Shane Koyczan is a poet who was made famous by the internet viral video called “To This Day.” The video is a spoken word poem about bullying that is accompanied with animations. It was a thoughtful and emotional experience that has garnered over 14 million views on YouTube as of writing this. Using his fame, Koyczan tried to bring attention to bullying to the nation, and for a bit they listened, but it eventually faded out. Now, Koyczan has quite a follow- ing, so he decided to ask his fans for help. At the end of January 2014, Shane Koyczan began a Kickstarter campaign to fund his new book of poetry. To cover all the funds to make and distribute the book independently would have cost $15,000.

Koyczans Kickstarter raised $91,154 total by February 26, 2014. This allowed Koyczan to be able to create a new spoken word album and graphic novel to be released with the new book. The book is called “A Bruise on Light,” and was gifted to many backers on the Kickstarter if you contributed $25; and if you contributed $30, you got it signed. There were many other incentives for backing the book, but the $25 tier was definitely the most popular. The book just recently got sent out to all of the backers (mine just arrived this past Saturday) with the CD and graphic novel being released on September 15, 2014. If you love good poetry, I highly recommend getting the new book, the CD (which is called Silence is a Song I Know All the Words To), and the graphic novel. It will blow you up and put you back together.