MALLEABLE AND TRUE
Alisha Jeddeloh, Ed.
A dynamic, innovative collection for readers, writers, and educators that explores the complexity and craft of hybrid writing.
Malleable and True breaks open the concept of hybridity, finding space both inside genre and outside its boundaries, inviting readers, writers, and educators to explore the form’s multifaceted potential. In this anthology, curiosity is the driving force, as select contributors from Brink Literary Journal’s first ten issues re-engage with their previously published pieces in three ways, offering new work, craft prompts, and reflections on hybrid writing.
An accessible resource for anyone passionate about boundary-pressing work, Malleable and True is an interactive experience designed to engage audiences through critical thinking and creative expression.
$35
Anthology Contributors
Hanna Bartels, Jason Bulluck, Granville Carroll, Victoria Chang, Wendy Cheng, Michelle Donahue, Beth Ann Fennelly, Kathy Fish, Gyasi Hall, Jessie Kraemer, Sally Lawton, Stephanie Macias, Mary Mandeville, Sarah Mangold, Elizabeth McTernan, Sarah Minor, Chelsea Mosher, Yanique Norman, Bennett Sims, Anna Joy Springer, Rachelle Toarmino, Lucy Wainger, Elissa Washuta, Arisa White
Why Teach Hybrid Writing?
Hybrid writing invites students to:
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Think beyond genre conventions by exploring textural literary elements
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Experiment with form as a meaning-making tool
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Engage multiple literacies, including visual, textual, digital, and spatial
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Challenge assumptions about what “counts” as literature
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Find their authentic voice through creative freedom and constraint
In a media-saturated world, hybrid writing reflects how we actually experience and process information. Reciprocally, hybrid writing is a form that reaches across academic boundaries, engaging students from across majors and disciplines, including visual artists who want to include text in their work and STEM majors interested in presenting research via storytelling and public-facing writing. Teaching it prepares students to be versatile, innovative communicators, no matter their expertise.
Malleable and True is more than an anthology, it’s a dynamic teaching tool. Editor Alisha Jeddeloh has curated work from twenty-four contributors originally published in Brink Literary Journal, each engaging with hybrid writing in three distinct ways.
ENGAGE: Each contributor presents their original published piece alongside new work that engages with the piece through process notes, revisions, connected pieces, etc.
GENERATE: Contributors provide generative writing prompts related to their work and hybrid writing more broadly, offering entry points for students to experiment with form and modality.
REFLECT: Contributors share personal reflections on what hybrid writing means to them, illuminating the diverse forms and potentials of this genre-defying approach.
How to Use This Anthology in Your Classroom
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Course Text: Use the anthology as the foundation for an entire course on hybrid or experimental writing, moving through different contributors each week.
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Craft Companion: Pair individual pieces with more traditional readings to show students alternative approaches to similar themes or subjects.
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Prompt Generator: Draw from the Generate sections to create writing exercises, warm-ups, or major assignments.
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Model for Revision: Use the relevant Engage sections to teach revision as reseeing rather than merely editing—showing students how writers return to and reimagine their own work.
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Discussion Starter: The Reflect sections offer rich material for class discussions about genre, form, audience, and the purposes of writing.
Generative Questions for Teaching Hybrid Work
As you work with Malleable and True, consider these guiding questions with your students:
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What does this piece need to communicate that a traditional form couldn’t provide?
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How do the different modalities in this work align with, disagree with, or complicate each other?
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What is gained, and what might be lost, in hybrid forms?
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How does form create meaning in this piece?
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Where do you see the seams between genres or modes? Are they visible or invisible? Why might that matter?
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What risks does this writer take? What makes this work “ambitious yet essential”?
Empowering Educators and Book Enthusiasts:
Resources and Publicity Requests
Bookstores
Brink Books and Brink Literary journal are distributed nationally through Itasca Books. Bookstores can order directly here.
We apologize, but at this time we are not able to ship internationally.
CLMP Lit Mag
Adoption Program
Teachers: with Lit Mag Adoption, integrating literary magazines into course curricula is easy, and comes at no cost to you. Register your course and receive a custom code for students to initiate 1-year subscriptions at 20-50% off. When six or more students in a class subscribe, an editor will make a virtual class visit. Hear directly about editorial decisions, give your students an inside look at the publishing world, and learn best practices for submitting creative work.
Publicity Requests
We’re happy to consider requests for interviews, events, podcasts, media appearances, and other publicity opportunities featuring our authors and editors.
Interested in reviewing or receiving desk copies of our titles? Reach out through the contact form or by emailing info@brinkliterary.com.