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As a follow up to our recent announcement that Lesley Coburn will be contributing a story to Issue 2 of eto we are pleased today to present an interview with the author.

Lesley Coburn is a writer from the Rhondda in south Wales and ''Filling Space'' was originally self published in 2006.

Lesley Coburn is also the daughter of one of Wales most outstanding 20th century writers - Ron Berry

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AmeriCymru: Hi Lesley and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. How long have you been writing? Did your fathers example influence you in any way?

Lesley: Hi, Ceri, I try to imagine you. For being interviewed by a machine disconcerts. I remind myself that of cyberspace was created by real people, and is used only by real people. I hope! Congratulations on your initiative to publish Welsh/American writers, and thanks for your interest in Filling Space. Phil was one of the first readers to give me any response!

I''ve been writing many years. I began with poetry, then stories and longer poems, and years of academic writing. The latter I developed an aversion to. Now I write only what interests me. Ron''s writing was a fact of our childhoods. We didn''t think about it. Of five children, only one sister and myself write. After he gave me the unedited version of his autobiography to read, I said, ''this could change lives, Ron.'' He just said, ''you''re biased, girl.'' Of course, we covertly read his books, Miller, Lawrence, Faukner etc. Ron rated Gwyn Thomas. I never met him but Ron was in correspondence for a while.

AmeriCymru: What were/are the upsides and downsides of being Ron''s daughter?

Lesley: Ron''s first published book was kept under the counter in Treherbert Library. Swear words scared the staff. So I suppose I never was going to censor myself. Aside from all the subtle influences, the over-riding maxim that I keep in mind was his advice to writers, ''say it true, but say it new.''. There is no downside to being the daughter of Ron Berry. As a family, we have been working on his manuscripts since he died. It is all archived in Swansea University now. One day we''ll publish the unedited version of History Is What You Live. There are no downsides because I have no ambition, and no-one , until now, has been interseted anyway! Ron''s despair at being ignored for most of his life was a real lesson. If people don''t ''get'' your work, that''s it. I realised my stuff was being sent back unread, although early long poems and short stories were published in small press collections. I stopped submitting when I started writing Filling Space.

Americymru: Did his relationship with Jim Lewis and Robert Thomas inspire their creativity?

Lesley: I call Ron, Jim and Bob, the'' band of brothers''. They spent their youths reading, revolting, wandering and wenching. Whar surprises is the huge talents of these three people from a small area of Rhondda. Alun Richards always told the story of his visits from Pontypridd to find this trio of ''outsiders''. Ron and Alun met regularly in Ron''s last years.

AmeriCymru: You are contributing a story to Issue Two of eto - ''Filling Space''. Care to introduce it for our readers?

Lesley: How to introduce Filling Space? Anything I say will be good for now, But maybe not for tomorrow , And so little a part of what I was doing while writing it. I was trying to address some questions : how to give a sense of openess, field, subjectivity, flow? how to clarify without simplification? how to illuminate both the sharp pains/pleasures of consciousness, and the mysterious intuitions that occasionally seep through? And, of course, it''s about writing. The experiencing woman and the writing woman are a kind of ploy to give the writer a bit of detatchement. I enjoyed writing it and I still like reading it.

AmeriCymru: What are you reading? Any recommendations?

Lesley: I couldn''t recommend any specific reading; anything with an existentialist feel; and to anyone who needs to remember how good life is really, go to Whitman. Keep him with you.

AmeriCymru: What''s next for Lesley Coburn? What are you working on at the moment?

Lesley: I''m working on a long piece. It''s mostly sloshing around in my head, but I''ve made a start. The story of a collector of stories. First person present narrative of a young woman who returns to the valley. People are attracted to her and tell her tales of transformation. She writes their lives and all is change. No-one knows she is writing. she doesn''t need to tell. Her words add what she is to them. It''s what we do, isn''t it? I can''t stop thinking about it. All I need is time, place, a life of my own.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for our readers?

Lesley: I have no message for your readers other than to quote Whitman, ''and why should I not speak to you''.

Hope this is of some interest. All the best, Lesley.

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AmeriCymru spoke to R T Berner about his book Wales Married To The Eye a photographic record of a recent trip to Wales. The book is available from Amazon and blurb.com.

Wales Married To The Eye on Blurb

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AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about your book ''Wales Married To The Eye''?

“The photograph,” Dylan Thomas once wrote, “is married to the eye.” The Welsh poet could have said the same thing about his beautiful country. From Mount Snowdon in the north to Mumbles in the south, the landscape of Wales is a photographer’s dream—and my wife and I overdosed during a nine-day visit in 2010 that came 17 years after our first visit for a conference at the University of Wales-Aberystwyth in 1993.

I am fortunate to have family in Wales and they were very helpful as we mapped out our trip. …

Where did we go? Besides Aberystwyth and Cardiff, we spent a night in Snowdonia National Park (Llanberis), Hay-on-Wye (where a yarn shop caught Paulette’s eye), Swansea, St David’s and Machynlleth, the birthplace of my maternal grandfather, Thomas F. Williams, and where Paulette took this photograph of me with the Western Mail. We also stopped in Aberaeron, Harlech, Brecon, Laugharne, Mumbles and Llangennith, the birthplace of John Morgan, a friend of ours whom met in China in 1994 and who spent his adult life in Australia. (See Now and Then: The Memoirs of John Morgan, available at www.lulu.com and in the National Library in Aberystwyth. ) We visited the National Slate Museum, the National Wool Museum, the National Library of Wales, the National Museum in Cardiff and the National History Museum, also known as St Fagans. We stopped several times just to take in the view (and photograph it).

St David''s Cathedral Interior ( Click for larger image )

Between us, we took nearly 3000 photographs.

In Swansea, we stayed in Dylan Thomas’ birthplace and slept in the room where he was born. In Laugharne, we visited the last place he lived and I was able, for a fee, to photograph inside the house and the shed where he wrote.

AmeriCymru: What photographic equipment did you use to take these breathtaking
shots?

My wife photographs with a Nikon D40 primarily to have something to aid her painting. I was using a Nikon D7000 at the time, which I had programmed to shoot multiple exposures that I could then process as high dynamic range photographs. The interior photograph of St. David’s Cathedral is an example of the detail one can achieve with multiple exposures.

