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A new, comprehensive and revelatory biography of Maestro Carwyn James is published just as Warren Gatland’s British and Irish Lions take on the All Blacks in the latest test series. As Gatland’s Lions take on the mighty New Zealanders, thoughts inevitably go back to the one and only time that the Lions have beaten them in a Test series, under the leadership of the inimitable Carwyn James. Under his coaching, they secured a historical 3-1 victory in 1971. Into the Wind: the life of Carwyn James by Alun Gibbard, is a thoroughly researched, comprehensive look at the life of a man...
Read MoreMORE FROM 'Y TEITHIWR TWP' HERE The Hay Festival is a two-week affair. I spent the second week at the festival working as a steward. Thus, I was able to experience the festival for free, and get fed along the way. I worked two, sometimes all three shifts, on most days. Consequently, breakfast, lunch and dinner were covered by the event. They treated us well, and I ate far more than I am normally used to eating. And being able to experience the events completed my intellectual feasting as well. Y Teithiwr Twp slowly became Y Teithiwr Tew (The Fat Traveler). My...
Read More1 CommentsMORE FROM 'Y TEITHIWR TWP' HERE On my third day at Hay-on-Wye, The New Welsh Review hosted a writing awards ceremony. The ceremony was sponsored by AmeriCymru and Aberystwyth University. I puttered my way to the Summer House. It was a particularly warm Welsh day. The festival had seen little rain, which may be attributed as a minor miracle. At the festival in Cornwall, I found an injured pigeon, jokingly presented it to the set up crew as dinner, but when I let it go, it flew away. With the pigeon healing event I had already considered calling the pope to ask for the...
Read MoreMORE FROM 'Y TEITHIWR TWP' HERE I was flying United. That was a paragraph in itself, don’t you think? I tried to pack everything as tightly as possible. I was planning to have nothing but carry-ons. I am a ridiculously passionate tea nerd that hates coffee. (Na, dw i ddim yn hoffi coffi. Dw i’n casau coffi!) The day before traveling, I stuffed eight ounces of loose-leaf tea into the metal canister for my small camp fuel stove. It wasn’t until I arrived at the airport that I nervously stood in the TSA line wondering what they would make of a canister of dried...
Read More1 CommentsNew Welsh Review, in association with Aberystwyth University and AmeriCymru, announced the winners of the New Welsh Writing Awards 2017: Aberystwyth University Prize for Memoir, and AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella, at a ceremony at the Hay Festival on Thursday 1 June. The Prizes celebrate the best in both Memoir and Novella from emerging and established writers, and received entries from both new and established writers based in Wales, England and the US. New Welsh Review editor Gwen Davies judged both categories with the help of students from Aberystwyth University. The Novella...
Read MoreMORE FROM PAUL STEFFAN JONES: CLICK HERE Dare we dream of independence for our country? Have we the courage to go it alone? King Arthur has not been resurrected. Neither has Owain Glyndwr. We are tired of waiting for Y Mab Darogan, the Son of Prophecy, first predicted many years ago as the saviour of our country in its hour of need. It’s time to realise in fact that we are all the Children of Prophecy and that we need to dare to wake up to our own potential. Confidence is a requisite ingredient to a successful life. Wales has endured over seven centuries of being...
Read MoreMORE FROM 'Y TEITHIWR TWP' HERE I am an obnoxious Cymrophile. Everyone I know knows that I am obsessed with all things Welsh. Over the last dozen years, I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Wales. It has always been in month to six-week increments. There are dragons all over my apartment. The lilting noises of that beautiful singsong language regularly float out my windows in blaring BBC Radio Cymru programs and online Welsh Lessons. But now, I am packing the dragons away, and moving out. I have four days left to accomplish this task, because I am becoming...
Read More1 CommentsThe bestselling autobiography of the first superstars of rugby union, Terry Davies, has reached the shortlist of rugby book of the year at a prestigious awards. Terry Davies - Wales’s First Superstar Fullback by Terry Davies with Geraint Thomas has reached the The Cross Sports Book Awards Rugby Book of the Year short list. ‘The Cross Sports Book Awards is the major annual promotion for sports writing and publishing leading to Father’s Day. The Awards will be filmed and aired on Sky Sports. In his autobiography, Terry Davies reveals the truth about his life in rugby in the...
Read MoreThe mid-sixties was a period of protest and fun a young man Robat Gruffudd took advantage of the new small offset printing process to produce cheeky, colourful material for the Welsh youth of the time. He had produced the first issue of ‘Lol’, a satirical magazine, with a friend while at Bangor University, before settling in Talybont, where his new wife, Enid, was a teacher at the primary school. ‘It was an exciting and hopeful period, but I was lucky too. Talybont turned out to be the perfect location - a friendly, cultured village right in the middle of Wales’ said Robat,...
Read MoreNew Welsh Review in association with Aberystwyth University and AmeriCymru is delighted to announce the longlists for the New Welsh Writing Awards 2017: Aberystwyth University Prize for Memoir and AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella. Now in its third year, the Awards were set up to champion the best short-form writing in English and has previously run non-fiction categories with the WWF Cymru Prize for Writing on Nature, won by Eluned Gramich in 2015 and the University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing, won by Mandy Sutter in 2016. The Awards 2017 opened up entries from the US...
