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A Mansfield author has surpassed his own expectations by earning a spot on Amazon’s inspirational best-sellers list.

Richard C Bower, who is originally from Mansfield but now lives in Whitwell, said he was blown away to find out his poetry collection Sanctuary, had made the list, alongside collections by Walt Whitman and above the contemporary and best-selling poet, Rumi.

Sanctuary, a 66-poem collection, is the 46-year-old’s second book, following Postmodern.

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Richard C. Bower, pictured for his latest book at Creswell Crags.

Richard, the official poet for Mansfield Town Football Club, wrote and compiled the book in a Buddhist community, where he lived in Leicester for six months.

Richard said: “Sanctuary has made it into the inspirational best-sellers list on Amazon. Out of millions of books, it currently resides at 79.

“It's great to see it deemed an inspirational read by so many and have such an impact on people’s lives.

“Thank you, everybody who has bought and believed in my work.”

Richard’s latest poetry book, Pleasures In The Pathless Woods, is due out in March.

Mansfield author celebrates the power of words with 'inspirational' best-selling success