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“From my early childhood I was fascinated by the self-sufficiency and wisdom of the people who lived ‘on the mountain’ near my childhood home. I wanted to know their story. Over the years that I interviewed people and drafted this book I learned about a whole hidden way of life. I acquired a huge respect for the people of the hilltops, their courage, ingenuity and wit,” said Lilla Pennant.
The book is a snapshot of a traditional way of living, with the oral histories collected by the author in the 1980s, from the community in which she grew up. At the time, one particular family lived in a farmhouse that showed barely any trace of the twentieth century. Pennant tells the story of the people who lived in the Welsh hills, who were neither farmers, nor employees, but lived by their wits on dark winter nights with a steady wind.
“I didn’t intend to write this book. I set out to write about the rich history from this part of the Vale of Clwyd, but I am not a historian, and it was not going well. I started writing from the oral history that I had collected, and the book took off! Since writing this book in the 1980s, genetic research has found that descendants of the earliest surviving race in all the British Isles were to be found not in Scotland or Ireland, but in North Wales, or the mountainous world of North-West Wales to be precise,” said Lilla Pennant.
Reviewers have described On a Dark Night with Enough Wind as:
“Lilla Pennant has created an important piece of work documenting the stories of a life in Tremeirchion and Sodom by seeking out and listening to the oral stories of people living on the mountain and then committing the stories to paper for future generations to read.” Roy Hogben
“The book had me gripped from beginning to end. It is an interesting mix of a mystery story that turns into a elegy for a lost way of life. Above all I was moved by her obvious love for the people she writes about and her desire to make sure that their stories are not lost.” Jessica Starmer
Lilla Pennant grew up in Wales. She has worked as a freelance writer in London and New York. She has written two small books on remarkable civilian stories from both world wars. She has also worked in the field of family violence and published professional articles in this field. Lilla Pennant currently lives in the United States.
On a Dark Night with Enough Wind by Lilla Pennant (£7.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.
Introducing Cardiff's very own 'Tiny Trumpeter Steffan Raynor Owen and Sing For Wales event anthem coach Gwenno Dafydd. This will be the third time that the anthem is performed worldwide to thank everyone for the part they have played in Wales during the covid crisis.
Gan gyflwyno 'Trwmpedwr Tidli Twt' unigryw Caerdydd, Steffan Raynor Owen sy'n cyfeilio i anogydd anthem digwyddiad Sing For Wales Gwenno Dafydd. Hwn fydd y trydedd tro i'r anthem gael ei fferfformio led-led y byd i ddiolch i bawb am y rhan mae nhw wedi ei chwarae yng Nghymru yn ystod y cyfnod cofidus.
Hospital ship
a sailing cathedral that brings its crosses
and enormous floating decks of sick beds
beautiful impressive hopeful
and quietly terrifying
cruise ships suddenly
no one wants or
wants to be aboard
no port in this health storm
the talk the imagery is of hospital wards
I've spent too much time this year
in the halls of our National Health Service
but I wasn’t to know
entertainment is replaced
by the thirst for information
which in turn is replaced
by a thirst for entertainment
anything that will blank out
the unfolding horror
every day we sit down
turn on our televisions
and watch the Government update
Ministers seem to be getting younger
at least those that have avoided symptoms
and as the statistics pile up
into a metastatic mess of numerals
we begin to feel casualty-drunk
and unconfident that the Cabinet
is up to the task in hand
so many people are dying
that they are beginning to have names
attached to their passing
such as the comic Eddie Large
I didn't know he was Scottish
the way our accents are quietly dropped
Honor Blackman expires
age 94 of "natural causes"
which is now double speak
for non Covid-19 death
farewell Pussy Galore
Our World King who art in Heaven
abhorred be thy name
thy fiefdom scum
thy will be dumb in slums
as it is in Number 10
give us this day our daily dead
and forgive us our trepassses
as we forgive those that trespass against us
and lead us not into infection
but deliver us our Hermes
for thine is the freedom
of power and fake stories
forever and never
amen
Two young men in the back of a small car
accepting balloons of nitrous oxide
the drum and bass booming
they turn it down a touch
as I approach
but are not laughing
what sort of animals are they?
I pull in next to them
the only other vehicle
on this bumpy patch of elevated ground
the gateway to the hills
to a sanctuary that has no walls
but a view
a saner place of isolation
in a curfew
what sort of animal am I?
considering whether a drone
winging and glinting in sunlight
could be making a note
of my car’s registration number
for the incipient police state
the sheriffs of our private moments
getting away from it all
from nothing at all
what sort of animals are we?
STOP PRESS: The competition is open for voting till June but the outstanding quality of Nichola's work has already been recognised with the award of the 'Elizabeth Hosking Prize For Watercolor'. We all wish Nichola the best of luck next month. VOTE HERE
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Nichola: Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to share my work with your members and communicate.
My Tansy Beetle, watercolour has been shortlisted for Wildlife Artist of the Year 2020. My work is one of 159 artworks selected from an incredible 1,200 entries from across the world.
It really is a huge honour to be shortlisted by this competition. Through art, we can raise awareness and support wildlife conservation. This exhibition is usually held in Mall galleries London but due to the pandemic is now a live online exhibition. You can view my work here:
https://davidshepherd.org/wildlife-art/artwork/tansy-beetle/
My work is featured in the category Facing Extinction. This category invites artists to celebrate these vulnerable species, capturing their behaviour and importance in striking imagery. They may be gone tomorrow if we do not act today.
AmeriCymru: In 2005, you became a visiting artist for WNO. What does this entail? Where can people see samples of your work online?
