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

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— A new set of great reads with each click —

  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • Plazoleta

    Plazoleta

    by Eric Stener Carlson. “The ants climbed up the front of Macedonio’s sweater, circling the buttons.  They arrived at Macedonio’s chest, interested in a yogurt stain. ” // continue reading

  • Repurpose

    Repurpose

    by Jake Wolff. “My father used to say that there are two instances in which it’s okay to hit a woman: she brandishes a weapon on you or she brandishes a weapon on herself. He arrived at this last point… // continue reading

  • Shaking the Dead Geranium 

    Shaking the Dead Geranium 

    by Harriet Rzetelny. “By age sixteen, he’d won a full scholarship to Emory College. By eighteen, he was convinced that my mother was sucking the life fluids out of his brain and went after her with a bread knife.” // continue reading

  • No One Thing

    No One Thing

    by Laura LeMoon. “The things I’ve had to do to survive were part of the price I paid to be seen…Freedom in one moment became bondage in the next. Chains exploded into power. No one thing is any one thing.” // continue reading

  • Going South

    Going South

    by Natalie Pearson. “I make amends with small gifts—a loaf of crusty bread, a Louie Prima CD, lilacs in a mason jar. This little drive to nowhere would be just such a gift.” // continue reading

  • Dust, Light, Life

    Dust, Light, Life

    by Jacqueline Kolosov. “‘Why are there so many moths near the lamp, Mama?’ my five-year-old daughter Sophie asked, as we sat at our patio table a few weeks ago, the purple-rose of twilight of late April having by now given… // continue reading

  • A Spring Without Us

    A Spring Without Us

    by Talia Bloch. “The playground has been locked for months. / A swing coughs dryly in the shade.” // continue reading

  • Bones

    Bones

    by Anne Pierson Wiese. “Big leg bones / of cows sawed / into round sections / that when broiled / erupt thick burps of marrow…” // continue reading

  • Baptism

    Baptism

    by Michele Bombardier. “I pull up a chair, lower the bedrails. / He bats at my hand. When he finds it, he quiets, / his hand a vice on mine.” // 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