Brecon Canal ( Click for larger image ) 

AmeriCymru: What is your most abiding impression from your trip to Wales? Where in Wales would you most like to visit again?

We want to spend more time in the north.

AmeriCymru: Where can our members and readers purchase the book online?

The book is available at www.blurb.com and Amazon.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

You must visit Wales at least once in your lifetime. We found it very easy to drive about. I would recommend nothing less than 7 days and probably 14 so you can take your time and hit all of the major sites. We would also recommend flying into Manchester, England, rather than dealing with Heathrow. It doesn’t take long to drive out of the Manchester airport and reach rural Wales.

Aberaeron Boats ( Click for larger image )

Success for Swansea author Marly Evans , a retired primary schoolteacher, came from a family influence. When she became a grandmother to twins Ava and Daniel, Marly looked forward to the day she would be able to read them stories that would spark their imagination. Now she’s written them herself. Tales from Little Gam, a series of rural Welsh stories, draws on the unspoilt Gower countryside and the mischievous charm of its animals, inspired through Marly ’s life with Jeff, a seventh generation Gower farmer. Marly began writing with the belief that Welsh stories have “an appeal that can reach well beyond our borders”. All the stories are true, and in many ways, quite unique.

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AmeriCymru: Hi Marly and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. When did you decide to take up writing childrens'' fiction?

Marly: I created stories for my own children, Catrin and Gareth Owain when they were at primary school age, but it was not until my twin grandchildren Ava and Daniel arrived six years ago, that I really began to take the whole thing seriously.

AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about the ''Little Gam'' series?

Marly: My inspiration for the Little Gam series came from life with my partner Jeff, who is a seventh generation Gower farmer. While developing the stories, we created a ''Little Gam Model Village'', pictured first in Spring and later in Winter. Three films were made, in English and Welsh, complete with narratives, now showing on Youtube. Each book has a seasonal theme and are centred around the village, its unspoilt countryside,colourful characters and mischievous animals.

AmeriCymru: The books are set in the Gower peninsula, south Wales. Care to describe the area for the benefit of our American readers? Is ''Little Gam'' based on any particular Gower village?

Marly: ''Little Gam'' is based loosely on the very quaint village of Murton, in Bishopston, in an area of outstanding beauty. It is a typical Gower village with a post office, inn, bakery, farm, church on the Green, smithy, and school.There have been some changes.

AmeriCymru: You are also a poet. Can you tell us a little about your poetry?

Marly: Writing poetry was my first passion, and this occured earlier in my life. I wrote many poems and some were published.I took my inspiration from life.

AmeriCymru: Where can people go online to buy your books?

Marly: My books can be bought via my book website:- www.talesfromlittlegam.wordpress.com

AmeriCymru: What''s next for Marly Evans? When can we expect to see the next in the ''Little Gam'' series?

Marly: The next book is entitled '' Summertime'' and will be on sale in a few months.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Marly: In my books, I have tried to create a world, which illustrates Welsh village life with all its humour and daily goings-on. All the stories are true and in many ways, quite unique.

AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh poet and Seventh Quarry poetry magazine founder and editor Peter Thabit Jones about plans for the forthcoming DT100 ( Dylan Thomas 100th Anniversary ) celebrations in New York and other US cities.

"Dylan Thomas is a cultural icon around the world and a poet who made a major impact on poetry itself. In many ways, poetry was never the same after the publication of the astonishing 18 Poems in 1934 and 25 Poems in 1936. For Wales, it is a great opportunity to celebrate his life and works and to put the spotlight on the main places of his inspiration, Swansea and Laugharne, indeed the whole of Wales."

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AmeriCymru: Hi Peter and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. What in your opinion is the significance of this Dylan Thomas centenary year to Wales and the Welsh American community?

Peter: Dylan Thomas is a cultural icon around the world and a poet who made a major impact on poetry itself. In many ways, poetry was never the same after the publication of the astonishing 18 Poems in 1934 and 25 Poems in 1936. For Wales, it is a great opportunity to celebrate his life and works and to put the spotlight on the main places of his inspiration, Swansea and Laugharne, indeed the whole of Wales. It will also be an opportunity to spotlight both literatures, English-language and Welsh-language, the unique culture of Wales and its varied and inspiring landscapes. It will be great if Welsh tourism, as well as literature, also gets a huge boost via DT100.

AmeriCymru: Of course, Dylan Thomas visited the US several times in his later years. How do you think he rated and valued the experience?

Peter: It was Dylan who wanted to go on that final tour, against the wishes of Caitlin and his tour-organiser, John Malcolm Brinnin. I think he was probably shocked and awe-struck by America, in particular New York, on the first visit. He was an ‘impoverished poet’, escaping a country still stuck in the rationing of World War Two, so the sheer size of everything American must have been a real eye-opener. He wrote a letter to his parents describing the size of an average American dinner and he sent sweets and treats back home for Caitlin and the children. He made many close friends there, such as sculptor David Slivka, who was to be the one, with Ibram Lassaw, to make Dylan’s death mask; and he loved to sit and talk to working-class, non-literary men in pubs such as The White Horse Tavern. He was ‘at home’ in such places.

I also think the incredible response to his first visit from audiences, where the likes of poet e. e. cummings were blown away by Dylan’s performances, endorsed a need for more clarity in his writing, which he had already started in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog and in Deaths and Entrances. Under Milk Wood was a step in that direction and had he lived I think he would have written dramas for television and worked on scripts for commercial films. Maybe Lennon and McCartney would have chosen him, rather than fellow Welshman Alun Owen, to write the script for A Hard Day’s Night, as they were fans of Dylan. He met many famous people during his visits, such as Charlie Chaplin, and he was as excited as any fan by such a meeting. His historic Caedmon recordings established what was to become the spoken-word industry. Dylan, in many ways and all alone, did what The Beatles were to do in 1964: take America by storm.

AmeriCymru: We understand that the First Minister of Wales will be visiting New York in February 2014 and that he will be guided on the Dylan Thomas Walking Tour as part of the DT100 launch in America . Care to tell us more about this visit?

