ABOUT

Walter Bruce MacDonald is not your average writer — he’s a poetic tempest, a time-traveling historian, a word-wielding wizard, and a teacher of both souls and syllables. Born amidst the rain-kissed spires of New Westminster, British Columbia, Bruce launched into life with ink in his veins and a mythic curiosity stitched into his DNA.

Educated in the realms of English Literature at the University of Victoria and later sculpting his mind into a finely tuned instrument of art at UBC with a Master of Fine Arts, Bruce didn’t merely study words — he made them dance. Then, like a bard in the age of Mad Men, he spent over two decades conjuring magic in the ad world, casting spells as a writer and creative director.

In 2011, he unleashed The Good Hope Cannery upon the world via Caitlin Press — a riveting tale that crackled with historical resonance. Not to be outdone, his 2013 follow-up, Salmonbellies vs. The World, collided sport and legend in a lacrosse-laced epic. His poetic prowess has splashed across countless Canadian journals, but in 2018, The Massacre Confirmed Our Worst Suspicions (Guernica Editions) gave his verse its full, haunting voice.

In the misty realm of Crescent Beach, Bruce encountered dwarves and ghosts, seagulls with secrets and tidepools full of metaphors — experiences that birthed Henry The Dwarf (2008) and Blackie’s Spit (2015), two genre-defiant collections that read like myth made memory.

Today, Bruce resides in Surrey, BC — but don’t be fooled. He lives wherever story lives. Behind every wave, under every old newspaper, and within every curious whisper of wind, you might just find him — still writing, still wondering, still wildly alive.