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
  • Seeing Things

    Seeing Things

    by Deena Linett. “I called him Lark although his given name is Laurie. I made it up, a love-name, so I reckon when they asked him for a name he said what came to mind, quick-like, and told them Lark.” // continue reading

  • The Little Things

    The Little Things

    by Joan Malerba-Foran. “I’ve never been what you would call a good sleeper. I make it through the night about twice a week, and those nights are never consecutive.” // continue reading

  • ALMOST THEIDES

    ALMOST THEIDES

    by Manini Nayar. “Ammu has never known anyone who died. Not a grandparent or a rickety neighbor or anyone struck by what Ammu’s tightlipped mother, Nina, referred to (after six months of her own successful chemotherapy) as the C word.… // continue reading

  • Our Eyes Were Watching Marcia

    Our Eyes Were Watching Marcia

    by Samuel A. Autman. “Television had always been a perfect distraction from our family’s drama and trauma, soothing us more than our Baptist faith.” // continue reading

  • I Must Have Been That Man

    I Must Have Been That Man

    by Adina Talve-Goodman. “To the left of the scar, I could see the new heart beating beneath my skin. The new double pump song of perfection replacing the one wrong beat, a single ventricle, I’d had before.” // continue reading

  • The Raft

    The Raft

    by Toni Mirosevich. “You float down the river and soon learn this isn’t a joy ride, you’re not free yet, of duty, of care, of what binds you to the earth; there’s one more job to do. It’s your task… // continue reading

  • Mrs. Eder’s Sunday School Class

    Mrs. Eder’s Sunday School Class

    by Brenna Working Lemieux. “Never mind that her fingers bow backwards, / they’re so lithe, that the bones below her skin / spoke like umbrella ribs, that the bible’s onion-skin / pages arch at her touch…” // continue reading

  • Carousel

    Carousel

    by Matthew Ladd. “The Pacific Ocean, to a child of three, / sounds like a push-broom in his mother’s kitchen. / Life took us elsewhere: like other boys, I learned…” // continue reading

  • Ambulance

    Ambulance

    by Halvard Johnson. “This restaurant has a fine ambulance.” / What my friend, of course, must have / meant was that this restoration / had a fine ambience…” // 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