25 years of creative writing on health, illness, and healing

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— Everything BLR

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— Read interviews with BLR authors, editors, readers, and more —

— A new set of great reads with each click —

  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • The Room of Small Gods

    The Room of Small Gods

    by Paula V. Smith. “They have carried his bed downstairs to the study where he can see the garden as he dies, with you, his collection of small gods, around him.” // continue reading

  • Avtomat Kalashnikova

    Avtomat Kalashnikova

    by Rachel Hall. “Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov wakes in gray light to the sounds of the injured soldiers in the cots beside him moaning, crying out.” // continue reading

  • Coulrophobia

    Coulrophobia

    by Jacob M. Appel. “My father fancied himself a shrewd landlord—he refused to rent to lawyers, the children of lawyers, even a college girl who “had law school written all over her”—but he probably bit off too much when he… // continue reading

  • Anticipatory Grief

    Anticipatory Grief

    by Misty Kiwak Jacobs. “After Father Marcel died, he came to me in a dream and said, “I liked you very much.” Not the Great Commandment that he kept, his job description. Gloriously less…Those words his imprimatur on my grief.” // continue reading

  • Okahandja Lessons

    Okahandja Lessons

    by Emily Rapp. “Welcome to Namibia! The battered wooden sign stood at the edge of a highway that was strewn with piles of twisted, smoking metal.” // continue reading

  • The Father Shift

    The Father Shift

    by Trish Travieso. “I was twenty-three years old the first time I saw my father wearing a dress.” // continue reading

As featured on PBS News Hour’s CANVAS Series

Watch PBS News Hour’s Jeffrey Brown report on BLR’s 25th Anniversary, featuring BLR Editor Danielle Ofri and past BLR writers reflecting on why poetry, storytelling, and writing matter, especially in moments of illness.

Whiting Award Winner

BLR was awarded a Whiting Literary Magazine Prize for “excellence in publishing, advocacy for writers, and a unique contribution to the strength of the overall literary community.”

Praise & Recognition