Blogs
If you can remember the 60s, you werent there! Yet in the 1960s, a singular and beautiful church was built in the unassuming town of Gorseinon. This church is the only one of its kind in Wales and one of only three in the UK. The church was built entirely from funds raised by the parish. The story of how a tiny Welsh parish of only 200 could raise the money to pull off such a remarkable feat and the meaning behind the rare design, is told in a new book called Fanfare for a Church . A book to rival Dan Browns except that this is a true story! Yeah Dai Dando, Up Close, The Schoolboy, Fugitive Three
| AmeriCymru was delighted recently, to be given the chance to review a range of titles from one of Wales smaller independent publishers - Cinnamon Press. The four titles reviewed below will be available along with many others from our booths at NAFOW , Left Coast Eisteddfod and Wordstock . We should also point out that there is still one week to go in our competition to win a copy of Harrison Solow's critically acclaimed 'Felicity And Barbara Pym' ( also published by Cinnamon Press. ) For a review and competition details please follow this link:- Felicity And Barbara Pym - Harrison Solow. Review & Competition. |
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Dai Dando hails from Pontypridd and works for a building society in Cardiff. Beer, rugby and a series of amorous adventures more than adequately occupy his leisure time. Until one night after offering his sofa to a late night drunk, who missed his last bus home, life starts to take a more reflective turn. Simultaneously his most recent affair degenerates into a Brian Rix farce, albeit without the polka dot boxer shorts. These events inspire the protagonist to a confused but none the less heartfelt and poignant reflection on the nature of life in modern Wales and upon the vexed question of Welsh identity. A hugely entertaining but surprisingly subtle and profound work from Welsh author and literary journalist, Meic Stephens .
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Shelagh Weeks' portrait of the collapse and rebuilding of a family very well captures the mutations of real human relationships: parent and child, husband and wife, brothers and sisters. Her characters' experience hum with recognizable authentic history and emotion. Here is the pang of loss as things change and pass away, the hope of new opportunity and future, bitter acceptance of disappointment, things we all know intimately in our own lives and our own families. Her characters are well drawn, their motivations sympathetic and her prose gently illustrates their story.
Up Close follows a family with three young children on holiday as the parents' marriage collapses. Years later, they are reunited at a family christmas get together, in South Wales and find resolution of some difficulties and new ways to confront others.
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Holly Howit t is a writer of microfictions, novellas and novels, as well as non-fiction and academic pieces. The Schoolboy has been selected for the Aur Pur/Pure Gold library promotion She recently read at the Hay Festival as part of an event based around coming of age novels. Also on the panel were Stephen May, author of Tag (Cinnamon Press), and Elaine Walker, author of The Horses (Cinnamon Press). All three titles will be available at the AmeriCymru booths at NAFOW, the Left Coast Eisteddfod and Wordstock. This is a challenging book. The central character is a 16 year old sociopath whose prurient obsessions and horrific acts of violence are conveniently masked by his rather tenuous grip on reality. Whilst he is certainly not a likeable character one cannot altogether avoid empathising with him . This fact is a tribute to the extraordinary quality of Holly Howitt's writing and the main , rather unsettling, appeal of this work. |
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Mike Jenkins is a bard of the South Wales working class. He is a former editor of Poetry Wales and a long-term coeditor of Red Poets' He taught English at Radyr Comprehensive School in Cardiff for nearly a decade. He lives in Merthyr Tydfil and has done for 30 years. AmeriCymru is especially grateful to him for his contribution to this site entitled 'The Journey of The Taf' which can be found here:- http://americymru.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-journey-of-the-taf
Impress Review : - "Sharp, funny, fast paced and precisely executed, The Fugitive Three is a dazzling display of dialect, plot and characters who, despite their flaws, are completely believable and eminently likeable." |
| | Cinnamon Press is a small, independent publisher based in Wales & publishing the best new poetry and fiction with occassional non fiction and cross-genre titles. Books come from Wales, the UK and the world. We run writing competitions twice a year to find new voices in poetry and fiction with three categories (novel/novella; poetry; short stories) - each category has a cash prize plus publication. You can find our excellent list of titles at www.cinnamonpress.com " |
Coming in October from Seren - 'The Dreams of Max and Ronnie' by Niall Griffiths in the 'New Stories From The Mabinogion Series'. Niall will be at this years Left Coast Eisteddod and appearing at Wordstock in Portland , Oregon in October this year.
The Dreams of Max and Ronnie: New Stories from the Mabinogion by Niall Griffiths - book cover, description, publication history.
A message to any members likely to be in Wales during Eisteddfod week. I'll be very glad to see you at the Eisteddfod on Tuesday 3rd August. I'll be at Y Lolfa's stand from about 2pm and, even if you don't want to buy a book or have one signed, come and say hallo so I won't be lonely!!
Best wishes
Gaynor
6. Special Promotions
Members wishing to launch 'special promotions' for goods or services which they provide, or on behalf of third parties, must first clear this with the site creator and moderators. Such 'special promotions' will be allowed to proceed if they are deemed appropriate. Site decisions on 'special promotions' are final and no lengthy email correspondence will be entered into in the event of a rejection.
Individually messaging all members on this site and dropping links on their home pages will lead to suspension for spamming. We cannot allow this practice as it vastly degrades the effectiveness of the site. Many of our members have something that they wish to promote. If everyone dropped a link on everyone else's home page this would lead to a free for all and many members would elect to adjust their email preferences to ignore all emails from AmeriCymru. Such anti-social practices spoil things for others and adversely affect the integrity of the site.
