Submission Guidelines

We are currently CLOSED for submissions until February 1st, 2026.

ABOUT HEART OF FLESH

Heart of Flesh is a semiannual, Christian-themed literary and art journal that seeks excellence, grit, uniqueness, and biblical truth. We are not a typical “Christian fiction” publication. We believe God’s truth as written in the Bible can be found in both the sacred and the secular, in nearly every work of literature and every part of the human condition.

That being said, we are a Christian journal, in that we aim to spark honest and real conversations about Christ, faith, doubt, and other biblical themes and people. Jesus is not boring. The Bible is not tame or timid. We want these topics to ignite a passion displayed in creative work from Christians (of all denominations) and non-believers who are heavily influenced by Christianity.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

We prefer literary work, but we accept all genres of poetry, flash fiction, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and visual art & photography, as long as the work includes a Christian theme.

What is a Christian theme?

Redemption, hope, charity, profound love, awe and praise, the fruitlessness of self-love, the ugliness or destructiveness of sin, the attractiveness of sin, a desperate need for soul-cleansing, a righteous heart shining against the backdrop of a fallen world, a battle against temptation, anything that portrays the deepness and profoundness of Scripture or biblical people, and more.

We like hopeful. We also like bleak. We like desperation and grit. But only if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. We want to see that golden pinprick of light guiding us out of the darkness.

What we would LOVE to see:

Christian Southern Gothic stories in the style of Flannery O’Connor.
Poetry that reads like the Christian version of Sylvia Plath.
Visual art in the same vein as William Blake.
Anything strange or exciting that is also unflinchingly Christian.

What we do NOT love:

Proselytizing — We love the Gospel, but don’t directly preach to the reader. Tell a story.
Gratuitous/graphic sex or violence.
Excessive/unnecessary profanity — we will allow a swear word or two, but keep it somewhere between PG and PG-13. (On occasion we will allow the “f” word, but this is extremely rare. We find that most times profanity does nothing to enhance the quality of a poem or story.)

We also love work that surprises us, so if you think your work doesn’t fit the mold, it doesn’t hurt to give us a shot!

We also are looking for Christian Testimonies and Book Reviews for our blog. You can find the guidelines for Christian testimonies here, and the guidelines for book reviews here.

GUIDELINES

Short Stories (Fiction and Creative Nonfiction): 1 piece at a time (4,000 words max)
Flash Fiction: up to 3 pieces at a time (700 words per piece, max). Please submit all pieces in one document.
Poetry: up to 3 poems at a time (no length limits). Please submit all poems in one document.
Art & Photography: up to 4 pieces at a time. Send as JPEG/JPG. Please provide an artist statement or description that we can publish with your work. No AI images please.

You may submit work for multiple categories at the same time, but please do so in the same e-mail if possible.

Only submit ONCE per reading period. If you are accepted or rejected please wait until the next reading cycle to submit again.

We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know immediately if you are accepted elsewhere.

Please do not send us AI-generated work of any kind.

Please do not send previously published work. For our standards, published work does NOT include work that you published on your personal blog or Instagram. However, if the work was self-published (i.e. Amazon) or published in a literary journal, magazine, blog (other than your own), book, etc., we consider it published work.

TERMS

On acceptance, Heart of Flesh asks for:

First electronic rights to be the first to publish the work online — see previous section to learn what we consider “published.”
Non-exclusive Digital Format rights to publish the work in our downloadable PDF.
First North American Serial Rights to be the first to publish the work in the English language in North America in a print issue.
Right to archive the work on our website for as long as Heart of Flesh exists.

The copyright of all work is retained by the writer/artist. This means that after we publish your poem, story, art, etc. you keep the right to your work and are free to publish it elsewhere. We only ask that you credit Heart of Flesh as the place where your work first appeared.

We do not offer payment — we don’t have the funds! All contributors will receive a free PDF copy of the issue in which they appear.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Include a short cover letter and a 50-word bio in the body of an e-mail. The subject line should include the word “Submission,” your last name, and the type of work (short story, poetry, art, etc.).

Example subject lines:
“Submission – McDonald – Poetry”
“Submission – Smith – Art – Short Story”

The editor is Veronica McDonald. Please attach your work (.doc, .docx, .odt) and send to: heartoffleshlit@gmail.com.

You should receive a confirmation e-mail within 24 hours, and receive our decision sometime between 4–8 weeks.

If you don’t receive a confirmation e-mail within 2 days, please follow up! It sometimes means that, for whatever reason, we did not get your submission.

NOTE: If you submit to Heart of Flesh, there is a chance you may be selected to be published in Pure in Heart, our family magazine. You can find more information about Pure in Heart HERE.

READING PERIODS

Spring Issue (May publication): February 1–March 31

Fall Issue (November publication): August 1–September 30