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

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  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • Snapshots of Bellevue

    Snapshots of Bellevue

    When sick New Yorkers failed to find a place in private institutions like New York Hospital, they turned to public hospitals like Bellevue. // continue reading

  • Distance

    Distance

    The ward doctor rang me late in the night to say that the Judge had been admitted with COVID-19 and was not doing well. He wasn’t deemed fit for ICU because of his age and his prior illness, the blood… // continue reading

  • The Color of Sound

    The Color of Sound

    by Judy Rowley. “Almost every night throughout my childhood I prayed that a miracle would occur, that I would be able to hear perfectly one day.” // continue reading

  • The Rice-Eating Ceremony

    The Rice-Eating Ceremony

    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

  • Patient Belongings

    Patient Belongings

    i Belongings: The short-sleeved blouse, its paisley rayon desperate to breathe light in your form; the comb that hungers for the pull of your hair; the wristwatch, clicking in stir, // continue reading

  • Glaucoma

    Glaucoma

    What my eyes see reminds me of under-exposed / negatives from my bygone wet photography days, / days replete with eyes—the camera’s, the enlarger’s, 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