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

  • Issue 50
  • Issue 49
  • Issue 48

  • all
  • news
  • events
  • interviews

— Everything BLR

— See what’s new with us at BLR

— Come join us, online, or in person —

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

— A new set of great reads with each click —

  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • Crosscurrents

    Crosscurrents

    by Meredith Talusan. “Whenever you don’t want to be who you are, you call yourself Margaret Jefferson. And that’s who you are now, or who you are when you’re not yourself, walking into the conference room of an accounting firm… // 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

  • Parricide 

    Parricide 

    by Steve Fayer. “My father killed his mother, confessed it to me in his last year as the black dog of depression chased him toward his own grave.” // continue reading

  • The Rice-Eating Ceremony

    The Rice-Eating Ceremony

    by Sonia Sarkar. “Nine months into my life, I am asked to eat on command / These tiny bursts of cylindrical snow that will reappear / Again and again…” // 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 Call

    The Call

    by Terry M. Dugan. “I could tell from his voice / something was horribly wrong. / I’m okay he said over and over / in a tone that told me he was anything but.” // 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