An independent literary journal that probes the nuances of our lives both in illness and health.

Bellevue Literary Review is an award-winning independent literary journal that probes the nuances of our lives in illness and in health. 

BLR publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that brings together the perspectives of patients, caregivers, family members, students, healthcare professionals, and the general public. BLR is committed to seeking a diversity of voices from all communities and all walks of life.

The first literary journal to arise from a medical setting, BLR has published two print volumes of literature annually since 2001. As a literary arts organization, BLR offers a wide range of events at the intersection of the arts and the sciences. 

BLR maintains an active online and social media presence, and engages its community of readers and writers by offering public events, newsletters, reading guides, book reviews, literary contests, author interviews, roundtable discussions, and accessible digital content.

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Bellevue Literary Review

Max 5,000 words. Typically enjoy 2,000-4,000.

We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard ‘illness narrative’ to develop a topic in an engaging and original manner. Incorporate engaging and creative analysis that allows anecdotes to serve a larger purpose. (Please, no academic discourses or works with footnotes. )

Bellevue Literary Review Prizes

Max 3 poems.

We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, strong narrative, and rendering the familiar new. We encourage you to peruse back issues in our archive to get a sense of our ethos. 

Max 5,000 words. Typically enjoy 2,000-4,000.

We seek character-driven fiction with original voices and strong settings. We do not publish genre fiction (romance, sci-fi, horror). We have only occasionally published flash fiction. While we are always interested in creative explorations in style, we do lean toward classic short stories.

BLR seeks high-caliber, unpublished* work, broadly and creatively related to our themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. 

FICTION GUIDELINES:
We seek character-driven fiction with original voices and strong settings. We do not publish genre fiction (romance, sci-fi, horror). We have only occasionally published flash fiction. While we are always interested in creative explorations in style, we do lean toward classic short stories.

  We happily consider simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  Manuscripts can only be accepted electronically via Submittable. If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please reach out to info@blreview.org.
  5,000 word maximum (though most of stories are 2,000-4,000 words)
  There is a $5 fee per general submission, which is waived for current subscribers. (If you are not a current subscriber, you can subscribe when you submit your work and take advantage of free submission.) These fees help BLR fund publication of the journal, but please contact us at info@blreview.org if you are experiencing financial hardship.
  We strive to provide several reviewers for each manuscript and kindly ask your patience in this necessarily slow process. But if you have not heard from us within five months, feel free to inquire about your manuscript.
  Authors receive $150 upon publication. Authors will also receive two copies of the issue in which their work appears, plus an additional one-year subscription to BLR. There is an author discount for purchasing extra copies.
  All submissions must be of previously unpublished work.* BLR acquires First North American rights, and the right to reprint in anthologies and online. After publication, all other rights revert to the author and the work may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made.



(*For BLR, “published work” means published in print in North America, or published on the Internet in electronic journals, e-zines, academic websites, and other “public” or “official” websites. Works posted on personal blogs or websites will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We ask that authors be honest about web postings. If a work is discovered to have been posted or published elsewhere–and not openly acknowledged by the author in advance–we will remove it from consideration.)

BLR General Submissions - Fiction

BLR seeks high-caliber, unpublished* work, broadly and creatively related to our themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body.
 
CREATIVE NONFICTION GUIDELINES:
We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard ‘illness narrative’ to develop a topic in an engaging and original manner. Incorporate anecdotes that feel  alive, and dazzle us with thoughtful and creative analysis that allows  these anecdotes to serve a larger purpose. (Please note that we do not publish graphic narratives, academic discourses, or works with footnotes.) 

  We happily consider simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  Manuscripts can only be accepted electronically via Submittable. If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please reach out to info@blreview.org. 
  5,000 word maximum (though most of stories are 2,000-4,000 words)
  There is a $5 fee per general submission, which is waived for current subscribers. (If you are not a current subscriber, you can subscribe when you submit your work and take advantage of free submission.) These fees help BLR fund publication of the journal, but please contact us at info@blreview.org if you are experiencing financial hardship.
  We strive to provide several reviewers for each manuscript and kindly ask your patience in this necessarily slow process. But if you have not heard from us within five months, feel free to inquire about your manuscript.
  Authors receive $150 upon publication. Authors will also receive two copies of the issue in which their work appears, plus an additional one-year subscription to BLR. There is an author discount for purchasing extra copies.
  All submissions must be of previously unpublished work.* BLR acquires First North American rights, and the right to reprint in anthologies and online. After publication, all other rights revert to the author and the work may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made.
 

(*For BLR, “published work” means published in print in North America, or published on the Internet in electronic journals, e-zines, academic websites, and other “public” or “official” websites. Works posted on personal blogs or websites will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We ask that authors be honest about web postings. If a work is discovered to have been posted or published elsewhere–and not openly acknowledged by the author in advance–we will remove it from consideration.)

BLR General Submissions - Nonfiction

BLR seeks high-caliber, unpublished work, broadly and creatively related to our  themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body.
 
POETRY GUIDELINES:
We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, strong narrative, and rendering the familiar new. We encourage you to peruse back issues in our archive to get a sense of our ethos. 

  We happily consider simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  Manuscripts can only be accepted electronically via Submittable. If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please reach out to info@blreview.org. 
  Please include no more than three poems per submission. Each poem should be on a separate page within a single document.
  There is a $5 fee per general submission, which is waived for current subscribers. (If you are not a current subscriber, you can subscribe when you submit your work and take advantage of free submission.) These fees help BLR fund publication of the journal, but please contact us at info@blreview.org if you are experiencing financial hardship.
  We strive to provide several reviewers for each manuscript and kindly ask your patience in this necessarily slow process. But if you have not heard from us within five months, feel free to inquire about your manuscript.
  Authors receive $75 upon publication. Authors will also receive two copies of the issue in which their work appears, plus an additional one-year subscription to BLR. There is an author discount for purchasing extra copies.
  All submissions must be of previously unpublished work.* BLR acquires First North American rights, and the right to reprint in anthologies and online. After publication, all other rights revert to the author and the work may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made.

 
(*For BLR, “published work” means published in print in North America, or published on the Internet in electronic journals, e-zines, academic websites, and other “public” or “official” websites. Works posted on personal blogs or websites will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We ask that authors be honest about web postings. If a work is discovered to have been posted or published elsewhere–and not openly acknowledged by the author in advance–we will remove it from consideration.)

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BLR General Submissions - Fiction

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