Sunday, December 27, 2020

Call for Submissions: HeartWood

We accept submissions through Submittable and welcome previously unpublished poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, from both established and emerging writers.

We publish issues bi-annually, and our reading periods are May 1 - July 31 and November 1 - January 31.

General Submissions

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. If you only need to withdraw a portion of your submission, we invite you to add a Note to your submission instead of withdrawing the entire submission.

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

Submission Details

Prose submissions, fiction or nonfiction, should be 3000 words or less.

Fiction: Fiction submissions may include short stories, flash fiction, or novel excerpts if the excerpt can stand alone. You may submit more than one piece of flash fiction, as long as the total word count does not exceed 3000 words.

Creative Nonfiction: We're open to a wide range of nonfiction, with the exception of academic articles, or that which would be considered more traditionally journalistic. Personal essay, memoir, lyric, literary journalism, or some blurring in between, are all acceptable.

Poetry: Poets should submit no more than 3-5 single-spaced poems at a time. Include all poems in a single document for upload. Lyric, narrative, experimental, prose poems--we're open to all variations of the poetic voice.

Surprise us. Make us think. Make us feel. Make our hearts race.

Appalachian Arts Interviews

We also welcome queries from Appalachian artists (writers, visual artists, musicians, performers, folk artists, etc) interested in being included in our Appalachian Arts section. We define Appalachian artists as an artist who is heavily influenced by the Appalachian region and its traditions, history, and people. At HeartWood, we are looking for artists who take these traditions and speak to them in a new and unexpected way.

To query about possible inclusion in the Appalachian Arts section: Submit the following in one document (doc, docx) through the Appalachian Arts link on our Submittable page:

  • Artist bio
  • Artist statement addressing what being an “Appalachian artist" means to you, how you uniquely define yourself as an Appalachian artist, and how your connection to Appalachia as you see/define it connects (or doesn't) to your work.
  • At least one link to where artwork or samples can be seen/heard (artist website, other publications, YouTube, etc).


If we're interested, based on the query, editors will email requesting additional information and work sample.

Submit here.

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