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

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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
  • Bound

    Bound

    by Sam Schieren. “He had been looking at his mother. There was a look on her face he will never forget, like she’d seen through to the other side.” // continue reading

  • The Cult of Me

    The Cult of Me

    by Allison Amend. “I’m not a suspicious person; I think that the quickest way between two points is a straight line and that the simplest explanation is the truest. I don’t care if our atmosphere is being eaten away by… // continue reading

  • Bird Season

    Bird Season

    by Daniela Garvue. “After he brushed his teeth, he raised his wings in the bathroom to examine his smoky gray underfeathers.” // continue reading

  • Radon Gas and the Believers

    Radon Gas and the Believers

    by Andrew C. Gottlieb. “But its impossible to go very far without seeing a sudden dark opening, the sloping, rotting framing of an abandoned mine entrance, or the colorful, dangerous scree sloping downhill: the remnant tailings from the ore processing… // continue reading

  • At the Mercy Meal

    At the Mercy Meal

    by Lindsay Starck. “If this scene—these baskets of bread, this mediocre rice, that parking lot awash with light—is familiar to me from all the other funerals we’ve attended here, how much more familiar is it to him? He drags his… // continue reading

  • If You Scared, Say You Scared

    If You Scared, Say You Scared

    by Sheree L. Greer. “Every time I think I learn something about myself, about my body and how to best treat it or love it, my body tells me that control is a lie.” // 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