Peter: Yes, the visit by the First Minister of Wales will be the launch of DT100 Starless and Bible Black in America, organized by The British Council. My and Aeronwy’s Dylan Thomas Walking Tour of Greenwich Village, commissioned and developed in 2008 by Catrin Brace of the Welsh Assembly Government in New York, will be launched as a tourist pocket-book. It has previously been available as a PDF, an audio version narrated by Welsh actor John Pierce Jones, and a guided tour with New York Fun Tours. Along with the tourist pocket-book, The British Council and Welsh Government have commissioned a company to do an internet/smart phone version. I have been helping the company and it is an exciting development, which hopefully will stimulate an interest in Dylan and his New York visits among young people who engage with this new technology.

The First Minister, other dignitaries, and the media will experience aspects of the Walk, such as The White Horse Tavern, guided by an official New York tourist-guide, Hannah Ellis, Dylan’s granddaughter, and me. My New York publisher, Stanley H. Barkan of Cross-Cultural Communications, will be accompanying me. Robert Titley of the Welsh Government in New York has organized it all.

Also, my New York publisher has organized a launch for the book at Poet’s House, New York, on March 5th. Hannah has written the Foreword; and it has such (extra) things as an unpublished photo of Dylan’s death mask, a drawing self-portrait by Dylan, a drawing of Dylan and Caitlin by Caitlin Thomas, and paintings of Dylan by America’s Carolyn Mary Kleefeld and Carey Crockett, and Italy’s Gianpiero Actis. I will give a talk, Dylan Thomas in New York, and Stanley H. Barkan, a terrific reader, will read some poems at the launch.

AmeriCymru: Are there plans to visit other US cities?

Peter: Yes, I am at the NEMLA Conference in Pennysylvania in early April, where I’ll be on a literary translation panel and where I’ll give a talk on Dylan Thomas and organise a poetry workshop. Whilst back in America, the book will be launched at the historic The Grolier Poetry Workshop in Boston on April 9th. I’ll deliver my talk again and Dr. Kristine Doll, my host and a poet, and poet and owner of the Bookshop, Ifeanyi Menkiti, will read some poems. Then in July, when I am writer-in-residence again in California for a fifth summer, it will be launched at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, where I’ll be accompanied by Carolyn Mary Kleefeld and John Dotson.

Its Welsh launch, by the way, will be at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. I have also researched and organized a Dylan Quotations Trail, which will be on display for people to follow at the Museum, from July 2014 to March 2015.

AmeriCymru: Can you tell us a little about the internet app version of the Dylan Thomas Walking Tour Of Greenwich Village, which is being launched to coincide with the centenary?

Peter: It is based on the book version and is being produced by a Welsh company. A Welsh actor is being chosen to narrate the Walk and read some of Dylan’s works. Obviously an app has so much creative and interactive potential and so I can’t wait to see what is produced. Aeronwy and I always felt there should be a tourist book version and she would be so pleased. I’m sure, too, she would be thrilled by an app version. Her daughter, Hannah, is very excited by the book and the app.

AmeriCymru: Where can people go online to discover more detail about the various events and publications?

Peter: Firstly,

http://dylanthomas.org ; secondly, The British Council/Wales website, under Starless and Bible Black; thirdly, the Poets House website; and there will be various other links as things unfold.

AmeriCymru: How will your international poetry publication, The Seventh Quarry, mark the centenary?

Peter: I am including some wonderful drawings of Dylan during periods of his life by Swansea artist Jeffrey Phillips in the Winter/Spring and Summer/Autumn issues. Jeff has put together an exhibition on Dylan that will tour parts of Wales. I have also interviewed Dreena Morgan-Harvey of the Dylan Thomas Theatre in Swansea for the Summer/Autumn issue. Lastly, Quarry Press will publish a chapbook of Dylan-inspired work by a writers’ group based in Swansea. I will give a talk on Dylan and carry out a writing workshop with the group.

AmeriCymru:- Hi Iris and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. You were raised in Pontypridd. What are your fondest memories of your home town?

Iris: My fondest memories of Tonyrefail, which is actually where I was brought up (Pontypridd is where I was born) were my school days, my weekly piano lessons with Mrs. Iris Llewellyn, (who coached me for my scholarship into the RWCMD) and youth club.

I also loved my Friday night visit to the local Fish and chip shop!! I add that I loved visiting Pontypridd market days and little did I know at the time that my biological family were right there.

AmeriCymru:- When did you first become aware of your musical talent and your voice? When was your first live performance?

Iris: I always loved music from very first time I was introduced to it by my foster mother Bronwen Llewellyn. (No relation to the my music teacher Iris, just a coincidence) Bronwen was a musician, she played the piano which was situated in the best room as they used to call it in those days. Bronwen would play popular tunes and I automatically sang along, having learned them from hearing them a few times. It was she who then encouraged me to sing more, and entered me into my very first local talent contest, for which I won £7. That got me hooked, and furthered my growing appetite for a singing career.

AmeriCymru:- Your biggest UK hit came in 1979 with ''He Was Beautiful'', a song based on the theme to Michael Cimino''s hugely successful and widely acclaimed movie ''The Deer Hunter''. How did you come to record this track and what role did it play in your career?

Iris: My recording of this song was purely accidental!!

My manager at the time suggested I do a session with the Birmingham BBC radio orchestra on my way to the Isle Of Man where I was engaged to perform in a summer season. I chose five songs from the BBC''s music library which were in my voice range, one of which was "HE WAS BEAUTIFUL" and the songs from the session were played on a weekend Saturday morning radio programme, hosted by David Jacobs .

When the songs aired one Saturday morning the station was bombarded with mail requesting the recording of "HE WAS BEAUTIFUL". The recording producer for EMI (Wally Ridley who was responsible for many of Vera Lynne''s recordings plus many more) was in his garden that morning, and his wife called him inside to listen to my rendition of the song. Mr. Ridley made inquiries as to where he could contact me, which he did, and asked me to fly over from the Isle of Man to the EMI recording studios in London to make a professional recording of the song. This was all very exiting and dramatic for me.

I did the recording in one session with a live orchestra, left, returned to the Isle Of Man that same day and thought little of it. Then I heard it played on radio 2 some weeks later on the Jimmy Young Show whilst driving to some place and almost crashed the car. It was then followed up with many air plays especially by Terry Wogan.

