RELEASE DATE: 2015:01:01

DEMOGRAPHIC REVELANCE: WESTPORT, FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CT RESIDENTS, POETRY READERS
TITLE: Cornelia Smollin - Poetic Works - By Mark Smollin

 

Cornelia Smollin - Poetic Works is now available as an illustrated 218 page ebook marksmollin.com/books/cornelia

 

BACKGROUND: Cornelia was born at the beginning of the depression to parents of Dutch heritage and grew up in Spring Lake New Jersey. She is a responsible type of person, helping run the household after her father died so her mother could continue working. She was a bright student and took summer jobs in Atlantic City to save for a college education at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York. She studied advertising design, illustration, taught classes, and met her husband there. They were soon married and started a family in Westport Connecticut in 1953. They began by renting a small house on Charcoal Hill Road, raised four children, and remained in the community for more than forty years.

 

Mrs Smollin is certainly gifted physically and creatively. She was one of the top tennis players in the community and often beat local male athletes. She could paint a house, make a quilt, hang wallpaper, cook a gourmet meal and dress to kill, not to mention being a wonderful mother and wife. She has so many skills it is hard to list them all and most importantly she believed in performing to the best of her abilities. Even though she began writing as a teen, she started writing poems around 1970, which reflect the joys and sorrows of her experience. Some works have a structure in the classic sense, but most could be described as free verse providing a window into private thoughts about living. Her writings are particular evidence to the feminine power of the "Greatest Generation."

 

Cornelia now describes herself as a political activist, writing editorial pieces about our culture to suggest healthy alternatives to social dysfunction.

 

I want you to know your writings touched me deeply as I have often had thoughts similar to those you've written of. –– Barbara Schmerzler, Westport CT Real Estate Agent

 

IMAGES FOR RELEASE:

Cornelia on the beach at Spring Lake New Jersey 1947

 

Cornelia entertaining friends in Westport Connecticut 1974

 

AUTHOR PROFILE: Mark Smollin is an artist, author, musician and Staples High School graduate with the class of 1970 in Westport Connecticut. Mark graduated from Art Center College of Design in Fall of 1985 as an Illustration major and runs his studio-gallery in Pasadena CA. He is currently painting and working on a new book about the qualities of civilization. He was motivated to write this book to honor his mother, her insights and wisdom. This project took about 18 months to complete. After collecting an initial set of sixty writings the book was planned, designed and illustrated, only to discover that there were another 50 pieces sent only to his sister, which then had to be added.

 

ADDITIONAL PRESENTATION AND RESOURCE LINKS:

marksmollin.com/books/cornelia