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

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— Everything BLR

— See what’s new with us at 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
  • Home Depot

    Home Depot

    by Robert Oldshue. “You know how it is. You think you’re married, you’re married to Albie forty-two, what is it, forty-three years, so at least you know Albie. Right?” // continue reading

  • Girls, at Play

    Girls, at Play

    by Celeste Ng. “This is how we play the game: pink means kissing; red means tongue.” // continue reading

  • Evacuation Instructions

    Evacuation Instructions

    by Elliott Hold. “With the fat stripped away, she is her essential self. They don’t tell you how beautiful people can be when they’re dying.” // continue reading

  • Snapshots of Bellevue

    Snapshots of Bellevue

    by Karen Lamberton. “The ‘General Slocum,’ was the biggest and fastest harbor day-liner. That day, about 2,000 passengers, embarked for an annual Sunday School excursion.” // continue reading

  • A Staircase in the Fog

    A Staircase in the Fog

    by Robin Fast. “Beneath this rag-and-bone sky, the only shadow cast is memory. It was wintertime thirty-five years ago when I learned that family afflictions, like weather, come at you from beyond.” // continue reading

  • Harvest Moon

    Harvest Moon

    by Julia Michie Bruckner. “He’d looked perfect – nothing deformed or discolored, no hair out of place, both shoelaces tied. The life had been shaken out of him.” // continue reading

  • The Day After Memorial Day

    The Day After Memorial Day

    by Amy Haddad. “The clutch of white peonies I hold by my side are floppy / with dew dripping down my leg. / I am late too.” // continue reading

  • Treatment

    Treatment

    by Laurie Kutchins. “Every underworld begins with a rabbit hole, a vent in the earth. / Noisy boys peering down, running home for lanterns and rope, a / Dizzy girl meanwhile tumbling into it.” // continue reading

  • After Top Surgery

    After Top Surgery

    by Birch Rosen. “You do not have to stagger around the house, / unaided and weak, / as the meds wear off or kick in.” // 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