Bernard Epps

Bernard Epps was born in Whitstable, Kent county, England in 1936. In 1950, his family immigrated to Ohio. In 1953, he graduated from High School and began work as a draftsman in Columbus, to make money to fund his education at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. After four years of alternating between school and work, he voyaged with some friends to California, where he worked as a draftsman, designing ceramic microchips and working for (among other places) Litton industries. In 1965, he married Susan Dreger. In 1966, he purchased his father’s farm in Gould Station, Quebec in order to devote his time to farming and writing. In 1967, his only child, Jennifer, was born. In the early to mid 1960s, he began his writing career, publishing several short stories, and it was in 1967, that he would publish his first novel, Pilgarlic the Death. In 1973, he published the immensely popular The Outlaw of Megantic. In the 1980s, he joined Charles Bury in running the Townships Sun, a newspaper devoted to representing the Eastern Townships Anglophone community. He continued to contribute to the paper late into life, writing mostly on the subjects of Townships’ history and culture. In addition to his contributions to the Townships Sun, he also contributed significantly to the Sherbrooke Record, and in other newspapers and journals. Mr. Epps also spent some time as a teacher with adult extension programmes at Lennoxville’s Champlain Regional college, and the Eastern Townships School board, teaching such subjects as creative writing and local history. In 1995, Mr. Epps moved to Lennoxville. Bernard Epps passed away on 5 July 2007 in Kingston, Ontario at the age of 71.