Thomas Kudla's latest book of poetry, VERSES OF A POET WHO DIDN'T KNOW IT, is a compilation of preferred poems from six books of poetry he has written over the last two decades, including his latest, WAKING UP AT THE GATES and LONG-LOST PUZZLE PIECES (FIRST EDITION), and his more than 700-page tome from 2016, HOW I AM DIFFERENT. He is eager to share his next major in-progress work, NOW I AM DIFFERENT, to be published in 2025, in hopes of inspiring others. His book HOW I AM DIFFERENT was named a finalist in the Poetry Category of the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The ebook version won multiple medals in the 2017 Global Ebook Awards. HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT (HWAD), an Apple app based on that book, earned two gold medals in the 2018 eLit Book Awards and was recognized by the IBPA as a Benjamin Franklin Digital Award Silver Honoree. His earlier books of poetry COMMENCEMENT and OUT OF CONTEXT won the 2017 IndieReader Discovery Award for Poetry. Thom's book WHAT MY BRAIN TOLD ME was selected as a finalist in the short story non-fiction category of the 2009 National Indie Excellence Awards. His writing has been anthologized in a number of books, including CHICAGO AFTER DARK and SILVER: AN ECLECTIC ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY & PROSE. Thomas Kudla, author name Thom Kudla, was awarded a Master of Arts in Writing and Publishing from DePaul University. He earned a bachelor's from Indiana University, Bloomington, where he received a grant to write his first novel.