This month’s Suffolk Spotlight is dedicated to Louis de Bernières, whom I met at the Woodbridge Festival of Art and Music in 2025. Louis is known internationally for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which was made into a film starring Nicholas Cage. I read Captain Corelli in my early twenties, and the poetic descriptions of the island and the characters’ depth of feeling have stayed with me ever since.
I was not surprised, therefore, to hear about Louis’ love of poetry. What surprised me a little more (understatement of the year) was how much he was enjoying my Thirty Angry Ghosts, which he had just bought from Woodbridge Books.
Louis is best known as a novelist, but he told me that poetry is his first love. I am delighted, therefore, that Louis will be reading his own poetry as part of the 2026 Festival of Suffolk Poetry in Stowmarket and will also be leading a poetry workshop on the theme of Music into Words.
If you’d like tickets to the festival to see Louis and a whole host of other wonderful poets and performers, click here.
Q & A with Louis de Bernières
1. What do you like most about writing?
It is a holiday from myself, a state of egolessness, in which I have interesting adventures by proxy.
2. What do you find most challenging?
The challenge is keeping faith whilst I wait for the correct method of telling a tale to occur to me.
3. What writing achievement are you proudest of?
My novel, Birds Without Wings. It was the nearest I will ever get to War and Peace.
4. What advice would you give to new writers?
You often have to wait a long time before you find your voice. Until then, experiment with imitating other people’s.
5. How can people find out more about you and your work?
I don’t do social media, but there is a whole lot on the internet. Read the books!
6. Lastly, what can you tell us about your workshop and poetry reading at the upcoming Festival of Suffolk Poetry?
I will be talking about how to make one’s poetic language more musical, so that it definitely isn’t prose!
Thanks to Louis for being this month’s featured writer. I’ll be interviewing another leading light of the East Anglian literary scene after the poetry festival in July 2026.
Best wishes,
Mai
Previously Featured on Suffolk Spotlights
Peter Berry – poet, philosopher, and public speaker
Deb Bunt – author and public speaker
Bethan Davidson – storyteller and children’s author
Amy Wragg – Suffolk Poet and Poetry Promoter
Jane Spencer-Rolfe – Founder of Wild Words Suffolk
Sue Thompson – Author, Poet and Performer
Leave a Reply