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Jan Fortune-Wood is a Welsh author and publisher. She has published four novels and is the proprietor of one of Wales' most innovative and dynamic independent publishing houses. AmeriCymru spoke to Jan about her writing and her future plans for Cinnamon Press. AmeriCymru: You are both an author and a publisher - which came first and did one lead to the other? Jan: Ive written all my life. My creative writing took a back seat for a long time while I was home educating my children and working (I was a Church of England minister), but I did write books on home education and...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > Mike Jenkins lives in Merthyr and is a full-time writer and Creative Writing tutor, having spent over 30 years teaching in secondary education. The author of seven previous poetry collections for Seren , he has also published novels and short stories. He has won the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry and Wales Book of the Year, and is former editor of Poetry Wales and founder and co-editor of Red Poets magazine. As well as a blog, he writes regularly for Cardiff City fanzine Watch the Bluebirds Fly and reviews music for the political...
Read MoreFrom the Gomer Press site:- "Jon Gower is one of Wales brightest literary talents. He grew up in Llanelli, graduated in English from Cambridge University, and now lives in Cardiff. A former BBC Wales arts and media correspondent, he has published ten books, including An Island Called Smith, winner of the John Morgan Travel Award. Uncharted is the authors own adaptation of his acclaimed Welsh-language novel Dalar Llanw (Gomer, 2009)." ..... AmeriCymru: Your latest novel - Uncharted has been described as:- "a tale of Tango, unfathomable mysteries, and two ancient lovers...
Read More1 CommentsBUY 'THE TRIGGER-HAPPINESS' HERE Americymru: Your first published collection of poems Lull of The Bull has been very well received and reviewed. Do you have any further works in preparation? Paul: I am currently working on another collection of poems, provisionally entitled "My Enclave". I hope that this will appear in the summer of 2011. It will be a more claustrophobic, introspective, partisan and surgical work than my debut. Americymru: Care to explain the significance of the title - "Lull of The Bull"? Paul: Firstly, I consider it to be internal...
Read MoreRachel Trezise studied at the University of Glamorgan in Wales and University of Limerick in Ireland. Her first novel, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl , released in 2002 received broad critical acclaim. In October 2006, Trezise won the inaugural Dylan Thomas Prize for her book of short stories, Fresh Apples , describing life in the mining valleys in South Wales. In 2007, Parthian Books published Dial M for Merthyr , an account of her time spent on tour with Welsh rock band Midasuno. Her latest novel is Sixteen Shades of Crazy . Americymru spoke to Rachel about her work and...
Read MoreRead our review of 'The Vanity Rooms' here ... Peter Luther is an author of exquisitely crafted and electrifying supernatural thrillers. Peter, who lives in Cardiff has been referred to as the ''Welsh Dan Brown''. In 2010 AmeriCymru spoke to Peter about this comparison, and other matters including his new ( then forthcoming ) novel The Vanity Rooms Visit Peter''s website here .. AmeriCymru: In what way has your background as a lawyer ( attorney ) helped you as a fiction writer? Peter: In my opinion there is no better training for writing...
Read MoreAmeriCymru spoke to Lyn Ebenezer about his fascinating new book 'Operation Julie' published by Y Lolfa. The book investigates what was at the time, the biggest UK police anti drugs operation in history. Allegedly 50% of the world's LSD supply was manufactured in the small Welsh village of Llanddewi Brefi. For more background information read the press release here . AmeriCymru: When did you first become aware of Operation Julie? Care to tell our readers a bit about the background? Lyn: I did not become fully aware of Operation Julie until the week-end of the...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > Read our review of 'Always The Love of Someone' here ... ''Huw Lawrence''s stories have three times won in the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition, have gained three Cinnamon Awards and a Bridport prize. He was runner up for the 2009 Tom Gallon prize. Born in Llanelli, he trained as a teacher in Swansea, continuing his education at Manchester and Cornell Universities. He spent several years doing a variety of labouring jobs in Manchester and the Ffestiniog area of north Wales and now lives in Aberystwyth.'' ......
Read MorePenny Simpson is a novel and short story author, and the winner of the 2007 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition in Wales. Trained as a journalist and working mainly in the arts, she was Barclays/TMA Theatre Critic of the Year in 1991. An author of short stories which have appeared in anthologies from Bloomsbury, Honno and Virago. Her debut novel is The Banquet of Esther Rosenbaum . Penny speaks about her first novel in this exclusive interview with Americymru:- ... ... AmeriCymru: What inspired the concept for “The Banquet of Esther Rosenbaum?” Penny: It began...
