I have always been interested in poetry, so when I was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2002 I turned to poetry to make sense of what was happening.

Following on from Finding the Light and Reflecting the Light, I feel I still have something to say. In this collection I've touched on a mixture of themes, some shocking, others light-hearted, and all personal to me. For example, one poem is based on the tragic events of Aberfan in 1966, while another was inspired by my sister’s wedding anniversary.

I hope you find something within The Lesson that resonates with you too.

All profits from The Lesson will be donated to Parkinson's Disease Centre.

This is Bobbie Coelho’s third anthology of poetry and follows on from her first two collections, Finding the Light and Reflecting the Light.

Bobbie Coelho was born near Norwich and now lives in Hampshire with her husband, Steve. She has two stepsons and three grandchildren. She has always enjoyed poetry, but after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2002, she was particularly compelled to write as a way of putting things into perspective.

Bobbie's poems are short and simple, but their small size and neatness on the page conceal a greater depth of thought and strength of feeling than one might first assume. While her starting point for writing was her illness, she is not afraid to share her thoughts on national and international political matters, writing from the heart and summing up her response to complex issues in disarmingly succinct form. – Debbie Young

Download a copy of Bobbie's Advance Information sheet here.

Read this review of The Lesson on The Review blog here.