SECTION FOUR
PRESS BRIEFINGS 1
HOLZHEI DREAM REALIZED . SELF PUBLISHED NOVEL HITS BOOKSHELVES .
of birch and has a wire binding .
Holzhei & his wife have vacationed in the Manistee , Traverse City , Ludington areas for the past number of years , as well as traveling in the Upper Peninsula . The past winters have been spent in the Florida Keys where the novella was finished .
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB HOLZHEI
SAGINAW , MI-The Mountains Shall Depart by Robert E . Holzhei has been published by Book Baby & Smith Publishing Companies that distribute throughout the United States and Europe .
Writing was a lifelong dream for Holzhei and the words kept nudging at him . The first story was written at Cedarville , Michigan , and was published .
“ Two authors had an influence as my writing style developed . The book begins being told from the perspective of a young boy growing up in the mid 1940 ’ s , much like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee . Suddenly the style changes and the story line shocks and impacts the reader unexpectedly . It is straight forward prose , much like the style of Ernest Hemingway ,” stated Holzhei who studied the author ’ s works .
Holzhei is the author of 427 published outdoor / travel stories in a variety of publications throughout the U . S . and has previously self-published two books : Canadian Fly-In Fishing Adventure Featuring Campfire Stories from Northern Michigan and Alaskan Spirit Journey . The Alaskan book features a cedar book mark since the first published story was written at Cedarville , Michigan . It also has a wooden birch cover made out
Holzhei will be spending time on a speaking / book tour in Northern Michigan this summer . He also presents sessions at the annual Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers ( AGLOW ) conference each September on working with media , new member sessions , and this fall a session on the emerging self-publishing industry .
He has won a variety of national awards including the First Place in the Best of Best Newspaper Category- Third Place in the Open Category , three AGLOW presidential awards for service , a third place from the Michigan Outdoor Writers Assoc . He also was instrumental in beginning a summer journalism workshop for high school students at Michigan State University which began with 40 students and now draws over 500 journalists not only from Michigan , but throughout the United States .
Holzhei has a B . A . in English with an emphasis in writing , minor in psychology and a M . A . in Education with post-graduate studies . Following 37 years teaching high school English & creative writing classes , he continues to chase the muse-his mistress where the words await expression .
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Volume 01 No . 03 | 2017