THE story of Devon’s ‘Postman Poet’ Edward Capern was brought to life at Holsworthy Library on Thursday, January 24, ahead of the bicentenary of his birth.

North Devon author Liz Shakespeare has dedicated much time to writing a novel documenting the poets life and her project has garnered a huge amount of interest over the last two years.

With the help of Devon musicians Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll, Liz has told Edward’s story through words and song to large audiences at music and literature festivals throughout the south-west.

Monday, January 21, was the bicentenary of Edward’s death and Liz felt it should not go unnoticed.

In 1819 Devon’s Postman Poet was born into a poor, working-class family in Tiverton. His father, a baker, could not afford to educate his son and would never have dreamt that he would become nationally renowned as a poet, winning plaudits from the Prime Minister and support from the biggest literary names of the day.

Liz believes the bicentenary of his birth would, perhaps, have gone unnoticed if she had not brought his extraordinary story back to public attention. She has written ‘The Postman Poet’, a novel based on his life and has published 34 of his 600 poems in ‘The Poems of Edward Capern’. While writing the novel, Liz said she drew on historical research and details in the poems to tell the astonishing story through Edward’s eyes as he struggles to support his family, capturing the opportunities and inequalities of Victorian North Devon.

Edward became a postman following the introduction of the ‘Penny Post’, walking the 13 mile round trip between Bideford and Buckland Brewer 364 days a year. He would jot down poems while he was walking and he often wrote on the envelopes he was about to deliver.

“He had to ask the recipients if he could keep the envelopes because he’d written poems on them,” said Liz, whose own cottage was on Capern’s round

During her research, Liz also found that some of his poems were intended to be sung, so collaborated with musicians Nick and Becki who set them to music for their CD, The Songs of Edward Capern.

In recognition of Edward’s commitment to social justice, £1 from each copy of the poetry collection sold is being donated to the Northern Devon Food Bank, and more than £500 has been raised so far.