KNEE BRACE PRESS

A place for stories about chronic illness, disability, mental health, and neurodivergence.

The Magazine

At Knee Brace Press, we publish a wide variety of creative content. Check out our:

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  • On the left: A white person with brown hair, colorful glasses, and purple lipstick wearing a blue shirt. On the right:A white woman with light brown hair smiling with her mouth closed. The photo is a selfie. Also pictured: a bookcase in the background and a (really cute) brown and black cat.

    Reason

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    In their new poem Reason, Knee Brace alumni Elise Scott and April McCloud write about the stark contrast between the speaker’s devastation about losing their healthcare and the calm with which the robot over the phone changed the speaker’s life forever.

  • A white woman with short, blonde-white hair and blue eyes wearing black framed glasses and a blue and black checked button up. Her earings match her button up. She is smiling with her mouth closed and taking the photo selfie-style.

    An interview with Cait Gordon

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    For our fiftieth post at Knee Brace Press, we interviewed the indomitable Cait Gordon, author of Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space and previous Knee Brace Press contributor.

  • A person with long, brown hair, bangs, and black rimmed glasses hides half their face behind a black and brown cat with blue eyes.

    Untitled #2

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    “I lose sight of my body/And I fear not recognizing/The girl looking back at me/Inside the cheap mirror in my room.”

  • A white person with yellow-rimmed glasses and long, blonde hair. Their shirt reads, "THE FUTURE IS NONBINARY."

    another existential crisis

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    “I thought the pills would help/Ignore it/I see no reason/to pretend I am okay.” Poet Jess Barselow writes about masking and the tediousness of small talk.

  • A white woman with a brown bob smiles at the camera. She wears black, square-rimmed glasses and a gold necklace.
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    All In My Head

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    Journalist and author Emily Dwass shares an excerpt from her book, Diagnosis Female: How Medical Bias Endangers Women’s Health.

  • A white woman with light brown hair smiling with her mouth closed. The photo is a selfie. Also pictured: a bookcase in the background and a (really cute) brown and black cat.

    Application for Disability 

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    Poet April McCloud (she/her, 1% bionic human) writes about her complex relationship with disability in the form of an application.

  • A white person with long, curly, brown hair wears a forest green sweater and black-rimmed glasses. She is smiling with her mouth and eyes closed.

    sickness in the seams of it all

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    “It’s getting bad again – I mean, this is technically the worst it’s ever been …” In her new poem, sickness in the seams of it all, Sophie Mattholie writes about her experience with POTS.

  • A sepia-toned photo of a person with short, spiky hair wearing large, circular earrings and a pearly necklace. They are smiling and leaning against a tree.

    An interview with R. Ramey Guerrero

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    We spoke with author R. Ramey Guerrero about Dust of a Moth’s Wing, bipolar disorder and PTSD representation, and the process of writing a multi-book series.

  • An art piece that blurs a lot of colors together.

    Numb

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    Numb, by Kerri Curtis, refers to feeling of wanting to be numb after having too much outside stimulation and everything feels like it’s too loud, too bright, too much. Mix in anxiety, which can be equally tiring, and this piece is the safe cocoon to hide away in.

  • An Asian woman with black, shoulder length hair smiles widely at the camera. The background is blurred and seems to be trees.

    Lessons on Anxiety

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    In her first poem for Knee Brace Press, Heather Ann Pulido writes about relationships, anxiety, and endings.