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
  • Responsibility

    Responsibility

    by Alok A. Khorana. “Vivek prided himself on bringing order to chaos. Lowly intern that he was, Vivek was the face of Ward 10.” // continue reading

  • We Are Only Human

    We Are Only Human

    by Mahak Jain. “My mother believed it was important for a child to witness healthy communication about difficult topics. My father allowed this as long as I remained quiet and didn’t interfere.” // continue reading

  • The Mona Lisa

    The Mona Lisa

    by  Robert Oldshue. “Now it might seem that a nursing home with only two floors and forty – seven residents would be a hard place to lose somebody.” // continue reading

  • Our Eyes Were Watching Marcia

    Our Eyes Were Watching Marcia

    by Samuel A. Autman. “Television had always been a perfect distraction from our family’s drama and trauma, soothing us more than our Baptist faith.” // continue reading

  • Double Exposure

    Double Exposure

    by Elisha Waldman. “Our hospital in Jerusalem feels haunted. Not, as one might think, by the ghosts of former patients, but rather by the living…” // continue reading

  • Close to the Bones

    Close to the Bones

    by Amy Nolan. “It was a relentlessly sunny day in July, a week after my fifteenth birthday, when I was admitted to the hospital. I remember staring out the side window of the Chevette’s back seat, trying to follow the… // continue reading

  • After the Arachnid

    After the Arachnid

    by James Gonda. “In the shed behind the house where / garden tools lean in a corner there / was a spider, black and still, as large / as a thumbprint tucked behind a spade…” // continue reading

  • The Castle

    The Castle

    by Rebecca Ellis. “The way I remember it is different / from the way I dream it. / The memory, over years, / becomes rounded at the edges.” // continue reading

  • Wilderness

    Wilderness

    by Paula Bohince. “My sister drove, / so long that what began before daybreak / ended in the same pitch, / and we barely noticed those in-between hours, // though this morning we laughed…” // 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