That of course was the beginning of a a wonderful career which led to many more recordings, TV series, guest appearances, and many Royal command performances for HMS The Queen, the late Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, the late Queen mother Prince Charles and so on.

AmeriCymru:- You have performed with, amongst others, Bob Hope and Rosemary Clooney. Any memories of these performers ( or others ) that you care to share with our readers?

Iris: My first meeting with Bob Hope, was indeed memorable. It was at President Ford''s Golf Celebrity Royal charity performance held at the London Dorchester hotel. Bob Hope, was the master of ceremonies, and personally introduced me to the stage. He was warm, charming and very kind.

I was to work with Bob Hope again from 1988 to1996 every summer at President Fords Celebrity golf tournament held in Vail Colorado.

I first met Rosemary Clooney at her benefit concert in California in memory of her sister. I was invited to sing at the benefit via my American manager, Mary Ellyn Devery, a friend of Rosemary''s, who asked if I could sing one song at this benefit as an introduction to the American audiences. Rosemary, being a very generous artiste, readily obliged.

Ms. Devery was responsible for bringing the Bolshoi Ballet to America, and the Children of the Bolshoi Academy to Vail Colorado every summer at the request of Mrs. Betty Ford. Ms. Devery was also a successful Broadway producer.

I was among many big stars that night including Harry Connick Jr, Lucy Arnez, (Lucille Ball''s daughter) and Carroll Bennett.

Rosemary became a friend and mentor, and introduced me to the New York music scene, which led to such engagements as the famed Oak room at the Algonquin hotel. Tony Bennett is also among the many stars I have been connected with here in New York.

On the UK side I have worked with Des O Conner, Jimmy Tarbuck, Ted Rogers, Sir Harry Secombe,Sir Jimmy Saville, Cannon and Ball and many others.

AmeriCymru:- Last year you performed a concert to raise money for the Rhydyfelin credit union in South Wales. Care to tell us a little more about your involvement with that organisation and other South Wales charities?

Iris: I opened the first Credit union in the late 80''s with a charity concert and have supported it ever since. I enjoy doing charities in my home country. There are too many to mention, but here are just a few. Children in Need, (which is a major charity close to my heart), The Falklands anniversary charity concert, TY Hafen ,The children''s hospital, Lord George Thomas hospice, etc etc... As an artiste, I feel a certain responsibility to use my birth given talent to help others.

AmeriCymru:- Is there any particular recording/performance or achievement of which you are most proud? What , for you, has been the highlight of your career so far?

Iris: "HE WAS BEAUTIFUL" will always remain my first pride, love,and Joy, and is included in every one of my performances.

The highlight of my career, I have to say, was receiving the OBE from HMS Queen Elizabeth the Second personally in 2004 for services to music and charity.

AmeriCymru:- Where can people go to hear and purchase your music online?

Iris: To my website, iriswilliams.com . I believe they are also available on Amazon and on many Google sites.

AmeriCymru:- What''s next for Iris Williams?

Iris: I would hope a lot more to come, as I have no intentions of slowing down. I enjoy performing anywhere and everywhere. I am in the first stages of writing an autobiography, or memoirs. I particularly enjoy entertaining on cruise liners where I meet a lot of Welsh passengers who give me HIREATH for Wales.

I am scheduled to perform as a special guest at Scranton Pennsylvania this coming August at their Annual North American Festival of Wales. I add this quote:- "This gala evening is co-sponsored by the Welsh North American Foundation and the Welsh North American Association will honor the 2012 recipient of the NWAF Heritage Medallion, Beth Landmesser. Entertainment following dinner and presentation will be by singer, Iris Williams, OBE."

AmeriCymru:- Any final message for our readers and NAFOW attendees?

Iris: I wish you all continued success with the your projects. I believe that bringing and sharing Wales with North America is truly wonderful.

Pob bendith.

''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.'' 

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Americymru: How did you start writing?

Huw: The first thing I remember writing was a poem in response to the Cuba Crisis back in the sixties. I followed that with an attempt at a play about someone converting his cellar into a fallout shelter. Later, I turned to stories, and, still in the sixties, I wrote ‘The Yellow Umbrella’, which is in this collection. That was the first story I ever wrote.

Americymru: Care to tell us a little about ''Always The Love of Someone''. How did you come to write the stories in this collection? Were they written especially with this volume in mind or is this more of an anthology of your recent work?

Huw: No, they weren’t written with this volume in mind. I just wrote quite a lot of stories, and then eventually I selected fifteen that went together so as to suggest some kind of unity. They’re not recent work, though. Some go back a very long time.

Americymru: Most critics have taken the view that the theme of the collection is ''human relationships''. Would you agree with this? Does it necessarily have a theme?

Huw: I don’t know if it can be said to have a theme. That’s a hard question. People do talk about ‘theme’ in relation to story collections, but I’d say that most collections have a focus rather than the structural unity implied by a ‘theme’. That, of course, might not be true of collections like Miguel Street by Naipaul, where the stories are all about the same protagonist and his neighbours. Perhaps it’s a question of degree. The fifteen stories in Always the Love of Someone are all of them about love, and all but four of them about love between men and women – the nitty gritty realities of love, not romance.

Americymru: What attracted you to the short story genre? Are there any particular attractions or difficulties in writing short stories as opposed to writing novels?

Huw: I found myself writing stories for the most pragmatic of reasons. They’re short, and I had a full-time job. I could be confident of finishing what I started. There are attractions. You can carry one in detail in your head, and changing a short phrase can alter the whole balance, change nuance, adjust meaning. Getting it right is more like working on a poem than on a novel. What’s not right tends to stand out like a sore thumb. It’s an unforgiving form. But you can carry it around with you.

Americymru: Many people are fascinated by the writing process of successful authors? Do you have any kind of creative routine or do you write as and when inspiration strikes?

Huw: I can only conceive of one way of writing fiction, and that is to do it every day. You can’t afford to lose touch with the work in hand, nor can you afford to let good new ideas slip away. You have to get those down as some kind of draft to a degree where they can be picked up on later.

Americymru: Is your work available in print anywhere other than in this collection? Magazines? Anthologies?

