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

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  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • The Gun Goes Off and At First No One Knows Who’s Been Hit

    The Gun Goes Off and At First No One Knows Who’s Been Hit

    by Ian Baaske. “Someone’s died. I know this because of vague posts on Facebook. It can’t be anyone I know very well, or I’d have texts or phone calls or, well, something.” // continue reading

  • The Foreign Cinema

    The Foreign Cinema

    by Lauren Alwan. “One day in those first months after her mother’s death, Cenem resolved to finally see Los Angeles. She’d spent the afternoon at one of the cheap matinees, seeing Casablanca yet again, and after, went directly to the used bookstore off… // continue reading

  • Translation Memory

    Translation Memory

    by Midge Raymond. “For days he came home to find her in the same spot, staring at an empty street. When she turned to him, her eyes looked like thin wet glass, as if the slightest sound could shatter them.” // continue reading

  • Presence of Another

    Presence of Another

    by Amanda Leskovac. “The nurses in the ICU had said I was going to rehabilitation, but since I’ve only heard rehab synonymous with addicts, I have no idea what to expect. The huge collar around my neck prevents me from… // continue reading

  • Askew

    Askew

    by Esther K. Willison. “It gets hold of me, I wrote less than a year after her death. Somehow  it creeps up.” // continue reading

  • By the Neck

    By the Neck

    by Laura Johnsrude. “Suddenly, the baby’s head was in my hands and I saw the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck—the neck, oh my, with all those critical bits of anatomy. I held that big slippery baby head in… // continue reading

  • The Oncologist

    The Oncologist

    by Carole Stone. “Do you have an appetite? / No. / Are you anxious? Yes. / Irritable? Yes. / I hand in the questionnaire.” // continue reading

  • Appendectomy

    Appendectomy

    by Alexandra Ozols. “…so I worry and know that everything / is not fine which sends my heart galloping / like a horse turned wild by gunshots…” // continue reading

  • Thought Experiment

    Thought Experiment

    by Steven Cramer. “Before my pupils gape oh in unison, / I find a seat with the semi-sighted / like myself, becalmed / in our separate intermissions…” // 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