2014 International Book Awards Finalist
2014 San Francisco Book Festival Honorable Mention
2014 USA Best Book Awards "Poetry" Category Finalist
Featured on the USA Book News's 2014 USA Best Book Awards Website

SEE WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

Cover Feature in Books & Buzz Magazine
Featured Book on Dark Ecologies Book Review Blog: 'Bri Bruce: The Pulse of Nature and of Love'
Featured on She Typed book blog: 'The Weight of Snow'
Interview with Author and Editor Susan Salluce: Interview with Poet Bri Bruce
Featured on Shepherd

”The poems in The Weight of Snow are heartfelt, skillfully written, and keenly observed fragments of the natural world and our lives there. Bravo.”  - Gary Young, Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County, Award-Winning Author of No Other Life, Braver Deeds, and Pleasure

“This is an absolutely lovely collection of poems. They are evocative and full of rich imagery. . . . Simply stunning writing.” - M. Reed McCall, Award-Winning Author of Moose Tracks on the Road to Heaven

In The Weight of Snow, author B. L. Bruce explores the many plights of the human species, from the mysteries of the heart and the inescapability of death, to the depths of human emotion. Told from the perspective of a poetic naturalist, Bruce shares her appreciation of the wild, illuminating the profound in the mundane while chronicling the natural world as both an observer and as an irrefutable part of it. Her poems focus strongly on image and locality, conjuring the imaginations of readers and celebrating the beauty in the follies of the human condition and its capacity to grip the soul.

B. L. BRUCE holds a bachelor’s degree in literature and creative writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Currently a writer,  photographer, and editor, her work has appeared in over fifteen anthologies, magazines, and literary publications, including The Sun Magazine, Northwind Magazine, and The Soundings Review. Most recently she was named Featured Poet of The Wayfarer’s holiday issue, her work reflecting a life amongst her native California backdrop of redwoods and Pacific shoreline. She was nominated for the Ina Coolbrith Memorial Poetry Prize in 2009 as a student of Santa Cruz’s first poet laureate, Gary Young. The Weight of Snow is her first book.

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PRAISE FOR The Weight of Snow
 

There is nothing to say that would be as lyrical and eloquent as this poet's language. She writes as a daughter of California's wild places. Words lift the edge of ordinary and invite the reader to journey through vivid and vulnerable landscapes. Bri Bruce's explorations do not shy away from a world where snow can sometimes be ash, or love can be cloaked in loss. Make space, Gary Snyder, Jane Hirshfield, and Ellen Bass, there is a new poet climbing and swimming her way up to claim her place among you. - Karen K Lewis, Author and Executive Director at Mendocino Coast Writer's Conference

Although I am primarily a fiction reader, I occasionally stumble across a poet whose work captures me and lures me into something different. B.L.Bruce is such a poet. Her work goes to the bone of meaning and truth, highlighting the many emotions and experiences of life and connecting much of that to the beauties of the natural world. This is an absolutely lovely collection of poems. They are evocative and full of rich imagery. . . . Simply stunning writing. - M. Reed McCall, Author of Moose Tracks on the Road to Heaven

B. L. Bruce's recent work features keenly observed human interactions with nature. She uses spare but effective descriptions to illuminate the natural world and our response to it. Her sharp perceptions about human wildlife (“The Blue Scarf”) also resonated with me. Love, loss, and the eternal solace of nature. She is the worthy heiress of Mary Oliver. - John Gilchrist, Poet

The Weight of Snow belongs on your bookshelf or coffee table. Keep it close by. The beautiful cover and title itself evoke soul—and then what a treat to open the pages! The poetry is a subtle example of the paradox of soul; for example, it captures both innocence and disillusionment. It is haunting and provocative while simple and natural. The author's amazing gift of poetic writing and presentation cannot be missed—it’s on every page. Very touching. The poems have that rare quality of taking on new meaning with every read. It is so much more than a book of poems—but you must experience it yourself. This is a book to have and to hold--and then make sure to send one to a friend. - Dr. Linda R. Harper, Author of Eat: A Guide to Discovering Your Natural Relationship with Food and The Joy in Giving to Animals

The best poems are evocative, powerful and transporting. They take you to places, memories, situations or allow you to live vicariously through the experiences of another. The Weight of Snow is such a book from beginning to end. It is not a collection of disjointed poems, thrown together. It is a poignant and beautiful story of a life, experiences, memories and pain. Ms. Bruce is truly a gifted poet and one need only read the first poem, to understand her talent and what this book holds. I highly recommend The Weight of Snow for how it touches, reveals, informs and for its beautiful simplicity. - K. E. Heartsong, Publisher at Taylen Lane Publishing and Author of Illusions, Dystopia & Monsters: How the Truths of Our Times May Be Stranger Than Fiction

The Weight of Snow is alive with style and filled with beautiful, nostalgic imagery. Bruce's free verse poetry is rich with detail, and her evocative language will stay with you long after reading this collection. Deeply introspective and profoundly insightful, each new poem displays great thematic range and literary sensibility. I have no doubt that Bruce will be a strong and important voice for modern poetry. I look forward to her future publications! - J. Rodriguez, Film Producer and Artist

By her descriptive portrayal of the natural world, Bruce would make Mother Nature herself blush with pride. One can expect to find deep meaning and a sense of soulfulness in her poetic language. The poems reflect a passion and desire to know and grasp life with reverence. They stand as testimony to the necessary guardianship that we all must be responsible for in preserving our world and knowing our place in it. - D. J. White, Wildlife Biologist

[Bruce] has an amazing ability to bring tremendous depth to the most simple of life's treasures and experiences. With thoughtful insights of a perceptive, educated writer, Bri Bruce eliminates the line between the importance of humankind and nature, and combines them in an exquisite presentation of literary brilliance, leaving the reader looking for answers to questions they never even knew they had. - Heidi Lewin, Life Coach and Counselor