Scholarly Publishing Collective.

Non-U.S. Postage: $10 Canada/Mexico, $20 Other Non-U.S. Locations

Single Issue: $10 Individuals


ONLINE + PRINT ADVERTISING

The print ad rates for all our titles can be found in the 2023 journals catalog/rate card.

Click here to download the PDF version

Editors

Editor-in-chief
Carla A. Simonini
Loyola University Chicago
Crown Center 217G
1032 W. Sheridan Rd.
Chicago, IL 60660

Carla A. Simonini received a BA from Amherst College, an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Rhode Island and a Ph.D. in Italian Studies from Brown University. Her research interests include 20th century and contemporary Italian literature, theories and methodologies of second language acquisition and constructs of italianità in American and Italian American literature, which was the subject of her doctoral dissertation. She has taught at Brown University, the University of Rhode Island and Skidmore College. From 2010 to 2018, she was an associate professor of Italian at Youngstown State University, where she coordinated the Italian program and taught courses on Italian language, culture, and literature as well as courses on Italian American identity for the American Studies program, and on Italian American literature for the English Department. She is currently the founding director and endowed professor of a newly inaugurated interdisciplinary program at Loyola University Chicago serving as the Paul and Ann Rubino Associate Professor of Italian American Studies.

Co-editor & Review Editor
John Paul Russo
Department of Classics
University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL 33124

John Paul Russo is professor and chair of the Department of Classics at the University of Miami. He has published books and essays on the theory of criticism, ethnicity, and history of culture. Recipient of three Fulbright Fellowships to Italy, he has taught at the universities of Palermo, Rome, Genoa, and Salerno. He was co-editor of RSA (Rivista di Studi Nord Americani) (2009-12). His The Future without a Past: The Humanities in a Technological Society was awarded the 2006 Bonner PrizeHis study of representations of Italy, Italians, and Italian Americans, co-written by Robert Casillo and entitled The Italian in Modernity, was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2011.

Poetry Editor
Maria Terrone

Maria Terrone is the author of the poetry collections Eye to Eye (Bordighera Press, 2014); A Secret Room in Fall (McGovern Prize, Ashland Poetry Press); The Bodies We Were Loaned (The Word Works), and a chapbook, American Gothic, Take 2. Her prize-winning work, which has been published in French and Farsi and nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize, has appeared in such magazines as Poetry, Ploughshares, and The Hudson Review and in more than 25 anthologies.  Her creative nonfiction credits include Witness, Briar Cliff Review, The Common, Potomac Review and other journals. www.mariaterrone.com

Fiction Editor
Christine Palamidessi Moore

Christine Palamidessi Moore is author of two novels, The Virgin Knows and The Fiddle Case. With Editor-in-Chief Carol Bonomo Albright, she co-edited American Women, Italian Style. She was Professor of Writing at Boston University for 13 years. Her memoir “Grandmothers” is engraved on a granite monolith at Boston’s Jackson Square MBTA stop. Her non-fiction has appeared in publications as widely diverse and Andy Warhol’s Interview, the New York Times, and Italian American collections. Currently working as a visual artist, Palamidessi is an awarded Visiting Artist at American Academy in Rome and Mass MoCa. She teaches several writing workshops for artists each year. www.palamidessi.com Insta@palamidessi.art

Editor-in-chief Emerita
Carol Bonomo Albright

Founded by Ernest S. Falbo and Richard Gambino

Past Editors
Bruno A. Arcudi
Michael Palma (Poetry Editor 2004-2015)
Dana Gioia (Poetry Editor 1994-2003)

PDF Policy

PDFs are permitted and issued for the following:

  • Tenure dossier.
  • Special workshops the author is moderating.
  • Other requests to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
  • All PDFs will include a statement of copyright and a provision that the articles will not be photocopied, distributed, or used for purposes other than the terms agreed to by UIP.

Preprints are permitted for:

  • University repositories; UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the preprint.
  • Some journals have their own established policies and procedures for preprints. Please be sure to first check their respective Web sites before sending your request.

