Cactus Heart was a literary magazine founded by Sara Rauch in 2012. From Cactus Heart’s first issue to its last in 2016, the magazine was dedicated to publishing fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and visual art that was sharp, devastating, and vulnerable. Like our gorgeous logo, we were looking for writing with a spiny heart raring to burst through the bars of all cages.

Over its four years, Cactus Heart grew from just Sara reading hundreds of emailed submissions to a fully (volunteer-) staffed literary magazine. We published hundreds of immensely talented writers: some complete newbies, others with several books under their belts.

Theodosia Henney served as Poetry Editor from 2013-2016. Marin Sardy served as Nonfiction editor from 2013-2016. Sasha Starr served as Art Editor from 2012-2014. Killian Czuba served as Art Editor from 2014-2016, and is also the talent who designed our logo. Anna Gragert and Agastya Ma’ii helped read fiction submissions; Elise Poll helped read poetry submissions.

Full archives of Cactus Heart’s 16 e-Issues are available here on the site. Print issues are out-of-stock.