Work: Postgraduate University of Suffolk Anthology Launch

Reviewed by James Phillips

(UoS Talking Shop Press)

Have you ever considered Suffolk’s occupational heritage? Whilst agriculture with the county’s lush, green fields, or perhaps the port industry with those towering cranes may spring to mind, the current postgraduates at the University of Suffolk have explored the concept in their latest anthology Work: an Anthology of Suffolk Stories.

At the launch in October, Dr Amanda Hodgkinson introduced the evening, with Senior English Lecturer and MA Course Leader Dr Lindsey Scott congratulating all contributors for adding to Suffolk’s rich, literary oeuvre. With each anthology there is a student chosen to help co-edit the collection, for this collection it was Amy Rehbein, who also contributed. Having already published a tetralogy of anthologies (Suffolk Folk, Suffolk Arboretum, Suffolk Reflections and Suffolk Haunts) this latest is the first in a new series, along with a fresh look.

The anthology is centred around the notion of working, not necessarily in a day-to-day hard grafting, livelihood capacity, but in all its forms. The collection features bitesize stories and poems (perfectly digestible) that explore Suffolk’s work culture, rural and urban, and our connection as its inhabitants to its economy. We travel from the Orwell’s house in Southwold, to Adastral Park, Martlesham, to charming Flatford. Alongside each piece, there is a grounding introduction on the writer’s personal connection to the concept, and directions pinpointing the reader to where they are set. It’s a book that helps further discovery of our beautiful county – uniting the written word with physical place. 

Also featured are the Student New Angle Prize submissions, providing ‘bonus’ material, again demonstrating the young, talented writers our landscape nurtures. This part of the book begins with the winning entry ‘The East Window’ by Ben Collins. This piece explores the story of a window in Offton Church, then other submissions delve from river to marsh, town to meadow, the reader basking in the cherished county we can relate to.

This book is a testament to Suffolk’s enterprise, providing a well deserved showcase of the  writers and creatives at the University of Suffolk who have drawn inspiration from our chequered topography and long past. It can be found on sale at all good local bookshops. I’d suggest Dial Lane Books!