top of page

Rebecca Goss

Thursday 10 October 2024


The Suffolk Book League welcomed Rebecca Goss to talk about her work, especially her latest poetry collection, Latch. Rebecca is a prize-winning poet who grew up in Suffolk and, after some time away, returned to live here in 2013. Despite this being her first time with us, Rebecca shared how she kept in touch with the Suffolk Book League even whilst living in Liverpool, so it was wonderful to have her finally join us.


We were very privileged that Rebecca read to us from three of her poetry collections, starting with her first collection Her Birth, which reflects on the loss of her baby daughter. The collection is split into three sections, moving from her birth to her death, learning to live with the loss and ending with the birth of Rebecca’s second daughter. Rebecca shared how these poems helped her through this time in her life but she now has a changing relationship with this work, due to its personal nature. 


It was fascinating to hear all about Rebecca’s writing process, how certain pieces can only be written at particular moments in life, yet they can resonate with you and offer a different connection at a later time. She particularly feels this through the loss of Ella and how this shaped her personally and through the ways in which she deals with grief, which she feels has informed all of her later writing too.


Her third collection, Girl, was initially inspired by the work of Alison Watt, which graces the cover of this book. She said that she was fascinated by the erotic connotations of fabric. This acted as the inspiration for this collection, initially writing how the work made her feel, which resulted in six or seven poems in the collection inspired by Alison’s art work .


Rebecca’s poetry collections also explore stages of womanhood. Rebecca was interviewed by author and Suffolk Book League committee member Amanda Hodgkinson, who said that Rebecca’s poetry, for her, expertly captures moments of life. There is a real recognition for readers of her work of everyday experiences, particularly in Suffolk, which appears throughout her latest collection, Latch.


She describes Latch as a homecoming book. The collection grew from an encounter with a Suffolk blacksmith, who made Rebecca a Suffolk latch. This inspired her to capture the life and work of people in East Anglia, which formed this collection. She wanted the word ‘latch’ itself not to be the title of one poem, but to appear throughout the book and revealed that the latch on the cover is one from her own house!


Rebecca shared that it takes five to six years to write her books, so the creation of Latch allowed her to connect and return to moments from her childhood, as well as capturing moments of her adult life in the county. Two of the most captivating anecdotes she shared were of the hounds she hears from her window and of her childhood home on a farm, which she was allowed to revisit and explore for her writing.


The final poem in the collection, ‘Cousins’ was born from Rebecca’s reflection on what she needs to sustain herself and the answer was quite simple. She is never happier than when she is in a field with her dogs, her daughter and her family. We are so glad Rebecca has returned to Suffolk and Latch is a beautiful love letter to life and our glorious county.



Rose Gant


Comments


bottom of page