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

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— A new set of great reads with each click —

  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • A Vehicular Situation

    A Vehicular Situation

    by Maija Stromberg. “’Well, here’s the good Dr. Kaspar stuck out in a field in the middle of nowhere,’ LeeAnn said.” // continue reading

  • White Space

    White Space

    by Amanda McComick. “She had an endless appetite for information, and even though it was just a million different angles on the same collapsing towers, she filed away the details, she hungered for information.” // continue reading

  • 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

  • Cancer, So Far

    Cancer, So Far

    by Elizabeth Crowell. “Last summer, the moths clung to the shingles of our house. They fluttered right past us, mottled wings snapping, through our open door.” // continue reading

  • Given

    Given

    by Nancy Devine. “This must be the first harvest from our acreage: our young vineyard singing, the plastic, ribbed grow tubes that make little greenhouses for each of the young grape plants catching wind and, like a throat and its… // continue reading

  • Canine Cardiology

    Canine Cardiology

    by Deborah Thompson. “Houdi pawed at the student’s thighs and, despite his heart condition, displayed one of his inopportune erections, which the vet student chose not to acknowledge.” // continue reading

  • Printouts

    Printouts

    by Dylan Landis. “Janet reported that gray taffeta / curtained her walls. It was delicate. When touched, the ashen silk dissolved / around her thumbprint….” // continue reading

  • A SESTINA OF BAD NEWS

    A SESTINA OF BAD NEWS

    by Alex Johansson. “There are more important things I should be doing at the age of forty-two,” / you say, showing me photos of your daughter in a pink, fluffy tutu and I…” // continue reading

  • Bones

    Bones

    by Anne Pierson Wiese. “Big leg bones / of cows sawed / into round sections / that when broiled / erupt thick burps of marrow…” // 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