Huw: Magazines and anthologies, yes. This is my first collection.

Americymru: Is there any one of your stories that you are particularly proud of or that you would like to especially recommend?

Huw: My two favourites are, ‘Would That Even Be Lucky?’ and ‘Nothing is Happening Because There’s a Point’. Because they counterbalance each other. The first one questions whether it is even lucky to be bound by the obsessive power of a romantic love you can do nothing about, even if it is requited. The second describes a meeting, followed by a pre-marital relationship, followed by a long, happy marriage, with plenty of conflict, but cemented by affection, loyalty and commitment – not romance.

Americymru: Are there any short story writers (or writers in general ) that you draw inspiration from?

Huw: The writer that has intrigued me most by his skill and whom I dip into just for the pleasure of reading a page or two of his prose, is Nabakov. As far as short story writers go, one of my favourites is Bharati Mukherjee.

Americymru: Care to tell us anything about your future writing plans?

Huw: A novel followed by a collection of poems, I hope.

Americymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Huw: Yes, be afraid that the meaning of ‘Cymru’ will disappear if the language goes, and it might die. So, support the language in any way you can. As far as keeping up with events in Wales through English is concerned, then I’d recommend Planet and Cambria, two magazines committed to Wales through the medium of English.

Interview by Ceri Shaw Email

At any rate there is no doubt in this readers mind that ''Always The Love of Someone'' is a collection to be savoured. The stories in this volume stopped me in my tracks several times and I felt compelled to share what I had read and discuss it with someone. Luckily my partner shares my literary tastes and pretty soon we were passing the book back and forth and swapping recommendations. There''s nothing like enthusiasm shared.

This collection focuses on human relationships and ranges in tone from the whimsical to the semi-tragic. There is the story of the old lady in "Yellow Umbrella'' who cannot understand a young boys ability to live for the moment. When she offers the lad, whose parents are ''itinerants'', shelter from the rain he appals her by revealing that he has no permanent address and is being ''home schooled''. Their contrasting reactions to their environment and in particular to the days weather reveal a tragic lack of spontaneity and a profound pessimism in the old lady''s character which has perhaps destined her to live alone. Then there is the tale of Alf whose lifelong dislike and fear of dogs evaporates in old age when he is prevailed upon to adopt a lurcher.

Throughout there are moments of profound introspection and equally revealing dialogue. In ''A Man And A Woman'' a bachelor on a date is credited with making a simple discovery " The man''s simple discovery had been to pause before speaking. A couple of seconds was enough to choose a better response than the one that leapt to mind, one that allowed dialogue, allowed the other''s world to exist. Speech was not for you to be right. It was to find outcomes." In the closing story, ''Nothing is Happening Because There is a Point'', a couple discuss their relationship and whether destiny played any part in it. The following rather incisive comment on logic stands out from this exchange "....Words can insist that other words following them have to be true, but logic doesn''t bring about marriages, or there probably wouldn''t be any."

There is much,much more to savour in this collection , which for the short story afficianado is a veritable feast of nectared sweets. Huw Lawrence''s touch is masterful throughout and each story is as elegant as it is insightful. I will be filing this collection on my bookshelf next to Raymond Carver and John Cheever and returning to it often.

At any rate there is no doubt in this readers mind that ''Always The Love of Someone'' is a collection to be savoured. The stories in this volume stopped me in my tracks several times and I felt compelled to share what I had read and discuss it with someone. Luckily my partner shares my literary tastes and pretty soon we were passing the book back and forth and swapping recommendations. There''s nothing like enthusiasm shared.

This collection focuses on human relationships and ranges in tone from the whimsical to the semi-tragic. There is the story of the old lady in "Yellow Umbrella'' who cannot understand a young boys ability to live for the moment. When she offers the lad, whose parents are ''itinerants'', shelter from the rain he appals her by revealing that he has no permanent address and is being ''home schooled''. Their contrasting reactions to their environment and in particular to the days weather reveal a tragic lack of spontaneity and a profound pessimism in the old lady''s character which has perhaps destined her to live alone. Then there is the tale of Alf whose lifelong dislike and fear of dogs evaporates in old age when he is prevailed upon to adopt a lurcher.

Throughout there are moments of profound introspection and equally revealing dialogue. In ''A Man And A Woman'' a bachelor on a date is credited with making a simple discovery " The man''s simple discovery had been to pause before speaking. A couple of seconds was enough to choose a better response than the one that leapt to mind, one that allowed dialogue, allowed the other''s world to exist. Speech was not for you to be right. It was to find outcomes." In the closing story, ''Nothing is Happening Because There is a Point'', a couple discuss their relationship and whether destiny played any part in it. The following rather incisive comment on logic stands out from this exchange "....Words can insist that other words following them have to be true, but logic doesn''t bring about marriages, or there probably wouldn''t be any."

There is much,much more to savour in this collection , which for the short story afficianado is a veritable feast of nectared sweets. Huw Lawrence's touch is masterful throughout and each story is as elegant as it is insightful. I will be filing this collection on my bookshelf next to Raymond Carver and John Cheever and returning to it often.

Ceri Shaw

AmeriCymru spoke to Steve Adams. Steve is a journalist currently researching the unsolved 1921 murder of shopkeeper Thomas Thomas at Star Stores in the Carmarthenshire village of Garnant.

Follow his progress on his blog:-

Murder At The Star

...

AmeriCymru: Hi Steve and diolch for agreeing to this interview. When did you first become interested in the murder of Thomas Thomas?

Steve: As chief reporter of the South Wales Guardian, the Ammanford-based weekly newspaper, I’m always on the look-out for stories with an Amman Valley link, particularly those which allow me to explore two of my other great interests – Welsh history and historic crime. So, when in the spring of 2013 I came across the essay A Long Time between Murders by the globally-renowned international affairs expert Owen Harries, my heart skipped a beat.

Mr Harries was born in the Amman valley in the early 1930s and his 2001 essay compared life in Washington DC – where he was then living and where a dozen murders in a weekend was not uncommon – to his childhood in rural Wales. In his home village of Garnant the unsolved 1921 murder of a shopkeeper remained the only major crime for more than 70 years until the owner of a local restaurant discovered his wife had taken a fancy to more than just the new chef’s fruity desserts. However, it was the murder of the half-deaf bible-quoting shopkeeper that kept returning to my mind, not least because although the case remained officially unsolved, the valley rumour mill had long since been pointing the finger.

