Sunshine for the Soul: Words of Light Through the Darkness of Covid is a collection of poetry in the inspirational writing subgenre. It is suitable for all readers and was penned by author Nick Olsen. The collection is a reflection on the experience of living through the Covid-19 pandemic that swept over the world, causing an unprecedented social change. By interviewing those on the frontlines, watching as the news stations poured in reports on the developing response, and grieving for those who didn’t survive the virus, the poet has created a broad reflection on the events of the pandemic.

This was an emotionally charged and diverse collection of poems that managed to tap into a complex range of emotions and experiences felt by people across lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dancing elegantly from one subject to the next, Nick Olsen uses a little to do a lot with each work presenting, discussing, and concluding on a particular subject with philosophical nuances and stunning imagery before moving on to the next subject to be put under the microscope. The poems in this collection are evocative of the feelings that many of us experienced during the crisis, from frustration at the restrictions, to panic as the repercussions started to set in, to grief as the virus arrived on our shores and began wrecking lives on a huge scale. Overall, Sunshine for the Soul is a triumph of artistic expression that never trivializes or sensationalizes the subject matter; instead, creating an earnest depiction of difficult to articulate feelings during a turbulent period in human history.