Cream City Review — Translation (CNF, Fiction or Poetry)

Overview
Cream City Review, the literary journal affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, has issued a call for translations that reflect a commitment to expanding the Anglophone literary landscape. The journal seeks work that is stylistically fresh and dynamic, prioritizing contemporary translations not previously rendered into English. Where a text has already been translated, the editors look for a departure in form, style, and technique—an invitation to reconsider what translation can do. This is not a venue for the merely competent; it is a space for writing that brings readers closer to literary worlds outside their own, whether through raw subject matter, psychic distance, or experimental form. The submission guidelines are precise: one piece of fiction or non-fiction (maximum 15 pages) or up to five poems. A Guided Review (GR) must be included in the cover letter; submissions without a GR will not be considered. The GR is not a summary but a critical apparatus—an opportunity to articulate the translator's choices, the text's context, and the stakes of the translation. The fee is $2.50, a modest sum that signals a professional threshold rather than a barrier. What the journal offers is publication in a respected review with a national presence, alongside a readership attentive to the art of translation. There is no prize, no residency, no cash award—only the serious validation of appearing in a journal that treats translation as a creative and intellectual practice. The curatorial vision is clear: work that is contemporary, that risks formal invention, and that refuses to be merely representative. The deadline is November 3, 2026.