New Release: Gnossienne - Poetry Collection by Florida Poet Valerie Currie

Florida Poetry Feature

Gnossienne by Valerie Currie

Genre: Poetry 

Author name: Valerie Currie 

Special category: LGBTQ+, Feminism, Neurodivergence, Mental Health. 

Author special category: Neurodivergent (ADHD), LGBTQ+ 

Author location: Jacksonville, Fla. 

Publication Date: 03/23/2023 

Publishing company: Self-published 

Gnossienne is for those who overthink and tend to make up stories about strangers passing by. It’s about sondering and putting yourself in other people’s shoes and experiencing their most vulnerable, emotional moments. 

Tell us about your book: Gnossienne was inspired by stories overheard at bars, deep secrets exchanged between strangers, and a few personal experiences from the author. It captures the human experience as a whole—raw and vulnerable—and puts readers into others’ shoes. 

What was the inspiration? As always, I write primarily for positive change. I am a big believer in the collective human experience—we all need each other to some extent, and our experiences are not exclusive to ourselves. Putting ourselves in others’ shoes— having empathy—is an essential part to being human, and I think that’s something the world needs more than anything right now. 

What is one thing you would like the readers to know about your book? It’s mostly biographical, not autobiographical. A complete shift from my first book, The Bottle. 

Were you inspired by any specific Florida location for this book? It’s inspired a good deal of my writing, just through news headlines, unfortunately. For example, in Gnossienne, the poem, Rats, is about the housing crisis and rising cost of living we’re seeing in Florida right now. I was reading an article about it while my friend sent me a picture of two rats at a pet store, and it just spilled out. It’s one of my favorite poems that I’ve ever written. 

Was there anything special about writing this book that you would like to mention? It felt very special commemorating such vulnerable moments people have shared with me throughout my life. It made me grateful for human connection in a way I’ve never experienced before. 

A unique fact about you: I used to write a lot of music, non-professionally. If you read my poetry, I’ve been told this bleeds into my writing. 

Preferred pronoun when referring to the author: She/They 

Author Social media accounts: 

@valeriecurrie on Instagram & 

Valerie Currie on TikTok 

Author website: valeriecurriemusic.com 

Other books by the author: The Bottle (2022) 

List some of the places your book can be purchased: Barnes and Noble, Amazon, AbeBooks, and Walmart.

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