Read MoreY Lolfa has published a new edition of its bestselling guide book to the must see places in Wales. Wales in 100 Places is the updated version of Wales 100 places to see before you die which won the Welsh Book of the Year prize and was adapted to a popular television series on S4C. The publishing of the new version of the acclaimed volume follows the death of author and historian John Davies in 2015. Wales in 100 Places combines words and pictures from two leading authorities in their fields; the late historian John Davies shares his remarkable depth of knowledge of the...
Read MoreBUY 'RAREBIT AND RIOJA' HERE Dylan & Llinos Rowlands A Welsh cookbook by two local Welsh entrepreneurs has won a prestigious French cookbook award. Rarebit and Rioja: Recipes and wine tales from Wales by Dylan and Llinos Rowlands of Gwin Dylanwad Wine, Dolgellau, has been declared the national British winner in its category, Best Food and Wine at the 2017 Gourmand Awards. The Welsh food and wine book stems from the two entrepreneurs’ 30 years experience in the trade. The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau....
Read MoreY Lolfa publishers will begin their 50 th anniversary celebrations earlier than expected as they launch the private diaries of Y Lolfa founder and co-founder of Lol magazine, Robat Gruffudd, on Friday . Lolian is a collection of ‘eccentric and too honest’ personal diaries that Robat Gruffudd kept since the sixties. Written over the last fifty years, the diaries are published for the first time ever this year. The diaries are published before the 50 th anniversary of Y Lolfa which will be celebrated next year. The book delves into the publishing world but Robat emphasises...
Read MoreA year’s worth of delicious recipes… The cook Lisa Fearn will be launching her first recipe book Blas / Taste at Aberglasney Gardens on Wednesday, 23 November. Blas / Taste contains over 90 delicious family-friendly recipes and is presented bilingually. The book also includes suggestions for activities to keep the children busy, creating home-made gifts, quick ideas and making the most of ingredients from the garden. Lisa Fearn is a Carmarthen girl and a mother of five. She established a gardening and cookery school called The Pumpkin Patch in Allt y Gog Farm in Felin-wen,...
Read MoreA true story that survived through the oral tradition is the subject of a new novel published by Y Lolfa publishers this week. Pantywennol by Ruth Richards tells the story of Elin Ifans – a lively young woman in her teens who is hindered by the rural life of Pen Llŷn during the nineteenth century. Because of her obsession with the supernatural Elin is given the name ‘Bwgan Pantywennol’ (the Pantywennol Ghost) by the locals, which raises tensions and conflicts within the community between religion and supersition. The novel is based on a true story which was kept alive by word...
Read MoreRobat Gruffudd, the founder of Y Lolfa publishers and co-founder of Lol magazine, reveals all in private diaries written over the last fifty years that are published for the first time ever this week. Lolian is a collection of ‘eccentric and too honest’ diaries that Robat Gruffudd kept since the sixties. It contains a mixture of humours ancedotes, provoking comments and memories about the twists and turns working in the pubilshing industry and meetings with authors and beyond in Wales and in bars on the continent. As a language campaigner since his early years, Robat goes into...
Read MoreWelsh football fans have come together to celebrate the success of the Welsh football team at the Euros in a new book that is published this week. Merci Cymru is a collection of essays and articles to celebrate and remember the Wales football team’s success this year. The book was written by fans, commentators and some of the game’s biggest names including Dylan Ebenezer, the former player and academic Laura McAllister and poets Aled Gwyn and Rhys Iorwerth. The book depicts the buzz in the games, on the streets, in the fanzones, on the couch and in the pubs and offers a very vivid...
Read MoreAt 10.30am on Friday 11 th of November, at Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital in Cardiff, Lucy Owen will be launching her first book for children – Boo-a-bog in the Park . A familiar face on BBC Wales, Lucy is also an Ambassador for the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital Charity and all royalties from the sale of the book will be donated to the charity. Children from the hospital will be invited to celebrate the launch of the new book and enjoy a storytelling session with Lucy and husband Rhodri Owen, whose Welsh adaptation of the book, Bw-a-bog yn y Parc , will also be launched...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > The New Welsh Writing Awards 2017, run by New Welsh Review in association with Aberystwyth University and AmeriCymru, opens for entries on 26 September with two new categories, the Aberystwyth University Prize for Memoir and AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella. Now in its third year, the Awards were set up to champion the best short-form writing in English and has previously run non-fiction categories with the WWF Cymru Prize for Writing on Nature, won by Eluned Gramich in 2015 and the University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing, won by...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > With Autumn closing in what better way pass the time than with a good book? For aficianados of crime fiction a good murder story is the ideal for whiling away the dark evening hours. Check out our selection of Welsh crime writers from Canada, the USA, Europe and Wales itself. Happy reading! Andrew Peters AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh crime fiction writer and roving guitarist Andrew Peters:- " I was born in beautiful Barry on June 21st many years ago. That''s the longest day of the year ("Bloody felt like it too" Mrs GE Peters) so I...
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