Submissions

We are currently accepting submissions for Spring 2025.

Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation is now open for submissions to our upcoming Spring issue, CLIMATE. The deadline for submission of works in translation is March 10, 2025. 

 

We welcome pieces that interpret climate in various ways: cultural climates, political climates, economic climates; chilly climates, heightened climates, positive climates; climates of fear, climates of suspicion; an inclination, slope, from the Greek klima.  

 

We know translators understand climate deeply—in this line of work, context is everything. Part of our task is to bring articulated climates and environments into a language where they do not yet exist. 

 

In particular, we’re seeking pieces that relate to global climate change and its reverberations. Turning the tide of global climate change requires understanding how it’s taking place in distinct ways around the world. Exchanges believes that the writing translators (re)introduce to new audiences is vital for grokking the gravity of climate change and recognizing the responsibilities we have as part of the global ecosystem. The pieces we showcase might also help us envisage the strengths and joys that may be wrought from the wreckage. 

 

Send us your translations, whether they inspire hope, give comfort, or provide a reservoir for despair.  

 

Please read the submission guidelines (below) in full. 

All our best from icy 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.