I find it interesting that my writing was borne of home-sickness in the 1950s and now a global sickness is responsible for the realisation of a long-held dream to publish a solo book.
- Shirley Richards
A Warrnambool woman spent the COVID-19 lockdown writing a poetry book.
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Shirley Richards has released The Best of Shirl's Words: Poems from Life, ending 2020 isolation on a high note.
Kept home since early 2020, Mrs Richards started typing up poems she had written about her life and events from the past four decades.
With help from her youngest daughter Joanne Penney, the poems were compiled into an eBook and a paperback.
The book has been dedicated to Mrs Richards' late husband Ron Richards.
"I find it interesting that my writing was borne of home-sickness in the 1950s and now a global sickness is responsible for the realisation of a long-held dream to publish a solo book," Mrs Richards said.
"I suppose it's also uncanny my solo book came about through the pandemic's forced isolation.
"I would have been lost during the lockdowns if it weren't for the internet and my poetry."
Mrs Richards left Malvern at 19 to run a hairdressing salon in Portland in the 1950s.
She has been in Warrnambool for 50 years and also writes short stories.
Mrs Richards said she may write a second solo book.
She studied story writing by correspondence through Warrnambool's South West Institute of TAFE and also poetry with Stott's College.
"You're never too old to follow your dreams," she said.
The book is available to buy at Collins Booksellers.
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