If you have something you wish to promote via this site please contact us and we will be only too happy to assist. We are able to offer featured interviews/articles/events/giveaway competitions etc which will be syndicated via AmeriCymru and other social sites. Provided your promotion has Welsh relevance there is no charge for this service. We thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
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Diolch
" AN EISTEDDFOD NEEDS MUCH NURTURE, SOME OF WHICH IS TEDIUM,
FUNDING TOO IS A FACT OF LIFE, SO LET TONGUE TIED BE YOUR MEDIUM."
"Hello. My name is Peter Griffiths and I've a message for members of Americymru and readers of Ceri's blog. Sadly, the Left Coast Eisteddfod's effort to win funding from Chase fell tantalisingly short; a mere 32 votes short on a base of 1449. Had there not been a glitch in the voting system on the final day, LCE's bid would almost certainly have succeeded. Those of you who voted must feel disappointed, and those who tried but failed, frustrated; above all, our cheerleaders, Ceri and Gabbi must feel gutted. But there's hope, a second chance beckons; these negative emotions may be eradicated at a stroke. I've donated 100 copies of my novel Tongue Tied, published 15 months ago by Y Lolfa, to the Eisteddfod. Copies are priced at $16, so should you collectively rise to the occasion and buy the lot, the Eisteddfod would gain $1600. Steve Dube wrote of Tongue Tied in the Western Mail in Cardiff, "As the author says, his book aims to entertain, but also to glorify Wales, its people, and its language. It does all of that." Similarly, Lise Hull wrote in Ninnau, "This tale of what it means to be Welsh should be on evereone's reading list, whether they've been to Wales or not, whether they are Welsh or not." These comments should reassure you that a purchase of Tongue Tied, as well as being an altruistic gesture in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod,is also a guarantee of reading pleasure.. "
AmeriCymru is honoured, pleased, and excited to announce that author Peter Griffiths has very generously donated the proceeds of the sale of one hundred copies of his novel, Tongue Tied, to the Left Coast Eisteddfod. For each copy sold, the Eisteddfod will receive $16 and the buyer an autographed and dedicated copy of Tongue Tied. This is a wonderful way for you to support the Eisteddfod while at the same time enjoying a novel which Lise Hull describes in Ninnau as "a tale of what it means to be Welsh and which should be on everyone's reading list, whether they have been to Wales or not, whether they are Welsh or not.". ( http://www.ylolfa.com/henstraeon.php?first=249 )
Tongue Tied is set in the Tryweryn valley, in the shadow of Arenig Fawr, in North Wales, and in the Rhondda and around Llanelli in the South. The novel recognises the tension that has arisen at times between the majority of Welsh people who can't speak Welsh and the minority who can. It suggests, with respect to national identity, that "one is Welsh if one feels Welsh." As to style, Tongue Tied is strongly influenced by Cynghanedd, an old and very strict Welsh poetic form. As a result, the novel abounds with alliterations and poetry within prose.
Tongue Tied was published by Y Lolfa just over a year ago and is already closing in on its fourth printing.
To get your copy, please send $19.00USD (shipping is already included) to MLMEF P.O. Box 80293, Multnomah Village, 97280 * or use the PayPal 'Donate' button in the right hand column on this page. If you use the PayPal option please email us at americymru@gmail.com with your postal address. Please make checks payable to the 'Meriwether Lewis Memorial Eisteddfod Foundation'. Diolch!
AN UNPUBLISHED SELF-PORTRAIT BY DYLAN THOMAS IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE SEVENTH QUARRY
By Peter Thabit Jones, 2010-07-16
SUMMER 2010
The twelfth issue of the magazine features work from Wales, England, Holland, Romania, Italy, Catalonia, Israel, South Africa, Canada, and America. It also includes a POET PROFILE of American poet Allan Peterson and an interview with leading Catalan poet August Bover. An article by America's John Edwin Cowen, which is entitled The Anchored Angel and the Dylan Thomas/Jos Garcia Villa Connection , is accompanied by a rare self-portrait by Dylan Thomas, unpublished until its appearance in THE SEVENTH QUARRY. Permission to publish the sketch was given by John Edwin Cowen, Peter's friend and the Literary Trustee for the Jos Garcia Villa Estate.
A new chapbook by Aeronwy Thomas, daughter of Dylan Thomas, and America's Maria Mazziotti Gillan
By Peter Thabit Jones, 2010-07-16
Published Summer 2010
POET TO POET #3/ NIGHTWATCH by Aeronwy Thomas and Maria Mazziotti Gillan, published by Cross-Cultural Communications and The Seventh Quarry Press. The third chapbook in the series edited by Stanley H. Barkan and Peter Thabit Jones. Each chapbook features a commissioned American poet and a commissioned British poet. This latest one has many of the well-known poems by Aeronwy Thomas, daughter of Dylan Thomas, and work by Maria Mazziotti Gillan, who is one of Americas finest poets and the recipient of an impressive array of major awards.
Available in America from Cross-Cultural Communications, 239 Wynsum Avenue, Merrick, New York 11566-4725, U.S.A. Available in U.K. from The Seventh Quarry Press, Dan-y-bryn, 74 Cwm Level Road, Brynhyfryd, Swansea, SA5 9DY, Wales, Great Britain. Price $10/3.50.
(c) Peter Thabit Jones, 2010 Aeronwy in Boston during her and Peter's American Tour in 2008
