Thank You 2024!
As we get ready to welcome the new year, let’s take a look back at 2024, our most exciting year yet!
Winter
In February we co-hosted a conversation with Tyriek White with Danielle Ofri and the National Medical Association discussing grief, loss, and cultural transformation of his Center for Fiction’s 2023 First Novel Prize-winning book, We Are A Haunting. You can watch the conversation here., and read his story featured in BLR Issue 44, ‘Mushroom Death Suit,’ here.
We also released two artist studio visits, taking a tour through the worlds of Issue 44’s Alexander Gorlizki and Issue 45’s Tatana Kellner. Both in conversation with Danielle Ofri provided a wealth of information on the inspiration and manifestation of health and healing in the visual arts.
“[My] process is quite open-ended. I’ll start off with a piece of paper, I start sketching and then when I see things I’m kind of responding to them… what you have in the end is a kind of narrative.”
“I’m interested in that edge where stuff is sort of not quite there and there’s some kind tension, or it’s not quite resolved and you have to decide: ‘Am I uncomfortable or comfortable with that?’”
Spring
In March, we presented “Much Ado About Dying”, a feature-length documentary by Simon Chambers chronicling his uncle’s end-of-life journey, in collaboration with Science on Screen and Film Forum. We also published a conversation between author Jason Baum and BLR editor Suzanne McConnell, discussing Jason’s story “Rocket,” and its connection to his personal journey with recovery.
“I’m writing and if it makes me laugh, I keep it in. You know, if I’m cracking myself up, then it’s good enough for me.”
Spring also saw our annual reading featuring the prize-winning writers of our contest issue, as well as a visit to Issue 46’s cover artist, Nicole Cohen.
“I superimpose people from the past…if you look closely, you can see the street through the person…so the idea is, I’m always wondering who I’m overlapping with historically.”
Summer
Next was the filming, in-person screening, and release of Reading the Body: Body Politic, our poetry and dance short film created in collaboration with the Paige Fraser Foundation.
Fall
Fall featured our annual themed-issue reading, presenting the works of our Body Politic writers in conversation with BLR editors. It also featured our most elaborate event of the year: our Body Politic storytelling event, held at Symphony Space here in Manhattan. Months of planning and rehearsals came together to present six stunning performances.
Last but not least was Narrative Arc, our annual event giving readers a chance to interview their favorite BLR writers.
“…conflicting emotions can exist at the same time in the same stanza, within a life, within a relationship, so I think that’s one of the things that this poem is trying to do, to smash the adoration and the terror against each other.”
As we ring in the new year, we can look forward to the release of BLR Issue 48, featuring our 2025 contest winners, as well as our first-ever writing workshops. With this, as with our past events, we hope to foster a creative community. We are grateful for those of you who have read and watched along this year, and can’t wait to welcome many more in 2025.
See you then!