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

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— Everything BLR

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— A new set of great reads with each click —

  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • Geese

    Geese

    by Grace Glass. “Mornings, Adam struggles up from his dreams to a blinding, ochre-tinged pain that sizzles up his damaged spine, seizes his neck, etches spiteful hieroglyphics into the base of his skull. He can’t help groaning but he does… // 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

  • The Room of Small Gods

    The Room of Small Gods

    by Paula V. Smith. “They have carried his bed downstairs to the study where he can see the garden as he dies, with you, his collection of small gods, around him.” // continue reading

  • In Between Time

    In Between Time

    by Eric Jones. “Pain made me a precocious student of time, each middle ear infection a new lesson on the uncatchable instant.” // continue reading

  • Dark Valley

    Dark Valley

    by Zoë Sprankle. “I’m too young now to know how soon imaginary play will decay and mature into rumors and cliques and senior boys with beards who look at me like I’m simultaneously a toddler and a toy.” // continue reading

  • Drawing Blood

    Drawing Blood

    by Laura Johnsrude. “I spent a lot of time thinking about blood during my training years—hoping I could get enough of it, wondering which vein would yield the best supply of it, wishing the patients had more of it, calling… // continue reading

  • Etymology of Chlorophyll

    Etymology of Chlorophyll

    by Caroline Harper New. “Love, / from Germanic lufu, is intestinal and milky / like undug onions squeezed from mothers.” // continue reading

  • Ambulance

    Ambulance

    by Halvard Johnson. “This restaurant has a fine ambulance.” / What my friend, of course, must have / meant was that this restoration / had a fine ambience…” // continue reading

  • Anatomy Lesson

    Anatomy Lesson

    by Nellie Hill. “To understand the heart / you’ve got to memorize arteries, vessels, / and which goes where, which is red / and which is blue, what’s likely to pop open–” // 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