The more I looked into the killing of Thomas Thomas at the Star Stores, the more engrossed I became. The more details I uncovered, the more the story read like an Agatha Christie novel – and by a strange quirk of fate, the murder at the Star was actually committed just 23 days after the UK release of Christie’s first book. The killing of Thomas Thomas had all the ingredients of a great Whodunnit?

A shopkeeper killed in a locked shop; three separate wounds all of which was enough to prove fatal; a lump of cheese used as a gag; Scotland Yard detectives; the takings stolen; and a host of characters and suspects lifted straight from the pages of a Dickens novel. And while the tale of the murder was in itself a great albeit unknown story, I could also see there was something far larger bubbling away in the background. It seemed to me that the murder at the Star also told the story of south Wales and its transformation from rural society to industrial boom, and then the inevitable, painful decline.

AmeriCymru: Care to describe the Amman valley for the benefit of our readers? What kind of community was it at the time the crime was committed?

Steve: One of the most intriguing aspects of the murder at Star Stores was how – to my mind at least - it symbolised the changing nature of south Wales from the middle of the 19th century to the years immediately after the Great War. In less than a single lifetime, the valley, which at the time Victoria came to the throne was known as Cwmaman and was nothing more than a scattering of farmsteads, exploded into life.

Commerce Place Garnant

The discovery of coal saw the birth of a hamlet which in turn grew so quickly that it soon swelled and split into two separate villages, Garnant and Glanaman. Between them they boasted two train stations, numerous mines, factories, tin-plate works, and scores of shops, including national chains such as the Star. Glanaman had a dedicated sheet-music shop, while Garnant offered at least three hat shops. There were stationery shops, banks, hairdressers, pubs, greengrocers, cabinet makers and confectioners – all desperate to relieve the miners of their weekly wage.

In little more than 50 years, the area went from a population which barely reached three figures to being home to around 20,000 people. Such was the relentless growth of the villages that demand for lodgings far outstripped supply and Thomas Thomas rented not a room, nor even a bed, but a share of a bed. The war years were undoubtedly a boom time for mining communities as the thirst for coal to fuel the war effort became unquenchable and people came from far and wide to share the wealth.

The demand for workers grew and grew, but by the early 1920s things had begun to change. As the demand for coal begin to fall so the wealth that fed the boom of Garnant and Glanaman faltered and its disappearance marked the arrival of something new – crime. In the case of Thomas Thomas, it culminated in the worst of crimes – murder.

AmeriCymru: The murder went unsolved at the time but the locals had a theory concerning the identity of the culprit. Care to tell us more?

Steve: Within days of the crime being committed a number of names began circulating around the village – and further along the valley – as likely suspects, each with the means, the motive and the opportunity to kill.

Some thought the killer was Thomas Thomas’ landlord, asking why he had not raised the alarm when his lodger failed to return home that night; some believed it was the property developer who had built the store on land leased from Baron Dynevor, the local landowner – a costly 20-year legal dispute culminated in a High Court appearance and all but bankrupted the Garnant man who was left desperately short of cash and with bills to pay; others believed it was the local ne’er-do-well, a man who served time behind bars in his youth and who had lost his hand just six months prior to the murder in a suspicious explosion for which he offered police only the most bizarre of explanations.

There were also rumours of illicit love affairs, jealousy and vengeance. Local suspicion reached fever-pitch until the day of Thomas Thomas’ funeral when the dead man’s brother was approached by a mysterious stranger who put a name to the killer.

The informant has never been identified, but the name he gave remains in the village consciousness to this day as the man who killed Thomas Thomas. In fact, I was contacted by a lady in her 80s less than a month ago and told in no uncertain terms that the man named at the funeral was indeed the killer. The rumour and gossip has become more entrenched with each passing decade.

AmeriCymru: I know from our previous discussions that you have your own theory, indeed perhaps more than a theory about the perpetrators identity. Can you tell us more without giving too much away?

Steve: I have been fortunate enough to get my hands on all the remaining paperwork compiled in relation to the case in the weeks following the murder. After examining the Scotland Yard files, the witness statements, photographs of the crime scene and pictures taken as part of the post-mortem, I absolutely sure of is I know who really killed Thomas Thomas on that February night in 1921 – and it was certainly not the man the lady who telephoned me at the beginning of March believed it was.

In many respects, the investigation into the murder at the Star became less a question of who the evidence pointed to and more who it eliminated as a suspect. Sherlock Holmes’ famous adage that “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” became the basis for the entire investigation. In Holmes’ cases, the logic worked perfectly well because the great fictional detective never missed or misunderstood a clue. Sadly, real life is never so clear cut.

Vital evidence was misinterpreted during the days of the investigation at the Star, clouding the entire inquiry and causing the police to eliminate the real killer. Having been able to reassess the evidence and show what I have collected to modern-day experts in their field, I am confident I can prove that not only were the police wrong to remove one of the suspects from their inquiry when they did, but rather than eliminate him, the evidence proves he was only man in Garnant capable of committing the murder in the manner that he did.

AmeriCymru: You are publishing a book about the case soon. When will it be available for purchase online?

Steve: I am in the process of writing a book on the case and I am currently in discussions with a publisher to secure a book deal. I’d rather not go into the specifics just yet, but I’m optimistic we will be able to thrash out a deal in the coming weeks.

The book will of course be available from all the usual online outlets and as an e-book, although I am still some way away from completing the finished product. In the meantime I am continuing to write a blog on the case, which can be found on Americymru.net and at www.murderatthestar.wordpress.com where readers are able to follow the progress of the book in rough draft form. In fact, it is due to the numbers of people who have been reading the blog and contacting me through social media that I contacted the publishing company when I did.

What began as something of a pet project and a labour of love quickly gathered a substantial following and I have been overwhelmed by the interest – from Amman valley residents, those who were born in the area but have since moved away and readers simply interested in a cracking yarn.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

Steve: I would just like to thank everyone on Americymru who has read the blog – either on the Americymru site or via the Murder at the Star blog. I never really imagined the murder at the Star would be of any interest to anyone apart from me – how wrong I was. It is only due to the support and encouragement of the readers that I continued digging away until I reached the point when I became confident enough to say I have solved the murder at the Star.

