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

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— A new set of great reads with each click —

  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • Rivers

    Rivers

    by Yalitza Ferreras. “Aunt #1’s plastic toilet lid shifts under Manolo’s weight as he balances his left ankle on his right knee, careful so his leg doesn’t slide off his sweatpants.” // continue reading

  • His Own Time 

    His Own Time 

    by John Thompson. “I did a little time once. It wasn’t a long bit, but that doesn’t matter much.  Time is time.” // continue reading

  • Old Poles

    Old Poles

    by Tim Erwin. “He had a face that belonged in a Soviet bread line, waxen and expressionless, with skin tags and papules sprouting up from beneath the rough surface.” // continue reading

  • Motherhood Requiem

    Motherhood Requiem

    by Nadia Ghent. “One afternoon, after my mother had fallen ill for the fourth or fifth time, I pulled out all my eyelashes, one by one. I was thirteen. She had gone to the hospital in the middle of the… // continue reading

  • Family Portrait, Guam, 1979

    Family Portrait, Guam, 1979

    by Katherine Lien Chariott. “I know who you are. You are the girl of twenty, in that black and white photograph I held onto for years, that girl so beautiful she filled me with shame, just as she filled me… // continue reading

  • Every Day Anew

    Every Day Anew

    by Pia Jee-Hae Baur. “I dislike switching doctors, primarily because every time I have to recount my medical history, I have to decide how much I should lie.” // continue reading

  • House Staff

    House Staff

    by Sandra Gustin. “I don’t remember if I ever cleaned my house. I’m sure we / never heard birdsong. Some cried. Some of us got quite thin.” // continue reading

  • Love, We Never Get Too Far

    Love, We Never Get Too Far

    by Nicholas Yingling. “You know / drowning is as much a predicament of time / as water.” // continue reading

  • Patient Belongings

    Patient Belongings

    by John Willson. “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

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