Postprints are permitted for:

  • Non-profit archives and repositories; Articles must be at least one year old. UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the postprint and a link back to the journal of publication's home page on the UIP website.
  • Personal and commercial Web sites; Articles must be at least three years old. UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the postprint and a link back to the journal of publication's home page on the UIP website.

Please contact the Rights and Permissions Manager for more information.

Please send all requests to:

Rights and Permissions Manager
UIP-RIGHTS@uillinois.edu
Fax: 217-244-8082

Submissions

NOTA BENE: All creative writers submitting to Italian Americana must be of Italian heritage on one or both sides of their family. Please mention the connection in your cover letter or bio.

All submissions should be forwarded to us via email at italianamericana@luc.edu in a Word file attachment following the specific guidelines for each submission category, as indicated below.

We are currently accepting submissions of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction (including personal essays and works of memoir)

Poetry Submissions:

  • Please send up to five unpublished poems in a single Word file, Times New Roman 11 point font.
  • Your name, address, email address and phone number should appear on every page of the file.
  • Begin the document with a short cover letter, including a bio of no more than 65 words for inclusion in our “Notes on Contributors” section. Remember to include, either in your bio or your cover letter, an explanation of your Italian heritage. Please note that we may edit the bio according to space concerns.
  • We welcome poems on any subject and have no special preference for Italian or Italian American themes.
  • Because of space limitations, one-page poems are preferable, although two-page poems will be considered.
  • Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • Please email the Word doc to Italian Americana at italianamericana@luc.edu. “Poetry/Your Last Name” should appear in the subject line.
  • If your poetry is published in Italian Americana, please wait a year (two issues) before sending new work to be considered.


Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Submissions:

Italian Americana accepts previously unpublished submissions in the following categories:

  • short story (fiction)
  • creative nonfiction
  • memoir
  • personal essay

(For differences between memoir and essay, please consult the Purdue Online Writing Lab.)

  • Please read our current and past issues to familiarize yourself with our publication and the choices our editors have made. We prefer works that deal with Italian heritage and/or make explicit reference to elements of italianità, but we also welcome submissions on other topics. Fine quality writing is our ultimate selection criterion.
  • Submissions should be no more than 4,000 words.
  • Please email your Word doc to Italian Americana at italianamericana@luc.edu. The body of your email should include a brief biography about yourself (maximum of 65 words) for inclusion in our “Notes on Contributors” section with your name in bold font, upper and lower case. Please note that we may edit the bio according to space concerns.
  • We accept simultaneous submissions, and writers are required to extend the courtesy of letting us know that you are simultaneously submitting and immediately contact us if another magazine accepts your publication.
  • Remember to include, either in your bio or your cover letter, an explanation of your Italian heritage.


Article Submissions:

  • Submissions must follow Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. Italian Americana uses the author-date system for citations with authors’ full names in the Works Cited list. Notes may be used for supplemental information. Examples:

    (Simonini 2015, 142)

    Simonini, Carla Anne. 2015. “Constructing America by Writing about Italy: How Nineteenth-Century Travel Writing Informed Ethnic Identity Construction in Italian-American Literature.” Italian Americana 33(2): 136-156.
  • Copy should be single-spaced in Times New Roman, 11 point font and with no line spaces between paragraphs and justified.
  • Paragraphs should be denoted by using the Tab—not by inserting line spaces between paragraphs.
  • Numbers from one to ten should be spelled out.
  • We follow American, not English style, for quotes, so punctuation should be within the quote marks, except for semi-colons, where the semi-colon should be placed outside the quote marks.
  • No apostrophes in dates, unless it is a possessive: 1940s
  • Please email the Word doc to Italian Americana at italianamericana@luc.edu. The body of your email should include a brief biography about yourself (maximum of 65 words) for inclusion in our “Notes on Contributors” section with your name in bold font, upper and lower case. Please note that we may edit the bio according to space concerns.


View our Publications Ethics and Malpractice Statement