Local author raising funds
Local (Kempshott) author, Tony Corbin, has just published his latest book, ‘Collezione’. Tony is making a very special offer to local residents (see below) who may be looking for ideas on how to easily and safely obtain Christmas (or birthday) gifts this year. He is supporting a good local cause too.
Look at the index for ‘Collezione’ and you might well ask yourself ‘What do the NHS, The Seven Deadly Sins, Cheese, A Bomb, Trick or Treat, Dementia and Kirstie Allsopp all have in common? The answer is that all (and so many more) are explored within the widely and wildly varied topics of Tony Corbin’s latest published poetry and prose musings.
The book has a distinctly local focus too. Subjects covered include Whitchurch Silk Mill, the River Test, The Wayfarers Walk, London Street, The Basing Trail, Destination Basingstoke and the Bard of Basingstoke. There’s even a ‘talk’ surfacing the unique difficulties of cultivating a garden on the local chalk!
In examining ‘Life’s roller-coaster journey’ Tony cleverly evokes almost every human emotion. You’ll laugh, you’ll reflect, you’ll mutter ‘me too’ or you may even shed a tear. Like life itself, each page turn brings the unexpected. To contrast with the local focus, the book also offers an opportunity for the reader to ‘armchair travel’. Travelogue extracts in the book cover Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Argentina and Canada, all part of the varied mix. You will find the content itself, irrespective of subject, ranges from the pithy through parodies to the profound. The advice is, simply let the bumpy ‘Collezione’ journey entertain and at the same time, inspire or enthral you.
The book is special in other ways too. £1 from every sale is destined to go to the local area ‘Inspero Community Hubs’. These ‘hubs’ provide valuable support to those who have ‘fallen on hard-times’. For local residents, Tony is also offering a limited number of signed ‘author-copies’ of Collezione at the reduced price of £5 (this includes the donation to Inspero). These can either be collected (call Tony on 07801 166223), delivered to the doorstep or can be purchased from Kempshott Stores, 147, Pack Lane. The book is available on Amazon UK as well, either as an e-book (at £4) or as a paperback for £6.50.
Tony’s first writing output appeared only a dozen or so years ago. It was inspired by a combination of Creative Writing tutors, on-line study and fellow aspiring wordsmiths at the town’s local Creative Writing Group. A modest start saw contributions from Tony to local anthologies and the occasional magazine article published. ‘Destinations’ a collaborative effort with the theme of travel and Tony’s debut fictional novel, ‘Fall of the Dice’, helped raise several hundred pounds for local charitable causes.
For the past five years, Tony has run the local Creative Writing Competition, part of the annual Basingstoke Music and Arts Festival (entry deadline for this year’s competition is Monday 14th December). Last year, an Audio Book, ‘Local Lines’, developed in collaboration with Basingstoke Community Radio, helped raise the profile of aspiring local writers. Tony was also a co-author of the business leadership treatise ‘Fantasy or Reality?’
