Submissions

We are currently accepting submissions for Fall 2025.

Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation is now open for submissions to our upcoming Fall issue, IN/FIDELITY. The deadline for submission of works in translation is September 30, 2025. 

We invite pieces that dialogue with fidelity and infidelity, such as: radical or experimental approaches to translation; genre-breaking pieces; works that defy expectations, challenge hierarchies of trust, investigate faithfulness to a cause, flirt with desire, or subvert relationships between texts and readers.

In/fidelity is a window into the tensions inherent in translation. We often see fidelity as a sign of trustworthiness, while infidelity erodes trust. But we as translators have long been attuned to the gray spaces and tensions around in/fidelity. For this issue, we seek translations and translators’ notes that engage with these tensions, whether explicitly or implicitly. Through in/fidelity we can interrogate systems of trust—trust in translated texts, trust in relationships, trust in a political system. 

Send us your translations, faithful or otherwise.

 

Please read the submission guidelines (below) in full. 

All our best from humid Iowa City, 

Exchanges editorial staff 

Submission Guidelines for regular issues

We accept translations of poetry, short or excerpted fiction, plays, and literary nonfiction into English. 

A critical component of your submission is the Translator’s Note. Please use this opportunity to speak to the source and receiving contexts of the work and any unique challenges faced in the act of translation itself. Take care here—the Translator’s Note is often a deciding factor in our review process.

We happily accept simultaneous submissions, but ask that you please notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere. 

To be considered for publication, submissions must include: 

  • Both the original text and the translation in a copy-pastable text file format. Please, no .pdfs. If you absolutely must submit a .pdf in order to make the submission deadline, please notify us of this in your submission, and be prepared to supply a copy-pastable text file in advance of publication.

  • Brief biographies (100-150 words each) of both author and translator.

  • A Translator's Note (150-500 words, approximately) in which you reflect on the translation process or another important aspect of your work that will help readers to contextualize, appreciate, and understand your piece.

  • Proof of permission from the original's rightsholder(s) for publication of the original text on the internet.

To submit, please collate all of the above in a single .doc or .docx attachment with the file name format translator’s surname_author’s surname_original language_genre.doc (e.g. Schmidt_Do_Arabic_fiction.doc) and email to exchanges@uiowa.edu. Submissions lacking any or multiple of the above components will not be accepted for publication.

When you send your submission, the subject of your email must be: TRASUB-Translator’s name, Author’s name, Language, Genre (e.g. TRASUB-Juan Schmidt, Jane Doe, Esperanto, Fiction). Emails with alternate subject lines are likely to be filtered or lost.

If your work has appeared previously in Exchanges, we encourage you to wait at least one submission cycle before submitting again.

Submission Length

  • POETRY: no more than 7 poems.

  • FICTION: no more than 4,000 words.

  • DRAMA: no more than 15 pages.

  • LITERARY NONFICTION: no more than 4,000 words, or 2,500 words of translated criticism.

  • REVIEWS OF A SINGLE WORK: no more than 1,000 words.

  • REVIEWS OF MULTIPLE WORKS: no more than 2,000 words.

  • INTERVIEWS: no more than 2,500 words.

  • ESSAYS ON TRANSLATION: no more than 2,500 words.

Compensation and Rights

Unfortunately, Exchanges has no funds with which to compensate translators, authors or artists. We ask for first serial rights, after which the rights for all work revert to the author and translator. 

Translating from an Ancient Language?

Please consider submitting to our sister publication, Ancient Exchanges. Submission dates and guidelines can be found on the Submissions page of the AncientX tab of this website.