Lecturer completes book trilogy with humorous reimagining of seagulls
10 June 2025
"What if the world was ruled by seagulls?" This is the creative concept that underlines Gullduggery, a humorously illustrated new book by Gretchen Viehmann, Course Leader for Documentary and Editorial Photography BA(Hons).
As the third instalment of a much-loved trilogy, Gullduggery is a story that anthropomorphises seagulls in a way that is light-hearted and timeless.
Starting out as a series of cartoons created for fun and personal enjoyment, and inspired by life in Fowey, Gretchen's illustrations eventually grew into an entire book’s worth of content that she pursued into publication alongside her work as a photography academic. We caught up with Gretchen to learn more about her interest in seagulls, and what she hopes readers takeaway from the latest addition to her diverting trilogy.
Just last week you launched your latest book Gullduggery, the third and final instalment in your amusing trilogy on life in Fowey – one of Cornwall’s busiest tourist spots. What can you tell us about this fun and joyful illustrative book series?
Gullduggery is the third in a trilogy that started with a book called 17 Syllables About Fowey, a publication based on my hometown that took the form of an illustrative Haiku. This was followed up with another book, entitled Disappointed, which is an illustrative adaptation of bad TripAdvisor reviews about Fowey, featuring people complaining about all sorts of things. This was when my interest in gulls started to intersect with my illustrative work, as they can be very humorous in reviews surrounding seagulls stealing food. It was just a little humour book, but it performed well and got picked up by the BBC.
Now, I have written the third and final book where I have reimagined the world as if the seagulls were in charge. It includes a lot of riffs on popular culture, such as movies, books, and the people that we know. Just last Friday I had my book launch at Gullfest, a small arts festival in Plymouth based at a gallery, and it was a very light-hearted evening of celebration for the book and gulls themselves.
Can you tell us more about the idea behind Gullduggery?
I live in Fowey, right by the river, so my entire life is populated by gulls. But what really prompted it was the fact that I love to watch people getting their food stolen by the gulls—it entertains me no end! But there is a lot of hatred towards gulls in this town, in all of Cornwall, and in the UK itself. This hatred always makes me think how they were here first, and I can’t help but imagine that they’re all sitting back and laughing at us and our foibles. That thought prompted the book, which covers the question of what if gulls were behind it all? What if the gulls were the humans? What if they had the human roles?
I was hugely inspired by the illustrator and author Edward Gorey. He created similar little books and his work became something that became part of people’s families, getting passed down through generations… I wanted to capture that kind of magic in my own work.
What do you hope to say with your illustrative book series?
The world right now is not a terribly pleasant place to be in, and the news is a hard thing to watch with so many negative events happening. I just wanted to create something that I hope gives people a laugh. I wanted it to be a book that even children could look at and laugh at, even if they don’t get the jokes, but because they like the pictures. I wanted it to be a book that was timeless instead of timely; something that people will enjoy for years and return to when they want to enjoy some light humour. I want to help bring some joy!
Do you have another book in the works that you can tell us more about?
I’m currently working on a new book, yes! But this one will be completely different to the series. My current working title is ‘A Field Guide to Irritating Flora of the British Isles’ and it’s inspired by weeding and my hatred of things such as nettles. In the book, I’ve invented an entire lexicon with Latin names for fake plants that I’m creating botanical illustrations of. It’s a departure from the gulls, but it’s still an illustrated book full of humour.
External links
You might also like
Lecturer to host workshop on sustainable architecture
From studying Game Development to designing on F1 Manager
An Indie Games online graduate’s journey from lecturer to course director
Online Indie Game Development graduate on studying from Dubai
