Why is this one special special? 

Because in the company of an amazing group of people, this Call for Submissions is coming directly from me!

😀

Allow me to introduce

HeartWood

an online literary journal in association with West Virginia Wesleyan’s Low-Residency MFA program, publishes twice yearly, in April and October. Our inaugural issue will go live April 2016.

General Submissions

We accept submissions year round through Submittable, and welcome previously unpublished poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, from both established and emerging writers.

What We Want:

We are interested in writing that pushes into, dares to reveal, its own truth, that takes emotional risks, that gets to the heart of the matter.

Simultaneous submissions are fine, provided you notify us if the work is accepted elsewhere.

We also welcome queries from Appalachian artists (writers, visual artists, musicians, performers, folk artists, etc) interested in being included in our Appalachian Arts section.

I’m admittedly biased in this: we get nicer when we learn more about each other. A quote that periodically circles the webworld: “Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” (source debated). Creative/literary nonfiction (or “true stories well told,” as Creative Nonfiction exquisitely defines the genre) often invites readers to observe such a battle, identify an adversary (a debt, a disease, a conundrum, an idea, a thief, a prejudice, a loss, a question, an untenable situation, a meanie) cheer for a champion, and learn a few maneuvers to help us with our own troubles. I loved CNF when I was 13 and I love it now.

So to learn more about each other and get nicer, we need more venues for creative/literary nonfiction.

Through a mutual friend, I met Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher, a West Virginia writer now living in Vermont. Elizabeth’s creative and critical work has been widely published…