Bruce Spang

Bruce Spang, former Poet Laureate of Portland, is the author of two novels, The River Crossed (2025) and The Deception of the Thrush. He has published six books of poems, including Twist (2025), All You’ll Derive: A Caregiver’s Journey (Moonpie Press), Boy at the Screen Door, and To the Promised Land Grocery. He has a new book of letters, Dear Teen, Dear Poet: Coming of Age in Letters (2026), and a memoir, No Way Back: A Young Man’s Search for Home (2026). He is the poetry editor of the Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine. His poems have been published in Connecticut River Review, Puckerbrush Review, Red Rover Magazine, Asheville Literary Review, and Great Smokies Review. He is the poetry editor of the Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine. He teaches at the Great Smokies Writing Program. He lives in Candler, NC, with his husband, Myles Rightmire, and their two dogs.