We will accept submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that incorporate this theme, as well as non-themed submissions, via our online submission manager. As always, our theme is purposefully nebulous, providing flexibility for how writers might consider “labor” in a surprising manner.

We seek to add a spectrum of voices from throughout the world as a compliment to our local focus in the Summer 2011 feature. Please read below for a sense of the type of work for which we are looking.

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Do you have a recent, related experience that you would like to share with the world, whether protesting at the Capital in Madison, WI, or working in your community to support the rights of workers? We are seeking submissions of personal narrative, poetry, art, even fiction, that seeks to document the ongoing protest over the dissolution of workers’ rights in Wisconsin.

Ideally, we are looking for local Wisconsin voices that represent a wide range of communities and identities, but will also consider work from those in solidarity from around the world. We also welcome voices of protest from communities impacted by other recent policy enactment in Madison (cuts in health care, educations, etc…).

Preference will be given to voices that have fewer resources for having their voice in print; cream city review will also seek to juxtapose those voices with work from published writers/journalists that offer a personal perspective on their experience.

We invite writers and artists to submit their work via our online submission manager at creamcityreview.org/submissions. Please select the appropriate genre for your work, i.e. “Labor poetry” or “Labor visual art,” etc. Submissions selected for this special section will be published in or around May/June 2011. Deadline for submissions is May 1, 2011.

This 252-page issue features our focus on the “visual,” including poetry, fiction and nonfiction, as well as 42 pages of visual art.

To order a copy, visit our ordering page here.

*The A. David Schwartz Fiction Prize: Benjamin Percy, author of The Wilding and Refresh, Refresh

*The Beau Boudreaux Poetry Prize: Quraysh Ali Lansana, author of They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems and Southside Rain

*The David B. Saunders Prize for Creative Nonfiction: Deb Olin Unferth, author of Vacation and Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War (forthcoming Feb. 2011).

Each contest features a prize of $1,000 and publication, with a postmark deadline of December 31, 2010. You could probably use the money–why not check out the details?

While it took a bit longer than expected, we’re very proud of this mammoth issue. With a final page count around 245, it’s one of our largest issues ever–and it’s saturated with the best variety of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction (whatever that means…) that we could find.

Some of the highlights of this issue include our annual literary prize winners, as determined by three of our very favorite writers, Kathy Fagan, Jesse Lee Kercheval, and David Treuer: Haines Eason for poetry, Eson Kim for creative nonfiction, and Roger Sheffer for fiction. We also have an original translation of acclaimed Peruvian writer Edgardo Rivera Martinez’s short story, “Azurite,” the first time this fantastic story has been published in English. Additionally, you’ll find a feature section of flash nonfiction and comics from the esteemed John Porcellino.

To see a complete table of contents, click here. And, while I have you, thanks for reading and visiting–and for your continued support of cream city review. To order an issue, click here.

It is our pleasure to announce this year’s winners, whose works will be published in our upcoming (and relatively mammoth) issue, due out within a month:

Haines Eason – Beau Boudreauz Poetry Prize for his collection of five poems

Roger Sheffer – A. David Schwartz Fiction Prize for “Shuttle”

Eson Kim – David B. Saunders Award for Creative Nonfiction for “Fixing Everything”

Again, the narrowing down of this year’s entries was as challenging as the reading of submissions was pleasurable. If you submitted to our annual literary prize contests, we thank you for doing so and we look forward to sending you our upcoming issue.

Please note that we are currently accepting entries for our 2011 annual literary prizes. You can click here for details. Judges will be announced during the fall.

Yet despite being acknowledged as one of America’s most selective short fiction markets, we’re proud to publish almost entirely unsolicited, unagented work. It’s thanks to all of you that this achievement is possible: our many talented submitters, both beginning and established; our subscribers who enjoy the results; and, best of all, those wonderful individuals among you who do both.

Intermedia Arts’ annual SASE/Jerome grant program awards grants of up to $5,000 to emerging Minnesota writers. We define an emerging writer as a writer whose work demonstrates a sustained level of accomplishment and commitment, but who has not yet received recognition/ acknowledgement as an established creator from fellow writers and/or other arts professionals.

About Eric Vrooman:

ERIC VROOMAN ($3,500) Eric Vrooman’s short fiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Minnesota Monthly, The Cream City Review, Passages North, Monkeybicycle, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere. He has taught creative writing at Macalester College, Tulane University, Gustavus Adolphus College, and The Loft Literary Center.

Congratulations, Eric!