Bryce Berkowitz is a writer (of poems, essays, fiction, screenplays) & a cattle dog owner. He's lived in Carbondale, Illinois, Chicago, Los Angeles, West Virginia, Montana, & currently resides in Indianapolis.
His first collection of poems, Bermuda Ferris Wheel, won the 42 Miles Press | Indiana University Poetry Award. His individual poems have been selected for anthologies, awards, & publications, including Best New Poets (2017, 2021), New Poetry from the Midwest, The Missouri Review (TMR's Miller Audio Prize finalist), New Orleans Review's Poetry Contest (2026), American Literary Review's Flash Flood Contest (2026), The Sewanee Review, Chicago Sun Times, Ninth Letter, Southern Indiana Review, Third Coast, Southeast Review, Poet Lore, The Pinch, among others.
He's the recipient of the Austin Film Festival AMC TV Pilot Award, the writersXwriters fellowship, Roadmap Writers' Award, & he's a two-time finalist for the NBC TV Writers' Program.
He co-directs the MFA Creative Writing program at Butler University. Prior to academia, he worked at a literary agency in Los Angeles, as well as NBC & CBS. Prior to that, he waited tables, bartended, & booked touring hip hop acts for five years. For a large part of his youth, he painted graffiti, made music, & skateboarded. He's a sucker for subcultures, working-class stories, & buying more books than he'll ever read in his lifetime. He attended John A. Logan Community College, SIU Carbondale, Columbia College Chicago, West Virginia University, & UCLA. Currently, he's at work on two dark-comedy crime novels, a second poetry collection, a flash creative nonfiction project, & he's working on a third poetry collection. Follow or add him on IG / FB (buttons below).
Readings:
April 12th, 4 pm w/ Real Life Revised @ Indiana Humanities
May 14th, 6 pm w/ Listen, Please @ The Chatterbox Jazz Bar
June 18th, 7:30 pm @ Tomorrow Bookstore
Sept 3rd, 6 pm @ Dear Mom for WLS chapbook release
Listen to a reading to music:
Book
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Bermuda Ferris Wheel | 42 Miles Press | Indiana U. Poetry Award Winner
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Order from 42 Miles Indiana U. Press
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Select Awards & Publications
Poetry
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"Zoloft, 4:31 AM" New Orleans Review 2026 Poetry Contest Finalist/Honorable Mention.
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"The Minor Gods of Amtrak Parking Lot," Southern Indiana Review, forthcoming
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"Nightmare Before Christmas, Another (Damn) Graffiti Poem," "New River Gorge, West Virginia," and "Millennial Nocturne," The Glacier, forthcoming
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"After the Prison Writers Workshop," Poetry Online, forthcoming
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"Atmosphere in Our Bullshit Little Town" The Normal School and selected for A Flame Called Indiana
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"Microwaving Sub Sandwiches in the Trailer" Missouri Review and Best New Poets (2021 selected by Kaveh Akbar)
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"Keep Your Plastic Flowers, I'm Not Dead Yet" The Missouri Review
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"After Almost Joining IBEW 481" Hiram Poetry Review
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“The Perfect Time to Walk Out of Someone’s Life.” The Sewanee Review
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"Thank You, Forgiveness" Best New Poets (2017 selected by Natalie Diaz), reshared by @poetryisnotaluxury (2x)
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"After Running into My Student at Therapy" Southeast Review
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"I Get It Ernest Becker. I Totally Get it..." TriQuarterly
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The above poem in TQ has an audio option
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"The View From Here" the minnesota review
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“Morning in West Virginia” The Fourth River *Selected for New Poetry From the Midwest
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"All That Matters." Nashville Review *Best of the Net Nomination
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"Hepburn Manor, Los Angeles" The Missouri Review (Miller Audio Prize)
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The above poem in TMR is read to music and featured on a short podcast
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"Skate or Die, An Elegy for Tanner" Saranac Review
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"The Writers' Bench in Gapped Couplets" The Common
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"The Good Life" Cimarron Review *Pushcart Prize Nomination
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"The Perfect Time to Leave One Home for Another." Poet Lore *Pushcart Prize Nomination
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"Yeah, Sure" and "We're Not There Yet." Cola Literary Review
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"In My Little Book of Things I Write Down." Barrow Street
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"Sixth Grade Autobiography." Hawai'i Pacific Review
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“Just Once.” Ninth Letter
Screenwriting
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Austin Film Festival, AMC TV Pilot Award winner
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Roadmap Writers' TV Pilot winner
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WritersXWriters Fellowship Recipient
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Outstanding Screenplays, Runner Up
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Austin Film Festival, One-Hour TV Drama Award, Top 20 (2x)
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Austin Film Festival, Warner Bros. Pilot Award, Top 20 (2x)
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NBC TV Writers' Program, Top 10 finalist (2x)
Flash/Micro Nonfiction
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"Leaving Montana for Indiana," American Literary Review, forthcoming
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"After You Asked If I Wanna Have a Kid with You." BULL, forthcoming
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"After the Shooting." Ninth Letter, forthcoming
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"Reasons for a Failed Piece of Creative Writing." Southeast Review
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"The Amateur Gardener Talks Shop on a Winter Day." New Delta Review
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"After Nothing Happened." The Normal School *Pushcart Prize Nomination
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"After the First Day of School." The Normal School
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"After Domingo." The Normal School
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"After the Strip in Carbondale." The Normal School
Fiction/Short Stories
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"Payback for Mongoose Charlie." Big Muddy Short Story Winner *Pushcart Prize Nomination
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“Stitch.” Permafrost
Hybrid: Creative Writing Meets Professional Writing
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"In Doubt." The Laurel Review
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"Everything is So Sun-Drenched and Awful." The Laurel Review *Pushcart Prize Nomination
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“Broad Ripple, Toxic Masculinity, & The Uber Driver That Asked About the Snow.” The McNeese Review
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“Dear Standard Parts of a Workplace Letter—the hell do you know(?).” The McNeese Review