COVID Creativity: Source Published Poet Gets Book Deal

Pasquale Trozzolo (Photo submitted by Pasquale Trozzolo)
Pasquale Trozzolo (Photo submitted by Pasquale Trozzolo)

Last April, Pasquale Trozzolo, a poet from Kansas, was featured in the V.I. Source’s COVID Creativity section. Now, he has a book deal. Trozzolo told the Source his COVID Creativity poems were only his second publishing credit. Since that time his work has appeared in Sunspot Literary Journal, The Pangolin Review, What Rough Beast, 34th Parallel, Dewdrop Magazine, From Whispers to Roars, Ariel’s Dream Journal, Passager and City Lifestyles. Prior to the pandemic, he only shared his work with family and close friends. After the pandemic hit, he started to share what he calls, “Virus Poems,” including the two published in the Source.

Before the Distance (Photo submitted by Pasquale Trozzolo)

When Trozzolo’s granddaughter Sophia’s high school graduation was postponed, he wrote a poem titled Graduation. He bound the new poem with a group of others and presented Sophia with a homemade book of poems, hoping to cheer her up. On a whim, he submitted the collection to a handful of publishers and to his surprise, Poetry Box, a small independent press in Portland, Oregon, offered a contract. Now his debut poetry chapbook titled Before the Distance will be released on December 1. The dedication page reads:

To my granddaughter Sophia Rose, and all the members of the class of 2020 for your losses and your gains.

The V.I. Source is gratefully acknowledged in the book, Trozzolo said. Before the Distance is available with a pre-order discount here.