The theme for our September 1 to December 1, 2011 reading period is “labor.” What’s fun about the theme of “labor” is that it can mean a lot of things. It can refer to work of all kinds. It can mean manual labor, or it can refer to your high-paying job in marketing. It can refer to work you do in the house and outside. It can be emotional labor. It can be volunteer labor. It can refer to the labor of reading and of writing. Submissions can also be related to labor movements, current or historical or both. It could even be about going into labor.

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.

Update: We are expanding our Summer 2011 feature, incorporating Labor as our theme for submissions during the current (1 September to 1 December) reading period, with publication in winter 2012.

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.