AmeriCymru spoke to Shan Morgain about her passion for the Mabinogi and about her excellent website: Mabinogi Study. Shan has lived in Wales for 25 years, studying the Mabinogi and Middle Welsh. She is a storyteller and writer. She fell in love with Welsh myth, then a Welshman, then the Mabinogi. She is currently starting a PhD at Swansea and creating a collection of resources for fellow Mabinogi lovers (aka the Mabinogion). www.mabinogistudy.co.uk has lots of helpful articles from history, literature, translation to storytelling and arts. Discussion forum. Massive bibliography. Weekly seminar chats.

AmeriCymru: Hi Shan and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. How would you describe the Mabinogi to someone approaching it for the first time?

Shan: This is a collection of stories, the oldest literature of Britain, including the earliest stories of King Arthur. They were originally in an older form of Welsh, but now widely known in translation.

Yet though so old, these stories are so well written they are read, told and performed across Wales, and wherever people connect to Wales and its traditions.

One of the things I love about the Mabinogi stories in Wales is you can go into any pub or supermarket and Welsh people know these stories just like the latest fashionable TV drama. If you know the stories a bit too you are welcomed with open arms.

I saw the Mabinogi performed as a stage play directed by Manon Eames for the Youth Theatre of Wales. If that had been Shakespeare performed in England the audience would have been stuffy intelligentsia, literary types only. But for the “Magnificent Mabinogi” it was all the local families – and their children.

AmeriCymru: How did you first become interested in the Mabinogi?

Shan: As a young farm girl who went up to London in her teens I was always mad for mythology. I remember Tolkien first coming out was a huge event. (There was not a lot of fantasy in those days.)

I read Greek, Egyptian, Sumerian, Viking, Japanese … you name it I read its mythos. Voraciously. But it was the Celtic legends that most spoke to me, and of them all, the Welsh.

I wouldn’t have known the name Mabinogi then. I just knew there was something different, something much more … mature, intricate, sexy, philosophical and magical about these particular stories.

One part of me did a BA Philosophy at London University, which trained in strict line thinking, the codes of logic. Sadly it seemed my two passions for mythos and logic, could not meet as one. In yet another part of my life radical feminism burned my synapses, challenging the roots of my society. But back then, Celtic dreaming, logic, and being a woman, all had to stay in separate pots.

I was given a Welsh name which was wonderfully prophetic. Eventually at 40 I found my wild and tender sexy Welshman who climbed the magical Glastonbury Tor to find me sleeping in the sun.

Like Rhiannon I chose him later for my own, by pouncing on him; which he says he is always devoutly thankful I did, dear heart.

He showed me his wet green land, and I was doubly, deeply in love. Would I have loved him so very much if he’d come from Birmingham? To speak truth, I doubt it.

Pillow talk is, just as they say it is, the best teacher. By now in the 90s I had become quite a well known Craft priestess and my John helped me run a Celtic study circle. My first big discoveries about the Mabinogi came out of that circle. I also became a storyteller for both adults and children.

AmeriCymru: What is your current involvement with the Mabingi?

Shan: Ah well, by now I have learned so much more. The Tales are inscribed on my cells I think. Being old is so delicious because of knowing more about how things fit together.

Philosophy has changed now too. Western thinking is no longer obsessed with straight line logic. Post-modernism, theoretical physics, and loads of other -isms have opened up thinking in interesting patterns – much more like the ancient Celts.

So now my Philosophy brain is no longer split in two. Annwfn, the deep world of Welsh spirituality, and this world, weave into one another. Logic is servant not master. Worlds are not separate; they are a web of threads going over and under each other. Holding them in the world is my woman life, and there too the Mabinogi speak to me in intricate ways.

Which all brings me to a PhD in the Mabinogi at Swansea university. In particular I am exploring my beloved Rhiannon. She’s a lady, a horse, a politician, a goddess, and the pivot of a multivalent matrix.

I have the honour to be supervised by Christine James, the Archdruid of Wales. You’ll have seen her on the news leading the national Gorsedd ceremony.

AmeriCymru: What is the history of the work? How did these tales come to be collected together?

Shan: The Tales were developed in oral tradition, that is, in storytelling by living voices. There were the great bards who made power poems in praise of kings and heroes, who were like the big bands of today with names up in lights. Then there were the cyfarwythdydd – terrible mouthful that! the storytellers. So there seems to have been a fairly clear split between the high world of the noble poets,and the people’s world of storytellers, a mediaeval pop culture.

It is also a very distinctive thing that the British (now called the Welsh) told their first great stories in prose. Most of the other old European cultures told their sagas in poems.

The storytellers were an odd lot. They didn’t leave their names attached to the stories but quietly passed the stories around to each other anonymously.

The original King Arthur is in there but he’s very different to the Arthur of romance. The older Welsh Arthur is a rough edged warlord, who has to be dragged off by his mates from doing some pretty cruel things. Not a shining ideal!

The Mabinogi stories are about politics, especially dirty politics, and history. They tell of past events and the lessons we can learn from them. They are about love, sex, war, magic, children, questing, and heroes with swishing swords and huge horses. About people making the agonising choices of destiny. Oh and monsters, giants, magic cauldrons.

The big change came when those rough, tough Normans conquered Britain in 1066 which meant Wales too was invaded. The fighting, storytelling, princes of Wales gradually became Englishified. A few of them decided to preserve their old stories by having them written down, because everyone was dumping the bards and storytellers in favour of the fashionable new French troubadours.

This written record in mediaeval manuscripts was a jolly good thing because otherwise these oldest British stories would have been lost forever. You can still see the precious papers in Aberystwyth and Oxford, in museums.

But the stories then slept quietly in old Welsh books for centuries until an impossibly aristocratic Victorian English lady married a Welsh ironmaster. That was a major scandal, as he was far beneath her socially you see! She fell in love not only with him, but with his heritage. These Welshmen have a magical effect you know!

