New illustrated travelogue Coast of Teeth exposes the light and dark sides of English seaside towns, possibly our last outposts of eccentricity and individuality.
Writer Tom Sykes and illustrator Louis Netter take you on a tour of 21 English seaside towns and the people who live in them. Their encounters are comical, sad, weird and beguiling – sometimes all at once. St Osyth and Jaywick’s trailer parks and makeshift homes have come to resemble a Global Southern shanty town. A Blackpudlian musician confesses an intimate connection to the serial killer Harold Shipman. Portsmouthians come to terms with the imperial past. A St Ives youth is rendered temporarily homeless by the G7 conference.
There’s good news too. Combers and mudlarkers are cleaning our beaches. Art projects are highlighting coastal erosion and other ecological threats. Coast of Teeth is endorsed by Will Self and Arthur Smith.
Dr Tom Sykes is Associate Professor in Creative Writing and Journalism at the University of Portsmouth.
Louis Netter is Senior Lecturer in Illustration at the University of Portsmouth.
(above) Tom Sykes by Oge Okonkwo
Dr Louis Netter by Cecilia Le Poer Power
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