Bryn Barnard
Born in Los Angeles , Bryn Barnard grew up in the artist’s colony of Laguna Beach, California. After an AFS high school year abroad in Malaysia, he studied art and Asian studies at UC Berkeley, graduating with Phi Beta Kappa honors then moving to Pasadena to study illustration at Art Center College of Design
Bryn returned to Malaysia on a fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs to work in and write and paint about intercultural communication in the advertising industry. Returning to the US as a consulting associate of Universities Field Staff International he toured college campuses across North America to report on this experience.
His freelance illustration career began in Asia in 1983 with covers for the Far Eastern Economic Review and Asiaweek. He then turned to fantasy and sci fi art, painting seventeen covers for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the 50th anniversary cover of Dune, paperback covers for Larry Niven, Jerry Pornelle, Steven Barnes, and Gary Gigax, as well as paintings for National Geographic and NASA. Additionally he painted many covers for Spider magazine and room-sized murals for Children’s Hospital in Seattle and the Beaverton, Oregon Library. During this period he participated in Boskone and Philcon and was included in multiple fantasy and science fiction shows mounted by the Delaware Art Museum and Olympia and York. His fantasy work was the subject of a Water Street solo exhibition in the New York financial district.
In 2003 he began writing and illustrating science-history books, which have been translated into Korean, Arabic and Indonesian. "Dangerous Planet: Natural Disasters That Changed History," published by Crown, was lauded by the New York Times Book Review as "part Jared Diamond ... part Stephen Jay Gould.”
This was followed in 2005 by "Outbreak: Plagues That Changed History," published by Knopf, called "pleasantly lurid" and “irksomely left-wing” by the Wall Street Journal, and "the stuff of nightmares" by the Denver Post.
"The Genius of Islam: How Muslims Made the Modern World, "published by Knopf in 2011, was the subject of Bryn's tour of World Affairs Councils across the US and was included in the United States Middle East Outreach Council’s list of non-fiction books for youth, the Children’s Book Council Master List of notable books, and the National Council for Social Studies.
"The New Ocean: The Fate of Life in a Changing Sea," published by Knopf in 2017, was praised by School Library Journal as, “an impassioned call to protect Earth's oceans,” and recommended for inclusion in STEM libraries.
Solo exhibitions of Bryn's work have been presented at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Port Angeles Fine Art Center, and other venues.
Currently Bryn is creating paintings for his upcoming book, "This Changes Everything! The Promise and Problem of Inventions," which will be published by Knopf in the spring of 2026.
Bryn returned to Malaysia on a fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs to work in and write and paint about intercultural communication in the advertising industry. Returning to the US as a consulting associate of Universities Field Staff International he toured college campuses across North America to report on this experience.
His freelance illustration career began in Asia in 1983 with covers for the Far Eastern Economic Review and Asiaweek. He then turned to fantasy and sci fi art, painting seventeen covers for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the 50th anniversary cover of Dune, paperback covers for Larry Niven, Jerry Pornelle, Steven Barnes, and Gary Gigax, as well as paintings for National Geographic and NASA. Additionally he painted many covers for Spider magazine and room-sized murals for Children’s Hospital in Seattle and the Beaverton, Oregon Library. During this period he participated in Boskone and Philcon and was included in multiple fantasy and science fiction shows mounted by the Delaware Art Museum and Olympia and York. His fantasy work was the subject of a Water Street solo exhibition in the New York financial district.
In 2003 he began writing and illustrating science-history books, which have been translated into Korean, Arabic and Indonesian. "Dangerous Planet: Natural Disasters That Changed History," published by Crown, was lauded by the New York Times Book Review as "part Jared Diamond ... part Stephen Jay Gould.”
This was followed in 2005 by "Outbreak: Plagues That Changed History," published by Knopf, called "pleasantly lurid" and “irksomely left-wing” by the Wall Street Journal, and "the stuff of nightmares" by the Denver Post.
"The Genius of Islam: How Muslims Made the Modern World, "published by Knopf in 2011, was the subject of Bryn's tour of World Affairs Councils across the US and was included in the United States Middle East Outreach Council’s list of non-fiction books for youth, the Children’s Book Council Master List of notable books, and the National Council for Social Studies.
"The New Ocean: The Fate of Life in a Changing Sea," published by Knopf in 2017, was praised by School Library Journal as, “an impassioned call to protect Earth's oceans,” and recommended for inclusion in STEM libraries.
Solo exhibitions of Bryn's work have been presented at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Port Angeles Fine Art Center, and other venues.
Currently Bryn is creating paintings for his upcoming book, "This Changes Everything! The Promise and Problem of Inventions," which will be published by Knopf in the spring of 2026.
