Contact:Pam McDonnell, 212-404-3555Office of Public Affairs , NYU School of Medicine
BELLEVUE LITERARY REVIEW
Provocative New Literary Journal From the Most Legendary Hospital in the Nation
New York, NY -- A group of physicians and writers from the New York University School of Medicine has launched the Bellevue Literary Review, (www.BLReview.org) a biannual literary journal inspired by the rich history of Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the United States.
While the journal's backdrop is the medical world and the hospital's 265-year history of providing health care to New Yorkers, especially its poor and immigrant populations, the Bellevue Literary Review's vision and purpose is decidedly literary. The journal will illuminate "humanity and human experience" through fiction and creative nonfiction, essays, and poetry. The journal's editors believe that the new journal will fill a large literary void in the world of medicine.
"The Bellevue Literary Review was created as a forum for examining the human condition through the prism of health and healing, illness and disease, and relationships to the body and mind," said Danielle Ofri, M.D., Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief, BLR, and Attending Physician at Bellevue Hospital and NYU Medical Center.
The journal's establishment was announced last year and received national publicity, including coverage in The New York Times and Poets & Writers. As a result of the widespread attention, "we have received more manuscripts than we could have possibly imagined," said Ofri.
The Bellevue Literary Review's Spring 2002 issue has drawn from the talents of established and emerging writers alike who will touch the lives of all who read their words. Authors invite readers to see the world through the eyes of the poet on antidepressants, to experience the surreal environment of the neonatal ICU, to explore the obsessions and desires of the elderly, to view the emotional landscape of Vietnam veterans and those who love them.
The Spring 2002 issue features two unpublished poems by the late Charles Bukowski, as well as a stunning poem by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Philip Levine. There are also works by such notable writers Gerald Weissmann, Ray Gonzalez, Eamon Grennan, Walter Cummins, Jack Coulehan, and Celia Gilbert. The Fall issue highlighted the writings of Rafael Campo, Sharon Olds, David Lehman, and Michael A. LaCombe. The BLR is also proud to be publishing a number of emerging writers.
The journal is sponsored by NYU's Department of Medicine. Martin Blaser, M.D., chairman of the department and the journal's publisher, said that the "Bellevue Literary Review has received such a positive response because its aims are so fundamental that writers have ample canvas for their expression."
The Bellevue Literary Review will celebrate its spring issue on Sunday, May 19th at 2 p.m at the Bellevue Hospital Fountain with readings by Philip Levine, Nikki Moustaki, Jessica Treadway and Lyn Halper. The hospital is located at 462 First Avenue (at 27th street) in New York.
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