Nichola: I observe and draw the rehearsals and performances on stage. For over ten years, I’ve been documenting a visual history of Welsh National Opera through the medium of drawing alongside my sister Sarah Hope, who is also a professional fine artist. Our work is held in public and private collections across Europe, Australia and the USA
Working from live performance requires a responsive gaze and the ability to capture movement and emotion with immediacy and confidence. Watercolour allows me to work with colour in a very fluid way and this medium offers up unique qualities.
I’ve been fortunate to draw two productions at Lyric Opera, Chicago. It was an amazing experience and I fell in love with the city, the friendly people and crazy weather!
My work can be viewed on www.nicholahope.com or on social media - Instagram and Facebook @thedrawingeye
AmeriCymru: In 2019 you were invited to do a drawing demonstration in the galleries of the National Museum of Wales for the public event 'After Dark'. Care to tell us more about this experience?
Nichola: I began drawing natural history specimens at National Museum Wales in 2019. I’m currently interested in shorebirds connected to Wales. We have a diverse range of habitats that are important for birds. Some, such as the seabird colonies of Anglesey and Pembrokeshire, have probably been that way for thousands of years.
I was invited to do a drawing demonstration at After Dark, an event held by National Museum Wales in Cardiff. The museum was opened up in the evening and was attended by a thousand members of the public.
The museum’s taxidermy collection was used as an inspiration for drawing. I chose to draw a grey heron in ink and wash. I hope that this inspired people to look closely and respond creatively to the wonderful wildlife we have.
AmeriCymru: Your work is clearly inspired by the animal world. What can you tell us about your 2019 exhibition - 'London Rats' - at the Workers Galley in Porth?
Nichola: The Workers gallery is located in the little village of Porth, South Wales. Three of my works from a series called London Rats were selected for the exhibition Drawn to Life. This aligned with the Big Draw festival 2019. Over 25 countries including Wales participate in this worldwide campaign each year.
London Rats is inspired by the role of rats as Other in folklore and history. Rats are hugely symbolic. Interestingly it’s year of the rat!
AmeriCymru: What's next for Nichola Hope? Any new exhibitions or events?
Nichola: My exhibition of opera paintings and drawings at the Pierhead Building, Senedd Welsh Assembly was due to open in May 2020 but has been postponed due to the pandemic. I’m looking forward to rescheduling the show for a future date!
I’ll be submitting a sketchbook to the Brooklyn Art Library, NYC later this year and that will be part of a touring exhibition and will be digitized.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Nichola: I admire how AmeriCymru raises Wales’ cultural profile to American audiences and I’d love to see more cross Atlantic artistic collaborations between Welsh and American artists in the future.
You can vote for Nichola Hope for the People’s choice award here: Wildlife Artist of the Year 2020
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Artwork TITLE: TANSY BEETLE |
Our loved chieftain
our revered penteulu
a fulcrum to us dreaming men
in the counting house of valour
a cogent leader
a tangent's goader
a guardian's guardian
a helmet against life’s iniquities
your troop of spear pointers
pennants fluttering
neither scabbard-scuppered
nor burdened with hilt-guilt
but astride hungry-mouthed mounts
the thin line of depleted sons
facing the advance of
marauding North Men
Mercians and Scotti
we dragooned Demetae dragons
toe to toe with those who dare
a foothold in the shoes of our country
and then at Hyddgen again
feuding uphill
rising to the Flemings
with peat encrusted shins
flying over the tussocks
on skirmish shriek lungs
in memory of our history
in defence of our homeland
in the service of our captain
and the increment of tales
to be told around merciful firesides
in the threadbare centuries
of our mute aftermath
our petrified veneration
(penteulu- the rank of captain of the household bodyguard in medieval Wales. In modern usage it means head of a household or, more literally, head of a family)
How many homes does
the Secretary of State
for Housing Communities
and Local Government need?
how many houses does anyone need?
those deprived property-rich people
trying to break out of the boredom
to be in another splendid isolation
200 miles or more from where
they live most of the time
incurring the wrath of locals
vigilant against the spread of germs
and holiday home owners
and the "stars"
(what does a star actually do?)
suggesting that they feel a little
incarcerated in their mansions
on video links live from throne-like wicker chairs
on patios on which starter homes could be built
or a kitchen for the 5000
(who did they used to be?)
and did local authorities succeed
in accommodating homeless people
when they were discovered to be
especially vulnerable to the virus
though they had never previously managed to do so?
and how much longer
will we have to entertain
our double-standard political "leadership"
directing us to stay in our homes
no matter how grand
no matter how cramped
no matter how merely aspirational?
I am an artist of Welsh and Irish Nationality, born in Cardiff and living and working in South Wales and London. In 2006, I became a visiting artist for Welsh National Opera where I developed an interest in using drawing and paint as a medium to depict movement and theatricality. In 2019, I was given access to draw natural history specimens at Museum Wales. My work is inspired by figuration, our relationships with the animal world and human condition. I am a published illustrator and have exhibited widely across the UK and abroad.
I'm delighted that my Tansy Beetle, watercolour has been shortlisted for Wildlife Artist of the Year. My work is one of 159 artworks selected from an incredible 1,200 entries from across the world. All the work is for sale and 50% of the proceeds are donated to help protect precious wildlife. The ‘Facing Extinction’ category celebrates vulnerable species at risk of extinction, capturing their behaviour and importance in striking imagery. They may be gone tomorrow if we do not act today.
My artwork, people can vote for this for the People’s choice award here: https://davidshepherd.org/wildlife-art/artwork/tansy-beetle/
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Artwork TITLE: TANSY BEETLE |
