About Heartwood

heartwood literary magazine

is an alumni-run semi-annual online literary publication in association with the low-residency MFA program at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, West Virginia. HeartWood was founded in 2015 by graduate Danielle Kelly and guest poetry faculty member Mary Carroll-Hackett.

The name of our journal-the scientific term "heartwood, used in dendrology, the study of woody plants, and referring to the core-was inspired by Karen Salyer McElmurray's application of the word to the writing process in a lecture delivered during an MFA residency at WVWC. Read more about what heartwood means in Larry Thacker's interview with Karen Sayer McElmurray in Issue 10.