Brad Buchanan taught British and Postcolonial Literature, as well as Creative Writing, at Sacramento State University until his retirement in 2016. He has published four book-length collections of poetry, most recently The Scars, Aligned: A Cancer Narrative (Finishing Line Press, 2019) and Chimera (Finishing Line Press, 2022). He has also published three academic books, and a medical memoir, Living with Graft-Versus-Host-Disease, was published in 2021. Spy’s Mate, his first novel, was published in October 2025.
He was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in February 2015, and underwent a stem cell transplant in 2016, which involved a lengthy recovery, temporary vision loss, and first acute, then chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). He is currently the Northern California chapter leader of Man Up to Cancer, a support group for men coping with cancer. He also facilitates recurring online Writing As Healing workshops through Cancer Bridges, the UC Davis Cancer Center, NBMTlink, the Roswell Park Cancer Center, the Sacramento Society for the Blind, and Blood Cancer United (formerly the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society). Additionally, he is a spokesperson and mentor for GVHDspeaks, an informational group sponsored by Incyte Corporation that raises awareness about graft-versus-host disease.
