• Number of pieces: Please send one story at a time.
• Number of pages per piece: Manuscripts should be no longer than 20 double-spaced pages. Please use Times New Roman font.
• Format: .doc, .docx or PDF.
• From the editors:  What makes a story memorable? We want lingering, emotional stories that rattle our rib cages long past the last line. We want stories that are sticky in our brains for their excellent imagery choices and their smart constructions. We are always in search of stories that bypass obvious shock tactics—graphic violence, in particular—and instead surprise the reader with their insight, their generosity of spirit, and their bravery of expression. And what makes a story energetic? We’re looking for fiction that’s tightly written and well-crafted. We love stories that know exactly why they’re making the decisions they make in form and experimentation, instead of stories that strive for oddness as an end goal. The way you tell the story should be best and only way to tell that story. We can't wait to read; thanks for trusting us with your words.
• CCR does not accept any work that was generated using Language Learning Models (LLMs) or generative AI.
• NOTE: While we admire and welcome stories that borrow from commercial genres like science fiction and mystery, traditional works in these genres are unlikely to find a home with us.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please withdraw your submission through Submittable if your work is accepted by another publication.

• Number of pieces: 5 poems at a time in a single file format. Please use Times New Roman font.
• Number of pages per piece: No length restrictions.
• Format: .doc, .docx or PDF.
• From the editors: We aim to elevate and represent a wide variety of authors and poetics at CCR, and as such especially encourage submissions from poets of color, Indigenous poets,  LGBTQ2S+ poets, and poets with disabilities, in addition to whatever other world-views you bring to your life and work. We like strong, vivid images and language that moves the poem and the poet somewhere and take us with them. We like poems that don’t shy away from feelings, or that work towards an understanding of why we shy away from feelings at all. We like energy in our poems, kinetic and potential, and sometimes both at once. We like and encourage experimentation, and poems whose form enriches the content, not only visually, but aurally as well, so send us your weird ways of thinking, feeling, and being in the world—whether that’s a sonnet or an erasure or a form we haven’t even seen yet.
• CCR does not accept any work that was generated using Language Learning Models (LLMs) or generative AI.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please leave us a note in Submittable indicating which poem(s) you are withdrawing if accepted elsewhere.

• Number of pieces: Please send one piece of creative non-fiction at a time.
• Number of pages per piece: Manuscripts should be no longer than 20 double-spaced pages. Please use Times New Roman font.
• Format:  .doc and .docx preferred, PDF accepted.
• From the editor: We are open to the full range of creative nonfiction, from the lyric essay through the personal to more topical forms. Whether the through line of the piece is drawn taut by the pursuit of fact or the unfolding of experience or the pull of an image, it is first and foremost language and voice that will draw us in.
• CCR does not accept any work that was generated using Language Learning Models (LLMs) or generative AI.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please withdraw your work here if it is accepted elsewhere.

In recognition of the fact that many of Cream City Review's readers are students and teachers of creative writing and literature, we are excited to announce the new category of Essays (Craft, Pedagogy & Literature). Send us your essays on the craft of creative writing; the teaching of poetry, prose and/or essays; and academic writing on all things literary. While the essays in this section will have a more academic focus than essays in the creative non-fiction category, we would still welcome papers with narrative elements to them, as long as they engage with craft, pedagogy and/or literature in a significant way.

Work should be no more than 20 pages. 

Cream City Review is pleased to announce we have begun accepting works of translation

• We are generally looking for pieces of translation not previously translated into the English language. If the piece has already been translated, we are looking for a departure of form, style and technique.
• Submitter is in charge of acquiring publishing rights or copyright permission from source language author. 
• Please include the source material in your submission.
• You may send up to  one piece of fiction, non-fiction at a time or up to three poems.
• If accepted for publication, translators must provide a short biography of the source language author.
• Number of pages per piece: Manuscripts should be no longer than 15 double-spaced pages. Please use Times New Roman font.
• Format:  .doc and .docx preferred, PDF accepted.
• From the editor: We are open to the full range of poetry and fiction—we are looking for writing in line with Cream City Reviews own values: bold, beautiful and writing that is unafraid of its feelings and its lyricism. Finely crafted, artfully rendered. 
• CCR does not accept any work that was generated using Language Learning Models (LLMs) or generative AI.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please withdraw your work here if it is accepted elsewhere.

• Number of pieces: Please submit up to 4 works of unpublished art (work that has not been published in print or selected through a juried process, such as contests). Our artists are often published portfolio-style—if your work is advanced for publication, we may showcase more than one of your pieces.
• Format: Image files (JPG, TIFF or PDF), high resolution (300 dpi or better).
• From the editor: Please visit our Instagram account to get a sense of the type of work we have published before. In addition to 2D works, we are also interested in documentations of installations, social practice projects, earth art, light art, street art, and maker work. We like text art and asemic writing. We’re open to showcasing artists from anywhere in the world, but be sure to let us know if your work has connections to Milwaukee.
• CCR does not accept any work that was generated using Language Learning Models (LLMs) or generative AI.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please leave us a note in Submittable indicating which works of art you are withdrawing if accepted elsewhere.