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
  • The Kings of Gowanus

    The Kings of Gowanus

    by Rae Meadows. “He spent his days, like most boys in the neighborhood, walking around, looking to get something for nothing. But today was fight day.” // continue reading

  • il Faut

    il Faut

    by Stephanie Hammer. “Now he stares at the bag of bulbs, the naked little bodies burgeoning, begging for life in the sweet dark ground. The ground that buries.” // continue reading

  • Reflexes

    Reflexes

    by Adriana Golden. “…what started as an alibi could be a salvation. Yesterday, I flushed the rest of the pills down the toilet, all at once. They flocked out of sight like a swarm of tiny pink beetles.” // continue reading

  • A Staircase in the Fog

    A Staircase in the Fog

    by Robin Fast. “Beneath this rag-and-bone sky, the only shadow cast is memory. It was wintertime thirty-five years ago when I learned that family afflictions, like weather, come at you from beyond.” // continue reading

  • IN THE MARGIN

    IN THE MARGIN

    by Ha Jin. “For many years I refused to be an exile, claiming that I am an immigrant, someone who chose to move to a new country voluntarily.” // continue reading

  • Two Thoracotomies 

    Two Thoracotomies 

    by Angela Tang-Tan. “The first time I witness a thorax opened, it is on a twenty-five-gram mouse. Heavier than most because she is gravid. The second time, it’s on a thirty-year-old man.” // 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