FAKENHAM: Poet gets a Pepys at book success
Pictured in costume at the launch party for Pepys are, from left, Lynn Wykes, Caroline Gilfillan, David Radley and Dee Orr
Three months after winning the prestigious Suffolk Poetry Society’s George Crabbe Memorial Poetry competition, Fakenham-based poet Caroline Gilfillan has published her latest volume entitled Pepys.
An imaginative work drawn from the life and times of England’s greatest diarist it is a striking portrait of both the man and the turbulent period he lived through following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
A launch party to celebrate the publication amongst friends was enlived with period costumes, venison pasties, burnt sack, orange custard and a selection of readings and musical interludes.
“I’ve had a longstanding interest in the sort of poetry which brings history to life in an accessible way,” said Caroline who came to live in Fakenham ten years ago.
“I was first drawn to this idea after reading Clare Tomalin’s wonderful biography Samual Pepys: The Unequalled Self.
“It inspired me to go back to the diaries themselves and all the poetry in my book is based on what Pepys actually wrote.
“The period from 1660 to 1669 was so full of incident with the rise of Puritanism, the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London.
“The research and writing has taken me the best part of two years and it’s really been a labour of love.”
Caroline is a member of the Fakenham Poetry Circle and many of her poems have appeared in the London Magazine and Poetry News.
In 2010 her poetry pamphlet ‘Yes’ was adjudged the best poetry book of the year in the East Anglian Book awards.
Further launch presentations are planned for the summer, starting in Burnham Market.
Pepys is published by the Hawthorn Press based in
Syderstone and is available in local book stores and can also be obtained from Sweets ‘N Things on Oak Street in Fakenham.
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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