Merthyr Writer Philip 'Boz' Evans   Photos: 6 AmeriCymru: Hi Philip, and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. When did you first start writing? What inspired you to write the many tales of 'everyday' life in Merthyr that have entertained and amused many visitors to this site over the years? Philip: A) It was around 1967 and my first writing was like the Egyptian hieroglyphics at Tutankhamun’s tomb- unfortunately it was my parent’s new wallpaper in indelible marker pen-it didn’t make any sense to anyone, but I was aged 3 and I am now 54 but I am still...

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AmeriCymru: Hi Daniel and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to introduce your new book 'The Devil On God's Doorstep' for our readers? Daniel: Diolch! It's great to be engaging with Americymru - I've been a member of the network for several years and I'm a fan of the way in which you guys engage with and connect the Welsh diaspora in North America with those of us back here in the Land of Our Fathers. The Devil On God's Doorstep is my debut novel - a religious thriller set in Rome and the Vatican about the theft of a religious relic that reignites a...

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REVIEW Ever wondered how the town of Denbigh in north Wales got its name? Well, look no further than Jude Johnson's Nine Tales From Wales for the answer. The story of Siôn Bodiau and the Gwiber is one of the fables included in this superb collection. Intended for children, this book would make an excellent Christmas stocking filler for any youngster who wants to be acquainted with the rich archive of traditional Welsh folk tales. Divided into three sections the book includes stories about dragons, mermaids and fairies ( three on each ). The titles are listed below....

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AmeriCymru: Hi Beryl and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. How would you describe your new novel The Bloodmoon Prophecy ? Beryl: Thank you very much Ceri for interviewing me. AmeriCymru: How would you describe The Bloodmoon Prophecy? Beryl: The novel was inspired  by the hills around Port Talbot.  From where I live I can see two burial mounds outlined against the sky.  Port Talbot is heavily industrialised and I had an epiphany moment when I realised that the romans had been here in their struggle to subdue the local tribe the Siliurians.  I...

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Click here to read our review of 'Circling the Square' ... BUY IT HERE AmeriCymru:  Hi David and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to introduce the community of Cwmbwrla for our readers? Where in Wales is it and what is its history? David: Cwmbwrla is a district of Swansea, on the South Wales coast. It’s home to 8,000 people and has produced some of Wales’s most celebrated sporting figures and artists. In particular, it’s well known as the birthplace of John and Mel Charles, Ivor and Len Allchurch and Mel Nurse, five of Wales’s...

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Click here to read our review of 'Saturdays Are Black Or White' ... AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh author Brian Jarman about his latest novel Saturdays Are Black or White "Brian Jarman was born on a farm in Mid Wales, the joint youngest of five brothers. He was educated in local schools and did a degree in French Studies at the LSE, spending one year teaching in a Parisian lycee. ........ He lives in London with his wife Julia and regularly visits family in Mid-Wales and Cardiff (especially when there’s an international rugby match on)." READ MORE HERE...

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Read our review of The Welsh Tattoo Handbook here ... (Robert blogs at thoughtsofrob.com  and Meagan at  ceridwensonnet.com .) AmeriCymru: Hi Rob and Meagan and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to introduce your new book The Welsh Tattoo Handbook for our readers? What inspired the book? Rob/Meagan:  The project came to us completely out of the blue.  We and the publisher have a mutual friend who recommended us.  The publisher, Bradan Press, has a series of Celtic language tattoo handbooks, and wanted to add Welsh....

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AmeriCymru: Hi Eloise and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. How did you become the first Children's Laureate Wales? What is the selection process? Eloise: You are very welcome. Thanks for inviting me! It's so good to be here.  Literature Wales, the national company for the development of literature in Wales, put out a call for expressions of interest. I'd worked with young people a lot over the years - taught Drama and English, developed plays with community and youth theatres, toured with theatre-in-education projects - and since starting to write for young people...

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Paul Steffan Jones has been a regular and much valued contributor to this site for many years. Recently he has posted a series of poems which address the covid crisis and his reaction to it. AmeriCymru spoke to Paul about his recent work and how Wales is faring in the ongoing pandemic. The individual poems discussed below are linked from the interview but if you want to browse more of Paul's work please go here:- Paul Steffan Jones Author Page. Paul Steffan Jones Author Page: Click Here ... AmeriCymru: Hi Paul and many thanks for agreeing to this...

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Read our review of 'Keyhole' here ... BUY 'KEYHOLE' HERE AmeriCymru: Hi Matthew and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to introduce your short story collection 'Keyhole' for our readers. Matthew: Thanks for having me and thanks for taking the interest that you do in writing that comes out of Wales. Keyhole is a collection of eighteen short stories set in Wales and its borderland with England known as the Marches. The stories lean to what might loosely be called ‘the supernatural’. They’re mainly...

