Hudson Author’s Debut Poetry Book Released

HUDSON, Wis. (Sept. 6, 2012) – Hudson resident and long-time author/editor and Rob Bignell released his first collection of poetrytoday.

“Love Letters to Sophie’s Mom” contains 34 poems that trace a romance from its beginning to its tragic collapse. The poems touch upon a number of other themes and motifs including nature, Southern California, the Northwoods, and mental illness.

Though traditionally a writer of prose – Bignell is an award-winning journalist and the author of successful guidebooks abouthiking with children – poetry seemed the best medium for expressing this collection’s themes.

“Poetry may very well be the last refuge of passionate expression in modern society,” Bignell said. “Our prose is so intent on simply expressing information quickly and skims over the surface of emotions. There’s still aneed for emotional expression, though – humans are more emotion than reason, I’d argue.

“Perhaps that’s why song lyrics are primarily about love rather than scientific theory and why a teenager who feels deep emotion often explores it by writing a poem.”

Bignell wrote the poems last spring, revising and editing them during the summer. The collectionwas heavily influenced by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

“I read a lot of him the winter before I began writing these pieces, and when I began editing and revising them went back to reading him to see how he handled certain complications of craft,” he said.

Bignell is the owner of Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets theediting and proofreading needs of writers both new and published. During the past four years, he’s helped more than 50 novelists, poets and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams.

Several of Bignell’s short stories in the literary and science fiction genres have beenpublished. He also is the author ofthe popular and highly acclaimed “Hikes with Tykes” guide books, the latest volume of which was released in July.

Formore than two decades, Bignell worked as an award-winning journalist, with half of those years spent as an editor. In addition, for seven years he served as an English teacher or a community college journalism instructor. He holds a Masters degree in English and a Bachelors degree (from UW-River Falls) in journalism and English.

Bignell relocated to Hudson from Southern California in July.

“Love Letters to Sophie’s Mom” is available for purchase online at http://www.amazon.com/Love-Letters-Sophies-Mom-Bignell/dp/0985873914.

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Book specs

• Publish date: Sept. 6, 2012
• Publisher: Atiswinic Press (Ojai, Calif.)
• ISBN: 978-0-9858739-1-2
• Price: $5.99
• Pages: 48
• Cover: Paperback
• Trim Size: 5.5 x 8.5
• Website: http://inventingreality.4t.com/loveletterstosophiesmom.html