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

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— Everything BLR

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— Read interviews with BLR authors, editors, readers, and more —

— A new set of great reads with each click —

  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • Looking at Aquaman

    Looking at Aquaman

    by Kim Foster. “Something nobody warns you about, when you get very sick, is that you have to be polite. You have to be Emily f-ing Post every minute of the day…” // continue reading

  • A Brutal Sweetness

    A Brutal Sweetness

    by Abby Nance. “Last night my breath changed from quiet to labored heaving. We all wonder: will this be my last bath?” // continue reading

  • If Brains Was Gas

    If Brains Was Gas

    by Abraham Verghese. “I turned thirteen that week. I assumed that it came with some new liberties, but no one had specifically said so, and I was too uncertain to ask. Still, the night after my birthday, Elmo and me… // 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

  • A Figment of Your Imagination

    A Figment of Your Imagination

    by Cynthia-Marie O’Brien. “I am a figment of your imagination. You may laugh skeptically, and I admit there is much that would seem to prove I am anything but…” // continue reading

  • Lost Vessels

    Lost Vessels

    by Jehanne Dubrow. “Memory is not kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing damaged ceramics with a mixture of lacquer and powdered gold. There are ugly seams. There is no glittering dust poured into the fractures between sentences.” // 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