Blogs
You'll find the url below and links to more details about the authors and their works. Personally, I'm voting for Gee Williams. www.walesonline.co.uk/bookoftheyear More details here:- http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/books-in-wales/book-of-the-year/
Have you voted for Wales, if not, please do and tell all your friends. Only two days to go...
By Alexandra Marr, 2009-06-09
A new novel based on Welsh history has been reprinted within two months of its release as a result of a great response in the USA. Tongue Tied by Peter Griffiths, a Welsh author whos lived in America for many years, is set in the Tryweryn Valley, the Rhondda, and around Llanelli. It has proved to be a hit with American readers and in particular with book club enthusiasts who have praised the author as a wonderful storyteller and the novel as a wonderful story about friendship and the ties that bind.
Dewi Roberts who has reviewed the book for Gwales says: This is a powerful story which explores relationships, religion, language and identity. On the subject of national identity, Griffiths states, One is Welsh if one feels Welsh. The novel recognises the tension that arises at times between the majority of Welsh people who cant speak Welsh and the minority who can; and the divisiveness of the language in these instances is compared, with sadness, to its crucial unifying role over the millennia.
The author was inspired to write Tongue Tied twenty-five years after leaving his homeland. He says, In 2000, while driving from Heathrow to Bala, climbing the Berwyn from Llangynog, I distinctly remember being moved by the grandeur, and feeling ludicrously patriotic. How could I not write a novel glorifying Wales, its people, and its language? It would be aimed partly at my circle of acquaintances in the States, who go weak at the knees over Scotland and Ireland, but rarely over Wales.
A book signing event has been arranged for 6.30pm on 10 June at Awen Meirion, Bala, close to where the novel is set.
Peter Griffiths, who is a Welsh speaker, was born in Cynheidre near Llanelli in Carmarthenshire. He now divides his time between Swansea and Denver. This is his first novel.