PROLIFIC Hickathrift author Andrew Stephen has been interviewed by the Cambridge Independent newspaper, following the release of his sixth book, Under A Norfolk Sky.
You can read the full story here: https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/whats-on/cambridge-born-writer-andrew-stephen-celebrates-norfolk-in-n-9454971/
Here’s what they had to say:
Cambridge-born writer and poet Andrew Stephen is back with his fifth book, Under a Norfolk Sky – a collection of poems and short stories dedicated to the county he now calls home.
Andrew, whose previous book The Season That Nearly Was was about his beloved Cambridge United, is a lifelong supporter of the U’s and is the editor of the club’s Amber News fanzine.
Speaking to the Cambridge Independent from his home in Barton Bendish, Andrew says: “I was born and bred in Cambridge, but my father was in the RAF and he went around the world a little bit, and around Britain a little bit.
“And one of the places he was stationed at was RAF Marham, which I can actually see through my window.
“They were very happy there, and I was very happy there. I did very well at the local school, and as a result of that I went off to boarding school in King’s Lynn.
“And I think probably, having spent my adolescent years in King’s Lynn, I developed a taste for Norfolk.
“It’s not that I’ve gone off Cambridge – although I don’t know very many people who could afford to live in Cambridge anymore.“It’s a very different place from the place I knew when I was growing up. A lot of my ancestry came from Cambridge, and I guess I would like to have continued in that way.
“But it’s very quiet here [in Norfolk] and very old-fashioned and very community-based, and I think those are things that other people have to miss, unfortunately.”
For a number of years, Andrew, a retired teacher, was chair of Cambridge Fans United.
“People were constantly asking me to write a book which included contributions from long-term fans,” he recalls.
“Last season was such a bizarre and unsuccessful season, I thought: ‘This is the time to write it’. Maybe I’ll end up writing one about a more successful season!
“But to be fair, the book I’ve just published – my fifth – was the one I always wanted to write, and it’s been years in the preparing, really.
“I owe it to the pandemic, curiously enough, because like everybody else I had a lot more time on my hands. And I think I took what was an interest to a better level.
“One of my earlier books – my second book – was a collection of poetry, and that originated in a box file that I’d started to put together when I was 18, and somehow or other I never threw them out.
“I was leafing through them one day and I thought, ‘I think I can do something with this’, so I did. And I was very pleased to produce that particular book, which was called Endless River – a title I pinched from Pink Floyd.
“Since then I’ve written a bit more, and I honestly think this book [Under a Norfolk Sky] is probably as good as I could hope to write.”
- Under A Norfolk Sky by Andrew Stephen is available in hardback, paperback and Kindle e-book editions, direct from Amazon.
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