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AmeriCymru: Margaret and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to introduce your historical novel Where Rowans Intertwine for our readers? Margaret: Hmm!  Thank you Ceri.  Lovely to ‘be here’ in touch with people who love Wales as I do.  We are now retired to Lincolnshire, but I still have such a strong hiraeth for the beautiful land that nurtured me for 23 years. Most teachers will know how frenetic full time teaching is and how time consuming.  However, although I had a delightful job running the kindergarten in a small school on Anglesey, I was in for a big...

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AmeriCymru: Hi Sarah and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. What is your Welsh background and how important is it to you? Sarah: My Welsh ancestry comes through—among others—my umpteenth great grandfather, William Woodbury, who self-identified as a Welshman when he arrived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1628. I am also descended from a host of Morgans, Thomas’, Kemries, Johns, Rhuns etc.  The line I’ve researched most successfully descends from Llywelyn ap Ifor born around 1300.  Six generations later, Sir John Morgan (1448) was knighted. One of my readers kindly...

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AmeriCymru: Care to introduce your new book - Dafydd ap Gwilym's Wales - Poems and Places for our readers? John: Cymru Dafydd ap Gwilym / Dafydd ap Gwilym’s Wales is a collection of 35 poems by one of the greatest Welsh poets. The original Welsh texts are presented with facing translations in English, along with a bilingual introduction, with notes to explain unfamiliar names and words, a short essay on Dafydd’s life and poetry, and an even shorter introduction to the complex ‘strict metres’ in which Dafydd composed his poems. A unique feature of this book are the 70...

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AmeriCymru: Hi David and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. What can you tell us about your series of children's books featuring Owain and his dog, Llew? David: The books are about a young boy and his dog, who meet people from the past, when they are out and about. I can then tell their story in a fun way. AmeriCymru: What inspired you to start this series? David: The Owain and Llew books come from my love of Welsh history and specific characters from the past. I have the characters in the books use their native language, with translations in to...

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Arthur Cole   Photos: 8 AmeriCymru: Hi Arthur and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to tell us a little about your Welsh background and upbringing? Arthur: I was born and bred in Caerau, a small mining village situated at the top of the Llynfi Valley, Maesteg. My father was a miner, as were many of my immediate family. I am the third of six children. During the second world war my mother worked at the Bridgend munitions factory, until she married my father. We didn’t have a lot growing up, but our parents gave us all values and manners which...

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AmeriCymru spoke to author Peter Jordan about his new novel 'One Sprinkling Day'. The book, set in Wales, has been described as a novel of ideas and is currently available from Amazon - One Sprinkling Day ... ... ... AmeriCymru: Hi Peter and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to introduce your novel, 'One Sprinkling Day' for our readers? Peter: Thank you for inviting me to. After finishing this book at long last I soon learned two things that surprised me. One was that in England the final judges in literary matters aren’t critics or...

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Click here to read stories by Philip 'Boz' Evans Merthyr Writer Philip 'Boz' Evans   Photos: 6 AmeriCymru: Hi Philip, and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. When did you first start writing? What inspired you to write the many tales of 'everyday' life in Merthyr that have entertained and amused many visitors to this site over the years? Philip: A) It was around 1967 and my first writing was like the Egyptian hieroglyphics at Tutankhamun’s tomb- unfortunately it was my parent’s new wallpaper in indelible marker pen-it didn’t make any...

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Read our 2015 interview with David Lloyd here David Lloyd AmeriCymru: Hi David and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Care to introduce your new short story collection, The Moving of the Water for our readers? David: The Moving of the Water is a collection of stories set in a Welsh-American immigrant community in upstate New York during the 1960s, exploring their struggles, aspirations, and desires; how the past helps creates the present, how the present makes us reinterpret the past. Immigrants and their children live within competing...

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AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh author, Michael Keyton about his work and future plans. Michael was born in Liverpool, graduated from Swansea University and has lived in Newport, south Wales in the past. He currently resides in Monmouth and is the author of several books including a collection of spooky short stories set in the Murenger pub in Newport ( Tales From The Murenger ). He has also written a novel about the tragic life and fate of  Gwyneth Morgan of Tredegar House ( The Gift ). "My Newport is a dark, seedy and magical city, the unimaginable just around the next corner ....

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AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh author Mike Jenkins about dialect poetry and his recently published collection - 'Sofa Surfin'. Mike has published four collections in this genre and we asked him how he became interested and whether he plans to publish any further anthologies of dialect poetry. Dialect poetry by Mike Jenkins:- Graffiti Narratives Coulda Bin Summin Barkin | Review Sofa Surfin | Review ... From Aberfan t Grenfell | Review "With this book I was venturing out : on a stream of marmite, in a humble coracle."...

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