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
  • This Be Madness

    This Be Madness

    by Carter Sickels. “We were out of heroin and broke. Didn’t have pills. Nothing to drink or huff. “I’ve got a plan,’ I said.” // continue reading

  • Free Love

    Free Love

    by Allegra Hyde. “At Free Oaks, I perched in the laps of transient poets and tugged at the robes of bilingual maharishi, collecting nuggets of enlightenment like stones.” // continue reading

  • The Great Imitator

    The Great Imitator

    by Leslie Patterson. “I am a disease. My very existence poisons my father’s life.” // continue reading

  • Dust, Light, Life

    Dust, Light, Life

    by Jacqueline Kolosov. “‘Why are there so many moths near the lamp, Mama?’ my five-year-old daughter Sophie asked, as we sat at our patio table a few weeks ago, the purple-rose of twilight of late April having by now given… // continue reading

  • A Pure and Lovely Flame

    A Pure and Lovely Flame

    by Sandy Woodson. “For Descartes, the pineal gland is a magical place where our souls and personality and identity shimmer in a night sky.” // continue reading

  • Call/Waiting

    Call/Waiting

    by Alexa Rose Steinberg. “Throughout the evening, I hear explanations of why people can’t talk when I call…” // continue reading

  • Brighter When Wet

    Brighter When Wet

    by Kai Coggin. “I remove the day, strip myself / of the expectations and the pain, / the way my soul strives and my flesh endures…” // continue reading

  • Cleaver

    Cleaver

    by Sandra Dolores Gómez Amador. “I do not think about flesh anymore, but if I did, / I would tell you about its adoration / for cruelty.” // continue reading

  • I Wasn’t There

    I Wasn’t There

    by Subhaga Crystal Bacon. “Cancer came and took a lung, / then came and took the rest / of him. And I wasn’t there…” // 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