WCU alumnus’ work selected as second book in a series by Western Press Books.
Writer and teacher Bryce Swaim, who graduated from Western Colorado University in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in Environment and Sustainability and earned his MFA in Nature Writing from Western’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing (GPCW) in 2022, will have his debut collection of poetry and prose published by Western Press Books in the summer of 2025.
Reflecting on Swaim’s collection, on a leather gray sky, Dr. Steve Coughlin, who is the lead editor of Western Press Books, said, “Bryce’s poems pop off the page. They are filled with lyric flourishes balanced with a perceptive eye. We’re thrilled to be publishing his book.”
Each year, Western Press Books publishes one manuscript written by a current or former student in the Nature Writing concentration. Swaim’s collection began as his graduate thesis. His advisor, CMarie Fuhrman, said, “Bryce is a fierce seer, and like many fierce seers, he is also a part-time mystic.”
As a student in the “3 + 2” program, Swaim was one of the first to take advantage of this accelerated curriculum, which allows students to earn an undergraduate and graduate degree in five years. Currently, he is teaching High School English in LaPorte, Texas.
“I’m so thankful for Western Press Books providing this opportunity,” he said. “This is a book about people and the places they are tied to. In a time when we are increasingly being separated from the land that creates us, I think it is important for everyone to pause and take a moment to thank the places we could not thrive without.
“I have so much gratitude for all the people that contributed to these poems and stories coming to life,” he added. “My thesis advisor, CMarie Fuhrman, the director of the Nature Writing program, Laura Pritchett, and especially my cohort peers spent countless hours reading and responding to each other’s work. Everyone I had the blessing to work with at WCU provided invaluable feedback and support, and for that, I am forever grateful. I am happy that there are people who work tirelessly for the art of poetry and literature and give it a platform.”
Dr. Laura Pritchett, Director of the MFA in Nature Writing, said, “Offering new writers an avenue to publication is indeed one of the greatest gifts anyone can offer. Every published author had someone open a door for them, including me. I’m so delighted that, in this case, Western can be the one opening a door.”
She noted that the collaboration between WCU and Western Press Books is fairly new, with The Table by Lara Richardson being the first book of a series. Bryce Swaim’s collection will be the second. “These two authors are not only being published for the first time, but they’re helping us get this collaboration going,” Pritchett said. “Not only is this a magnificent opportunity for our students, but it’s also the right thing for Planet Earth. We need more books that add to the contemporary environmental conversation, and Bryce’s beautiful work does exactly that.”
Dr. Tyson Hausdoerffer, Director of the GPCW, offered a congratulatory note as well. “The Graduate Program in Creative Writing congratulates alum Bryce Swaim on this impressive achievement. The publication of his collection on a leather gray sky by Western Press Books is a wonderful testament not only to Bryce’s talent and hard work but also to the value of the 3+2 accelerated degree program developed between the GPCW’s Nature Writing MFA concentration and Western’s Environment & Sustainability major. Bryce was one of the first students to earn his BA and MFA in just five years through this program, so seeing his work come to fruition and be published by Western Press Books like this is especially gratifying.”
Author credit: Seth Mensing
Photo credit: Courtesy
