About

editor in cheifBRI BRUCE (writing as B. L. Bruce) holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in post-modern literature and creative writing from the University of California at Santa Cruz with post-graduate work with UC Berkeley’s professional editing program.

An award-winning author, photographer, publisher, and freelance graphic designer, Bruce’s work has appeared in dozens of anthologies, magazines, and literary publications, including The Sun Magazine, Tattoo Highway, Ampersand, Red Fez Entertainment, The Cossack, The Avocet Review, Atom Magazine, Northwind Magazine, The Soundings Review, and The Monterey Poetry Review, and is a widely published haikuist with work in the American Haiku Society’s Frogpond Journal, Modern Haiku, seashores, Akitsu Quarterly, folk ku, and many others.

Bruce was named Featured Poet of Homebound Publications’ holiday issue of The Wayfarer (Vol. 2, Issue 4, Dec. 2013) followed by the inclusion of seven of her poems in the Poems from Conflicted Hearts anthology alongside Poet Laureate Alice Shapiro. In addition to receiving the Ina Coolbrith Memorial Poetry Prize, Bruce was also the recipient of PushPen Press’s Pendant Prize for Poetry for her haiku series published in THREE with Poet Laureate Erica Goss. In 2023, she was the winner of the Los Gatos Poetry Contest for her piece “Once Each Year,” awarded by town poet laureate Jen Siriganian.

A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and three-time award-winning author, Bruce’s debut collection, The Weight of Snow: New & Selected Poems, published February 2014 by Black Swift Press, earned her the nickname “the heiress of Mary Oliver.” Her second book, 28 Days of Solitude (Back Swift Press, August 2015) was written entirely during her four-week residency in the remote forests of Northern California. Also written during this stay, her chapbook, The Starling’s Song, published April 1st, 2016, was selected as the Honorable Mention of the 2017 Pacific Rim Book Festival in the poetry category. Measures, her third collection of poetry, was released in 2021. Blue California Sky, her fifth book, was published in 2024 with glowing reviews and is available from Finishing Line Press.

From 2016 to 2020, Bruce helped produce an award-winning nature adventure documentary film about Baja California called “The Devil’s Road.”

During the coronavirus shelter-in-place implications, she founded and is editor-in-chief of Humana Obscura, an online and print literary magazine publishing poetry, prose, and artwork with a nature theme.

She was featured on the cover of the June 2020 issue of Books & Buzz Magazine where she talks her shameless bibliophilia, her experience in book design, and her current projects: “How graphic designer Bri Bruce brings beauty to books” (Books & Buzz Magazine, June 2020)

Check out her feature at Shepherd, and her list of best contemporary nature poetry books: https://shepherd.com/best-books/contemporary-nature-poetry

See her recent interview with Brummet Media on her writing process, inspiration, and work: “World of Writing: Poet Interview”

Specializing in all things books and print and digital media, Bri’s professional work has given her the opportunity to work with authors, academics, non-profits, and small businesses, offering writing/editing, graphic design, publishing, and photography services.

Connect on LinkedIn, Goodreads, Twitter and Instagram!


AVAILABLE FOR HIRE

I provide graphic design (book covers, advertisements, logos, marketing collateral, etc.), book publishing and consultation, and photography services.

Portfolio available upon request.

Read testimonials here.

Read complete CV here.

639 thoughts on “About

  1. Hi Bri, nice to meet you. I like your poetry 🙂
    Thanks for visiting our blog, and for following. I hope you enjoy the stories of our journey, both inner and outer.
    Cheers
    Alison

  2. Hi Bri,
    Thanks for the follow. You’ve got an impressive resume and I’ll keep you on my radar when I get ready to edit one of my novels. Looking forward to exploring your blog and your work.

    Chris

  3. Thank you for following my blog Princess of the Light and I look forward to reading more of your beautiful poetry! You are truly gifted! 🙂

  4. Thank you for discovering my photography blog http://www.throughharoldslens.com. You gave me the opportunity to discover, explore and follow your blog. Hope we both enjoy our journeys. On behalf of the Through Harold’s Lens Creative Team, my trusty sidekick Mr. SLR Nikon, his brother Mr. Pen Pal and myself, we wish you the best. Harold

  5. Thanks for following my blog. Hope you enjoy it. New recipe will be posted tomorrow. Check it out! Also, I really like you barn photo. Big fan of B&W photography.

  6. Wow! Congratulations on all your training and successes! It will be fun to keep an eye on what your creative enterprises. Best of “luck”…and blessings!

  7. Studied you blog further and discovered that you do e-covers. I will definitely remember this, since I’m working on 2 different books right now! 🙂

    1. Great, please do! Would you mind if I kept your contact information? I’m constantly running specials and discounts and it would be great to add you to my mailing list.

  8. Hi Bri: Thank you for visiting and following Bookshelf. Great to meet another graphic designer/writer in the blogosphere. So great that you are combining all your passions: writing, design, and photography. Great way to make a living, isn’t it? Cheers, Alex.

  9. Thanks for being adventuresome and visiting my blog! You have my attention and I’m looking forward to joining yours!

  10. Hi Bri. Thanks for liking my book review at prelovedbooksblog.com. I’m interested to see that you’re also a freelance copywriter and editor. I do much the same work here in Ireland (www.spellcheck.ie) so I hope business is going well for you. Delighted to come across your site and note your versatility – essential in the freelance world!

    1. Very cool! Freelance always keeps things interesting and I do love the versatility. It’s great to connect with like-minded creatives. Best of luck to you!

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