Read MoreFflur Dafydd is an award winning novelist, singer-songwriter and musician. Whilst predominantly publishing in Welsh, she also writes in English. She records in Welsh, and her work is regularly played on Radio Cymru. She spoke to Americymru ahead of her forthcoming visit to Portland, Oregon with the International Writing Program ( 10/3-10/9 2009 ) .For full details of her visit and associated activities go to this page. Americymru: You're a very prolific artist: at 31 you've published four novels, a collection of poems and short stories and non-fiction, written plays,...
Read More1 CommentsRead our 2015 interview with Peter Thabit Jones here The Man Peter Thabit Jones was born in Swansea, Wales, Great Britain, in 1951. His work, particularly his poetry for children, has been featured in books from publishers such as Penguin, Puffin Books, Letts Educational, Macmillan Educational, Heinemann Educational, Oxford University Press, Simon and Schuster, Heinemann Centaur (South Africa), Scholastic Publications (Australia), and Titul Publishers/ British Council Moscow (Russia). The latter was a major British Council Moscow educational project to teach...
Read More4 Comments"Chris Keil, an accomplished linguist, ran an upland sheep farm for nearly twenty years. He has worked as a Brixton schoolteacher and a teacher of English as a foreign language. He has specialised in marketing Welsh lamb in Europe, and in collective memory and representations of the Holocaust. He lectures worldwide and has published on dissonant heritage and traumatic memory at Auschwitz. He lives in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, and currently lectures at Trinity College, Carmarthen. Liminal is his second novel." Alcemi Catalogue 2009 In this exclusive interview with Americymru,...
Read MorePeter N. Williams 'Wales And The Welsh' Review AmeriCymru: We note from your biography that you are a member of The Gorsedd of Bards. How did you become a member and what, if any, ceremony was involved. Can you explain for an American audience what the Gorsedd is and what it does? Peter: I have to refer you to my book on the Gorsedd. I became a member in l999 at the National Eisteddfod in Llangefni, Ynys Mon (Anglesey) because of my work for Welsh Americans and Wales, especially for my organizing a Welsh society in Delaware (of which i am president), lecturing...
Read MoreWriter Niall Griffiths is the author of six novels, radio plays, numerous travel articles and lives in Aberystwyth, Wales. AMERICYMRU: How did you start writing? NIALL GRIFFITHS: I picked up a pen. Honestly; it seems to've been that simple. I don't know why. There was never any books in the house, but it was full of stories, especially from my grandparents, of the old countries, the war, ghost stories etc. I don't remember the very first thing I wrote but it happened as soon as my motor functions were developed enough to hold a pen. I wrote novels at a very young age, about giant...
Read More3 CommentsBack to Welsh Literature page > ... In this the third and final part of Welsh author Rhys Hughes'' interview with Americymru he poses a number of ( rhetorical? ) questions to the reader. Feel free to respond to any or all of them in the comments box below. This is part 3 of an in depth interview with Rhys Hughes , the Welsh Wizard of the Absurd. Rhys was born in Porthcawl, South Wales in 1966 and plans to write exactly 1000 stories in his lifetime ( see his blog here:- The Spoons That Are My Ears ). When this...
Read More4 CommentsBack to Welsh Literature page > ... This is part 2 of an in depth interview with Rhys Hughes , the Welsh Wizard of the Absurd. Rhys was born in Porthcawl, South Wales in 1966 and plans to write exactly 1000 stories in his lifetime ( see his blog here:- The Spoons That Are My Ears ). When this interview was originally published he had completed 468. Currently his total stands at 600+. Rhys can also be found on the web at:- The Rime of The Post Modern Mariner and on his Facebook page. AmeriCymru:...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > ... This is part 1 of an in depth interview with Rhys Hughes , the Welsh Wizard of the Absurd. Rhys was born in Porthcawl, South Wales in 1966 and plans to write exactly 1000 stories in his lifetime ( see his blog here:- The Spoons That Are My Ears ). When this interview was originally published he had completed 468. Currently his total stands at 600+. Rhys can also be found on the web at:- The Rime of The Post Modern Mariner and on his Facebook page....
Read MoreLloyd Jones will need no introduction to most of our readers. He is the author of two novels, "Mr Vogel" and "Mr Cassini", and has recently published his first collection of short stories ( "My First Coloring Book" ). In this interview he speaks about his life, work and future literary plans Many of your writings revolve around journeys or more particularly walks. It is well known that you do a lot of hill-walking/hiking in "real life". What initially attracted you to this form of recreation? "I had been very ill, mentally and physically, following a major breakdown...
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