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
  • 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

  • Terminal Device

    Terminal Device

    by Jennifer Lee. “Physical therapy is in the basement of the hospital, and they send them down in wheelchairs right after surgery.  It hurts, and people are always telling me what they can’t do—like I’m their sister and this is… // continue reading

  • You Will Make Several Relaxing Cuts

    You Will Make Several Relaxing Cuts

    by Ashley Chambers. “The grieving family members haven’t left the patient’s room by the time you arrive at the hospital.” // continue reading

  • Lone Wolf

    Lone Wolf

    by Ellen Gunnarsdottir. “‘That’s just how he is, our dear doctor,’ people would say, and by this would they meant that it was this very energy that had sent him to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin as a member of… // continue reading

  • Officium

    Officium

    by Siobhan McKenna. “’How do you do it? How do you watch people die day after day?’ He asked the question as we passed each other on the threshold of his wife’s room. He was leaving after having said all… // continue reading

  • Harvest Moon

    Harvest Moon

    by Julia Michie Bruckner. “He’d looked perfect – nothing deformed or discolored, no hair out of place, both shoelaces tied. The life had been shaken out of him.” // 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