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

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  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • Stray Gods

    Stray Gods

    by Shastri Akella. “When they play chase after, they aren’t Madhu and Boy. They’re the mythic boy gods, Krishna and Balarama, and Ajay, one of the many demons that the brothers chase and vanquish.” // continue reading

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    by Ellen Collins. “We have forgotten how to tie our shoes, how to button our sweaters, how to hold a fork. We have lost the ability to add a column of numbers, to trace a route on a map, to… // continue reading

  • The Father of Joan of Arc

    The Father of Joan of Arc

    by Ron Rindo. “Two months after the loss of my only child, whose death—for which I am responsible—came in an unspeakable manner, I stand in line at the gas station, waiting to pay for my gas.” // continue reading

  • You Imagine Death

    You Imagine Death

    by Justine Payton. “Just five months ago, you hiked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, whitewater rafted down the Nile, climbed volcanoes in Rwanda. Now, from the neck down, your body is unresponsive.” // continue reading

  • Close to the Bones

    Close to the Bones

    by Amy Nolan. “It was a relentlessly sunny day in July, a week after my fifteenth birthday, when I was admitted to the hospital. I remember staring out the side window of the Chevette’s back seat, trying to follow the… // continue reading

  • Solitude

    Solitude

    by Joan Kip. “I am back with the ‘who’ of me, the self I left behind through the seasons of my years. The ultimate prize is this reconciliation with the original, unvarnished self.” // continue reading

  • Rabbit Walk

    Rabbit Walk

    by Brett Warren. “All around me, trees and shrubs infringe / on gravestones, while lichens write their stories / over names and dates. Under the ground, / where once I imagined only the remains…” // continue reading

  • My Mother is a Fish

    My Mother is a Fish

    by Kailey Tedesco. “My mother’s old kimono cradles me / so that I can become a fish, wet with / water I can drape about my shoulders.” // continue reading

  • Relic

    Relic

    by Stacy Nigliazzo. “Quietly, they concede, / leaving pennies / at your feet.” // 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