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
  • Finding Honey

    Finding Honey

    by Daniel Reiss. “To find honey, I must first find a bee. It’s not that hard to find a bee. I just wander the woods till I find a source of water. If I come to a creek or a… // continue reading

  • An Infinite Hunger

    An Infinite Hunger

    by Joon Ae Haworth-Kaufka. “You eat more and more, until you feel sick. Your mom says people are souls, but not you. You’re an empty body, filling up and up and up to make the emptiness go away.” // continue reading

  • The Liver Nephew

    The Liver Nephew

    by Susan Ito. “And so Parker didn’t say no, but he didn’t say yes. He had conversations with his uncle’s physicians, both the primary-care doctor and the hotshot guy in charge of the transplant team, who spoke rapidly and repeated… // 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

  • All Our Relations

    All Our Relations

    by Jeanine Pfeiffer. “What if our evolution as humans was measured by how graciously and profoundly we related to the living world around us?” // continue reading

  • Cheyanne

    Cheyanne

    by Margaret Brosnahan. “A dozen dead ponies hung from the ceiling, strung up by chains at each end, their ragged bodies in nose-to-tail formation like a ghoulish merry-go-round…” // 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