“Bernard Grant’s stories are compassionate, deeply perceptive explorations of what happens to people who can’t move forward.”
“Trapped by circumstance, by past traumas, by themselves, Bernard’s characters manage to hope for different lives, even as they accept that they probably won’t get them. They speak to each other, and to us, in ways that are simultaneously complex and straightforward, but always believably, and inevitably poignant. These are quietly unsettling stories that sit uneasily in your heart long after you’ve finished them.”
Writing
Bernard’s literary prose has been nominated for the Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize anthologies, and has been published in dozens of literary venues, including Third Coast, The South Carolina Review, Crab Orchard Review, Craft, and New Delta Review.
They’ve authored two prose chapbooks—Puzzle Pieces (Paper Nautilus Press, 2016) and Fly Back at Me (Sundress Publications, 2017). All Hours, their novel-in-stories manuscript, has been finalized in book prizes from Texas Tech University Press and Southeast Missouri State University Press.
A versatile writer, Bernard also creates promotional copy as well as content on higher education, disability, neurodivergence, and (neuro)diversity, inclusion, and belonging, among related topics, for a variety of organizations and publications. These articles and essays have been translated to French and Dutch and finalized in a contest writes Human Resources Today.
Bernard’s current writing projects are a collection of essays and a novel that critique common paradigms that harm society but remain popular within mainstream inclusion and social justice discourse. Their essays blend criticism with memoir and a bit of self-help, offering logical, creative solutions to common social problems.
Editing
Bernard has worked as a reader, marketer, and editor for independent and university literary publications, including The Review Review, Pithead Chapel, The Nervous Breakdown, and The Cincinnati Review.
Currently, Bernard is a fiction editor at Tahoma Literary Review, an independent literary journal. Published three times per year in both print and e-reader formats, Tahoma Literary Review has published original literary fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction since 2014.
Bernard’s versatility allows them to edit a variety of educational and promotional content for mission-driven brands and organizations. Visit WriterlyNourishment.com to learn how to work with Bernard.
Or simply visit this site’s Contact page to send a message or schedule a call.
Advocacy
A DEIB advocate, Bernard writes and speaks on neurodiversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. They also work as a life coach at Autism Personal Coach and serve as a board member of NeuroGuides: Life Guides for Autistics.
Visit NeuroBelonging.com to engage with Bernard’s advocacy.
Education, Honors, Awards
Bernard holds a BA in film studies and creative writing from The Evergreen State College and an MFA in creative writing from Pacific Lutheran University, where they were awarded the Carol Houck Smith Graduate Scholarship.
Bernard has also received fellowships and residency support from The Anderson Center at Tower View, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Fishtrap: Writing and the West, the Jack Straw Cultural Center, Mineral School, Vermont Studio Center, and the University of Cincinnati, where they earned a Ph.D. in creative writing and literature.
In addition to Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominations, Bernard’s writing has appeared in several literary anthologies, taught in creative writing classrooms across the country, and has been finalized by or received prizes from Crab Orchard Review, Cutbank Literary Journal, Paper Nautilus Press, and Sequestrum Literary Journal.