The 24^th edition of “The Healing Muse,” Upstate Medical University’s literary journal, offers readers an annual dose of stories about hope and healing.

This year’s issue contains submissions from 85 writers—including six from Upstate—and 20 artists from around the world.

Published by Upstate’s Center for Bioethics and Humanities, “The Healing Muse” features fiction, poetry, narratives, essays, memoirs and visual art, particularly but not exclusively focusing on themes of medicine, illness, disability, and healing.

What started as an outlet for Upstate nursing students has become an open forum for everyone. This year’s edition received more than 1,600 submissions.

Editor Deirdre Neilen, PhD, associate professor of bioethics and humanities, said both the artwork and the writing in this year’s edition remind us how much we have in common, which is particularly useful during a divisive election year.

“We have poems that look at life from the perspective of diagnosis and prognosis,” she said. “We meet physicians, nurses, and therapists who transcend the very real limitations they face from the business side of health care. We celebrate the triumphs and victories people experience; we mourn the loss of parents and realize the emotional costs of caregiving. And we have some beautiful reflections of how life goes on even as it is changing so tragically before us. These are stories about the heroism of ordinary people witnessing someone in need and taking up that challenge.” 

Neilen said her goal every year is for readers to find a piece they can connect with and relate to and for medical students and professionals to reflect upon their vocation. She said the writing reminds us that we are never alone in our suffering, our bewilderment, or our joy.

 “My goal is for a reader to lose him or herself in a piece, to meet someone in the poem or in the story and want to spend some time with them,” she said. “For health care students, the Muse is a chance to reflect upon the vocation you are choosing, to put yourself into the scenario and think about whether you would do something different.”

For example, Upstate medical student Hannah Connolly chronicled her dueling identities as a medical student and a granddaughter in a piece about helping care for her dying grandfather titled “Going Home.”

Connolly, Sophia Xian, and Amy LoTemplio were this year’s Upstate student Dearing Award winners. This writing competition is open to all Upstate students and employees. Staff winners are Jeanne Albanese and Kerry Goessling. Also published is Upstate employee Alison Holtzapple.

 The current issue costs $12. People can call (315) 464-8464 to order. Information about the journal can be found at thehealingmuse.org