About Our Partner: Bellevue Literary Review
Enriching Humanity Through Literary Arts
We are thrilled (and proud) to partner and support Bellevue Literary Review (BLR;https://blreview.org/) with Leslin.
For 25 years, BLR has been a beacon for stories that matter. As a nonprofit literary arts organization, its mission is to share and amplify voices on health, illness, and healing, exploring, through storytelling and poetry, the universal experiences that bind us together. Their work reminds us that honesty and vulnerability are not weaknesses; they are the very thread of our shared humanity.
At Leslin, we believe education comes alive when it connects to real human experience — and that the humanities are more than academic study. More important than any curriculum is the way literature, history, and philosophy shape how we see, feel, and move through the world. BLR’s commitment to illuminating life’s most profound moments, illness, recovery, loss, and hope, aligns deeply with our values of empathy, community, and lifelong learning. Together, we affirm what great literature has always known: that to read deeply is to live more fully, and to share those stories is to remind each other of our common humanity.
Literature is one of the most powerful means of communication humans have ever invented, not for building or computing, but for inhabiting other lives and, through them, our own. When we read, we don’t just observe from a distance; we think, feel, and see through another’s eyes, connecting as we uncover something deeply personal.
In that process, we learn to sit with complexity, question our assumptions, and develop the critical thinking that great literature demands. We imagine, we empathize, we excavate our own feelings, and we find ways to connect not just with the page, but with each other.
As BLR marks its 25th Anniversary, we are honored to join them in celebrating this milestone and to support and carry their work and stories into our community. The Leslin Foundation is thrilled to sponsor BLR’s John and Eileen Allman Poetry Prize, which recognizes outstanding poetry about health, illness, and healing. This partnership represents something we hold dear: the idea that when we listen to one another's experiences, we all grow.
For the past twenty-five years, and under the leadership of Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, MACP, D. Litt (Hon), Editor-in-Chief and Executive Director, BLR has highlighted the importance of storytelling in understanding the experiences of both care providers and care recipients. Dr. Ofri, a physician, clinical professor of medicine, and accomplished writer, has extensively published works that convey the perspectives of patients and clinicians to a wider audience. BLR emphasizes the importance of reading and writing in our lives. It fosters personal growth and enhances professional interactions, leading to more authentic connections in healthcare.
BLR is the first literary journal to arise from a medical setting. BLR has published two print volumes of literature annually since 2001. Each issue features fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that bring together the perspectives of patients, caregivers, medical professionals, and the general public. BLR has garnered several awards for its work, including the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize for excellence in publishing, the Best American series, and Pushcart Prizes. Supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Amazon Literary Partnership, and others, BLR works at the intersection of health, wellness, and the arts.
BLR offers innovative literary events, collaborating with diverse arts and health organizations, and support writers and artists with their annual literary prizes in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. They collaborate on an award-winning film series, “Reading the Body,” that combines poetry and dance, and has been featured in international film festivals. They offer opportunities for live storytelling events produced at off-Broadway theaters and produce mini-documentaries of BLR cover artists, exploring the nexus of art and health. They have created a Medical Humanities curriculum and reading guide series.
We invite you to explore BLR’s extraordinary work and join us in supporting the power of literary arts to heal, connect, and inspire.
