Editorial: Dark Greetings!

By Mariya Alfa Staugaard, Editor-in-Cheif

Dear reader, 

This edition of HeartCore is all about DEATH, and as it will hopefully become clear, we have relished this opportunity to venture into the darkness. 

Of course, we have all approached the making of this edition with an understanding of the weight of carrying a conversation about death – and the responsibility we have as a media to engage responsibly with the topic. When we discussed content ideas, we made sure to ask ourselves how to not disappear fully into despair or negativity, but also allow for lightness, both in terms of humour and in terms of hope. It’s not an easy line to walk, but the process of creating this edition has been as rewarding as it has been challenging. 

Part of what makes the exploration of a dark subject fun is how subversive it can be to step outside the confines of polite conversation and sink your teeth into something that feels forbidden. 

This time around, we will be exploring the vampire as a queer creature of the night, question the trope of ‘Bury your Gays’, revisit the history of AIDS in Denmark, and learn a thing or two about how to write a will. We will also feature another excerpt from a short story by Ilya Kharkow and end our collaboration for now with an interview about death, prose, and hope. 

This autumn, we had the honour of attending the Danish Rainbow Awards as nominees for the Media Award – a huge acknowledgment of how far we have come with HeartCore. The journey has been strange, intense, and fulfilling – may it continue to be so!

Happy reading and a belated happy Halloween from the HeartCore editorial staff