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

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  • fiction
  • nonfiction
  • poetry
  • We the Mothers

    We the Mothers

    by Kathi Hansen. “We’re not saying our boys are angels, … we’re just saying that we the mothers didn’t need to teach our boys not to rape.” // continue reading

  • Vultur Gryphus

    Vultur Gryphus

    by Daniel Seifert. “Luis unscrews a small bottle of puro and daubs Tio’s smiling mouth. In the still air, the pure alcohol makes Luis’s eyes water. Further down, he hears the deep-throated cough of a detonation. He heads toward it.” // continue reading

  • Storm Chasers

    Storm Chasers

    by Calvin Hennick. “During the week we have left in Hawaii, Liz occasionally mentions that maybe I should go back to the hospital to see my father, and I say no, and she says family is important, and then neither… // 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

  • Semantics

    Semantics

    by Rachel Hall. “We tell our kids to give it their best shot before their big exams—calculus, say, or French—or before the championship game on a crisp autumn night, the stands filled with fans in the school colors, the stadium… // continue reading

  • The Empath

    The Empath

    by Stephanie C. Smith. “New Orleans—my home from the start. I fit better on streets that sag, where live oaks lay low, where rain falls in sheets all afternoon…” // 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