Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Ken Koprowski ~ 3rd intervew and his book ~ Fathers Collected Poems

I AM PLEASED TO WELCOME AUTHOR
Ken Kowprowski



TITLE: Fathers (Collected Poems 1973-2015)
RELEASE DATE: July 30, 2016
AUTHOR: Ken Koprowski
KEYWORDS: fathers, fatherhood, poetry, parenthood, wilderness, war, death and survival, love, triumph
CATEGORIES: Poetry/Family
PAGE COUNT: 66
ISBN: 978-0692734827
IMPRINT: Veritas




AUTHOR BIO:
Ken Koprowski is a poet, writer, communications consultant, and educator. His collection of poetry, Fathers – Collected Poems 1973-2015, is being published by Ravenswood Publishing in the spring of 2016. In addition to being a prolific writer, he is an award-winning creative director and producer, and photographer. He earned his M.A. in Creative Writing with a specialization in poetry and completed his doctoral coursework at Syracuse University before pursuing a career in public relations. He is working on a second book of poetry and a collection of short stories entitled Draft Dodgers. 

He currently teaches advanced public relations writing and a range of public relations subjects in the Master’s programs at New York University, Iona College and Manhattanville College. In addition, he teaches crisis communication and reputation management – courses he designed -- in the MBA program and business communications at UConn Stamford.

Ken has extensive advertising, marketing and communication management experience. He served as corporate spokesperson in diverse, complex and difficult situations. Ken has written speeches for many well-known corporate leaders, annual and CSR reports, OPEDs, communications plans, ads, video and audio scripts, websites, blogs, and more. He recently edited, and wrote the introduction and chapter on using digital and social media in crisis communications for a popular crisis communications handbook.

Ken grew up in the Midwest – in Chicago and central and northern Wisconsin. For the past 40 years, he’s lived and worked in New York, southwestern Connecticut and southern Vermont. He and his wife of 35 years have three sons and a daughter, and they in turn have nine children of their own.



BANTER – STUFF ABOUT YOU
Q: Tell me one thing that your spouse does that really endears him/her to you. One thing that annoys you. These can be tiny little things, actually the smaller the better.
A: Don’t be silly. I’d never answer this question -- I’m a professional communicator, after all.

Q: Did you like school when you were a child?
A: For the most part. Looking back, I had quite a few remarkable teachers who encouraged my talents and curiosity and who I continue to cherish for their wisdom.

Q: Snack of choice – chips, pretzels, popcorn, or cookies, cake, candy? Or maybe you’re a healthy snacker - fruit, yogurt, nuts, raisins?
A: Apples and almonds (like Obama, but usually more than eight almonds at a time).

Q: Have you ever been too embarrassed to promote any certain titles to friends or family?
A: Until Trump, I would have said Dom DeLillo’s “Cosmopolis.” Now it’s much less fantastic a journey than real life. Hard to believe it was written in 2003!

Q: Dine in or dine out?
A: Both

Q: Coffee or Tea?
A: Coffee -- the stronger the better.

Q: Texting, love it or hate it?
A: Texting is “fingered speech,” (Linguist John McWhorter at TED2013 -- https://www.wired.com/2013/03/texting-isnt-writing-its-fingered-speech/) not writing and without the invention of emojis we’d have a world of misunderstanding and temper tantrums -- possibly the end of friendship as we know it. Knowing this, I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with texting.

BOOKS – ABOUT THE CRAFT

Q: Would you ever consider a joint project?
A: Sure. I’ve done quite a few.

Q: How do you handle writer's block?
A: Don’t know, never had it. I’ve always been a writer for hire, so no time to blink.

Q: Do you write long hand first, or does it go straight into the computer?
A: Stared writing on a manual typewriter and my old Royal standard upright is behind me now as I compose these answers on my MacBook Pro.

Q: Are you a sit down and play it by ear kind of writer, or do you need a structured guideline, or maybe a little of both?
A: As I’ve learned, it often helps to know how you will begin and end a piece, then fill the gaps. But if you don’t know how you want to end, you’re just meandering, lost, and likely to fail.  I suspect this is a major contributor to writer’s block. Yet, it sometimes is best to have an outline.

Q: How long does it take you to create a novel?
A: Haven’t finished one yet, so a long time. I’m crawling along with a collection of short stories. My current collection of poems, “Postcards to the living,” is well past midpoint now.

Q: Do you like to read the genre that you write?
A: Yes. I enjoy reading poetry, and any good writing including essays and journalism. And, there are many great commercials that I enjoy, like Wendy’s Boyz 2 Men “Pretzel Bun” video in which the lyrics are customer tweets praising the bun.



BOOKS - NOW LETS PROMOTE – STRUT YOUR STUFF

Q: What are you working on now? Would you like to share anything about it?
A: My current collection of poems, “Postcards to the living,” is about the messages the departed “send” us when our memories are triggered by something in the landscape or news or intersecting thoughts or even a calendar date or holiday. It begins with a “message” from my late friend and golf partner -- he missed our scheduled game because of an unexpected pulmonary embolism in Prague. I played the round with my memories of him. The departed have ways of reminding us of how we miss them and why. I’m also shaping a book - probably a series of interrelated short stories about the Vietnam War era and its impact on families.

Q: How can we find you? Do you have a web page, Facebook page or any buy links?
A:   Yes, I do. Here are the links.
 
AUTHOR LINKS:
http://www.koprowskicomm.com
http://twitter.com/KenKoprowski
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kenkoprowski



Buy Links:








ONE LINER:
Fathers is an inspiring, highly emotive collection of poems exploring fatherhood – its mysteries, triumphs, magic, humor, pain, and loss.  In it the poet illustrates that being a Dad is perhaps the most rewarding aspect of living, and at times, one of the most frustrating -- engaging all that is human in the reader.

SYNOPSIS:
Fathers is an inspiring and highly emotive collection of poems spanning 40 years. Fatherhood is the inspiration for much of this book – its mysteries, triumphs, magic, humor, pain, and loss.  In it the poet – an acute observer and lyrical writer – explores fatherhood from the perspective of a grandson, son, father, husband, and grandfather. His poems illustrate that being a dad is perhaps the most rewarding aspect of living, and at times, one of the most frustrating. The pages of this remarkable volume will engage all that is human in the reader.

Excerpt/Sample 

southern vermont symphony

throughout the night freezing rain
coats the mountainsides
every twig pine bough trunk rock ledge road
coated
by dawn, each weighed down with
crystalline coat
a tinkling concert begins
first ever so
softly
and as the sun rises
behind the clouds
andante patter with crescendos
as boughs spring free in rebellion
or self-preservation, sudden
crashes cymbals
in a wild arrangement now
vivace
rush of ice falling until
the middle March symphony suddenly ends
leaving a silvery carpet sparkling and
crackling underfoot
illuminating my walk

Copyright ã2016-2017 Kenneth M. Koprowski. All rights reserved.



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