Cherry Tree

Cherry Tree Truth-telling & Mythmaking since 2014. We're a national literary journal & young writers' conference.

Founded in 2014, with its debut issue released on February 15, 2015, Cherry Tree: A National Literary Journal @ Washington College is an annual literary magazine featuring poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and literary shade by emerging and established writers from across the United States and all over the world. Cherry Tree's aesthetic champions image-rich, sonically adventurous poetry, ficti

on, and creative nonfiction which showcase whimsy and wit alongside risk and urgency. In 2016, we introduced "Literary Shade," a section featuring work that responds to and challenges oppressive social structures. Our name recalls the apocryphal story of George Washington’s ax, and we encourage writers to craft new and inventive ways to critique, to re-imagine, and to chop away at literary traditions. We endeavor to serve as both a site of coalescence and protest and a vibrant archive of human thought and feeling. Cherry Tree appears under the imprint of the Literary House Press, the publishing arm of the Rose O’Neill Literary House, a cultural center that has promoted the arts for nearly fifty years. Washington College undergraduates participate in all facets of the production of this print journal, though professional writers serve as genre editors and fill most senior reader positions. Although the journal is still growing, Cherry Tree has already received national recognition. Poems from three of its seven issues have been selected for inclusion in The Best American Poetry (2016, 2017, and 2020), and many poems have been chosen for reprinting by Poetry Daily Verse Daily, and the Orison Anthology. Prose has been listed as “notable” in Best American Essays and has appeared in Best Microfictions (2020).

Join us for 1-minute readings by the fabulous contributors of Issue 12! April 29, 7pm EDT on Zoom. Link in bio/commen...
03/31/2026

Join us for 1-minute readings by the fabulous contributors of Issue 12! April 29, 7pm EDT on Zoom. Link in bio/comments.

03/13/2026

Every year, the Rose O'Neill Literary House @ Washington College, student literary magazine Collegian, and the Washington College Writers' Union take students to the Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference, the largest literary gathering in North America. As a result, students get to join the professional writing community while still at Washington, and alums get to reconnect every year while pursuing their literary career. Read about this year's - held in Baltimore - at the story linked in comments.

If you find one of the Cherry Tree bunnies in the Bookfair, check the bottom & follow the instructions for a free prize ...
03/05/2026

If you find one of the Cherry Tree bunnies in the Bookfair, check the bottom & follow the instructions for a free prize at our Booth # 1064.

Tonight! Free! No rsvp needed. Show up at 6:30 for a private tour of the National Aquarium (jellyfish! stingrays!) in Pi...
03/04/2026

Tonight! Free! No rsvp needed. Show up at 6:30 for a private tour of the National Aquarium (jellyfish! stingrays!) in Pier 3. The reading starts at 7:15 in Pier 4. Cash bar. Tiny cheeses. Big poems.

Cherry Tree is all set up at BOOTH 1064!
03/04/2026

Cherry Tree is all set up at BOOTH 1064!

Team Cherry Tree has arrived in Baltimore!!
03/04/2026

Team Cherry Tree has arrived in Baltimore!!

If you're traveling to Baltimore for AWP, come see us at the Book Fair. And if you happen to find one of our miniature b...
02/23/2026

If you're traveling to Baltimore for AWP, come see us at the Book Fair. And if you happen to find one of our miniature bunnies at the tables and booths of our partners & friends, you can redeem that rabbit for a free back issue of Cherry Tree!

Kick off AWP with and our fabulous friends at & on Wednesday, March 4 at the Baltimore National Aquarium. The aquariu...
02/14/2026

Kick off AWP with and our fabulous friends at & on Wednesday, March 4 at the Baltimore National Aquarium. The aquarium shuts down at 6:00 and reopens exclusively for us at 6:30 with self-guided tours of the Blue Wonders exhibit in pier 3. Reading starts in Pier 4 at 7:15. Cash bar, excellent poetry, and stunning views of Charm City will make this an unforgettable night.

02/12/2026

Address

501 E Pratt St
Baltimore, MD
21202

Website

https://washington-college.square.site/shop/cherry-tree-a-national-literary-journal-at-

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Our Story

Founded in 2014, with its debut issue scheduled for release on February 15, 2015, Cherry Tree: A National Literary Journal @ Washington College is an annual literary magazine featuring poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction by emerging and established writers. Cherry Tree appears under the imprint of the Literary House Press, the publishing arm of the Rose O’Neill Literary House. The name Cherry Tree honors George Washington who, in 1782, gifted “the College at Chester” 50 guineas, consented to serve on its Board, and gave the educational institution permission to use his name. In the American imagination, George Washington is a figure who has come to represent both truth-telling and mythmaking. The famous story of the cherry tree—"I can’t tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet."—reminds us that there is truth even in invention, that even apocrypha can convey the facts of life. ISSN 2372-9791