| Cream City Review | |
| Editor Title: | Editor-in-Chief |
| Editor: | Jehane Sharah |
| Category: | Literary |
| Frequency: | Biannual Publication |
| Founder: | Mary Zane Allen |
| Founded: | 1975 |
| Country: | United States |
| Based: | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Language: | English |
| Website: | https://uwm.edu/creamcityreview/ |
Cream City Review is a volunteer-based, non-profit literary magazine published by graduate students at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Continually seeking to explore the relationship between form and content, the magazine features fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, comics, reviews of contemporary literature and criticism, as well as author interviews and artwork.[1]
Published biannually, Cream City Review attracts readers and submissions from around the globe. Approximately 4,000 submissions are received each year from both unpublished and established writers. The journal reflects this mix as it often publishes poets laureate beside artists who are up and coming.
Prior to Cream City Review, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee published Cheshire, a student-run magazine started at a predecessor unstitution, the Wisconsin State College of Milwaukee, in 1931. The original Cheshire ended in 1968, year before the establishment of a Creative Writing program at UWM.
Cream City Review was founded in 1975 by Mary Zane Allen with assistance from Wladyslaw Ciesynski.[1] After working at The Wisconsin Review, Allen desired a similar literary journal for the creative writing department at the UWM. Allen worked with the student union to establish both the magazine and a reading series. Later, the magazine began operating with the support of UWM's English Department.[2]
Over the years, Cream City Review has evolved from an 8″ X 11″, 50 page, Xeroxed zine to the 175-225 page perfect-bound book format that it is today. The shift to glossy, multicolored covers began in the fall of 1989 after Laurie Buman became art editor. These covers have become one of the magazine's trademarks.
Along with Cream City Review’s physical publications, the magazine also has a significant digital presence. Starting in March 2019, Cream City Review began a blog, which features a variety of content, such as numerous authorial readings, reviews, interviews, and event results.[3] Cream City Review is also present on social media. Specifically, it is on Instagram and Facebook, where the magazine posts poems, art, information about events and submissions, as well as other interactive content. Current and past issues can be found at .
Cream City Reviews name pays tribute to the publication's home in Milwaukee. Known as "The Cream City," Milwaukee is the birthplace of the yellow-colored brick, made exclusively from clay native to the area.[4] The first "cream" brick was made in 1835. The bricks proved more durable and aesthetically pleasing than the traditional red bricks produced by East Coast kilns and quickly became Milwaukee's most characteristic building material. Cream City bricks remained popular throughout the 19th century and were used widely for ornamental architecture throughout the United States and Europe.[5]
Cream City Review's continued success is due, in large part, to grants from the Bradley Foundation,[6] the Wisconsin Arts Board,[7] as well as support from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (specifically, the English Department), and the Letters and Science Constituent Alumni Association.
2023-2024
2021-2022