Anyway Charlotte Guest was a genius scholar who already knew seven languages including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Persian. So Welsh, even mediaeval Welsh, which is a hell of a language to learn, was no problem for her! In between having ten babies and running the biggest iron foundry beside her husband, dear Charlotte translated the Mabinogi Tales into English and published them (in both Welsh and English) in a series of three books, 1838-1849.

Interest from the public exploded and edition after edition has been published right up to today.

AmeriCymru: Which of the various translations would you recommend?

Shan: Charlotte Guest is still very good and easily available online, but a bit Victorian for modern taste.

My all time personal favourite is John Bollard “Legend and Landscape of Wales: The Mabinogi.” (2006) It’s not only a lovely easy read, it’s a beautiful book full of photos of the places around Wales where the stories happened.

https://sites.google.com/site/themabinogi/home

Bollard also gives a thoughtful introduction which reflects his position as the modern pioneer of new thought about the Mabinogi as living literature, not just leftover fragments of the past.

Sioned Davies recent “The Mabinogion” (2007) is also very popular, and she has skilfully explored the practical storytelling aspect of the tales, which is very important.

For anyone on a very tight budget you can read a major part of the Tales completely free on Will Parker’s generous site here: http://www.mabinogi.net/translations.htm It gives you’re the Four Branches. This friendly and reputable translation is so useful online to quickly look up what was actually said in a story, and to copy/ paste a quick quote. Saves boring copy typing, so thanks Will -he’s a darling too.

(Parker has also published a substantial book about the Mabinogi for serious interest later; “The Four Branches of the Mabinogion” 2005.)

Now some prefer to listen and watch than to read. After all this is what the Mabinogi were intended for, a living voice by a person, not print.

Cyb the chuckling monk offers you some free video tales:-

www.valleystream.co.uk/products.htm

or you can buy them all. Note the complete set has not been recorded but most are there.)

Colin Jones has the First Branch as a recording with haunting music, on his site, free.

http://themabinogion.com/album/mabinogion-the-four-branches

Or buy all four Branches as a download.

For those who want to get more serious here’s a mini guide.

1) Read the introduction sections to the above translations.
2) Get Patrick Ford “The Mabinogi and Other Welsh Tales” (1977) and read his intro.
3) Splash about on my website, contact me;
4) Order this book from the library: Charles Sullivan, The Mabinogi: A Book of Essays. (1997). Sadly otherwise unobtainable.
5) See my weekly online seminars, which are live chat based, and free.
http://mabinogistudy.com/

AmeriCymru: How important is the Mabinogi in Welsh literature and history?

Shan: It’s rather like the Welsh Shakespeare as people and situations from the stories appear all over the place. But it’s not just literature, it’s part of Welsh identity as an independent nation.

Wales has had to rebuild itself from a conquered people who were not even allowed to speak their native language. Children were bullied and shamed in school, if they forgot and used their native Welsh words. In my dear John’s lifetime he was sent far from home as a child to be trained to speak with a perfect Oxford English accent. It was the only way he would get a good job.

The Welsh know all about racism; colonial domination was practiced early on in Wales and exported to Africa and India. Oh my dee-ah not a Welsh maid, they’re so dirty they don’t even know how to use a tap to wash. (No taps on mountain sheep farms you see.)

The Welsh diaspora is no new subject to americymru folk of course but know with pride that the Welsh did it especially well. With stories, and poetry, music and beliefs in helping each other, Wales’ children have quietly spread across the world. Pushed to survive, their myths and dreams have sustained them into successful lives.

Nowadays there is S4C, the BBC TV station in Welsh. But in 1980 it took a hunger strike threatened to last to death by Gwynfor Evans, a Welsh MP, to get it.

The Mabinogi has played its vital part in the building of the vigorous society of Wales today, and wider Wales. A people must have its myths, its own sacred stories of origins, in order to believe in itself, or there is no sense of being a people. Knowing we have the oldest British literature in our keeping is a backbone, a fiery pride. That it is a sophisticated literature, with powerful philosophy and human understanding – plus a lot of fun! adds to its proud gifts.

That is why the Mabinogi are told, sung, performed, everywhere the Welsh gather, across the world.

AmeriCymru: In your opinion which of the Mabinogi Tales is the most significant or important? Do you have a favourite?

Shan: I would be presumptuous to judge which Tale is the most significant. We are not a people who go for the One Truth. We can hold with contradictions before breakfast. We are also politically aware and I am not going to open myself to furious condemnation from opposing camps!

I can however say that the Four Branches are the most popular which is a form of significance. These Four Branches are a quartet of stories in four chapters, which can also stand each by themselves. Or you can fit them together in puzzle patterns, an interlaced logic like the ancient Celtic knotwork. (See John Bollard’s modern innovative theories.)

The Branches have strong women, interesting thoughtful men, extraordinary villains, and a tenderness for children. It is easy to relate to these people as women and men, even if they turn into animals in places, or cook up zombie soldiers. One minute they are like you and I, next moment they are not.

The other stories are either the older Culhwch, a rollicking adventure story with much more limited depth; or later romances and tales much more influenced by French troubadours. So I think the Branches do hold a special place.

My favourite? Ah that is Rhiannon, in the First Branch. Like her I came to Dyfed, West Wales, as a powerful stranger woman, and found my love there. Like her I have one precious son with him. Like her I am proud, strategic, realistic, sensual, clever and devoted.

Like her I am quick to rebuke and generous in giving. My own darling Pwyll, like the one in the old story, is not at all what he appears to be. Like many Welsh he will allow himself to be unnoticed, or underestimated, while deftly getting exactly what he wants. It’s a conquered people’s skill he says, and its skill amuses him.

I cannot share my lady’s horse nature though – big teeth and hooves terrify me!

John comments: Shapeshifting is why Welsh identity is very hard to define satisfactorily. It is elusive. That is not an accident. In Wales we have learned that if we define ourselves openly and explicitly, what we define as Welshness is in danger of being devalued or even officially abolished. So we are deliberately vague in key places, leaving our enemies in England fighting the fog. There is often lots of fog in Wales! We are very comfortable with it.

AmeriCymru: You run an excellent website called ''Mabinogi Study''. Care to introduce it for our readers?

Shan: Thank you kindly sir. I started Mabinogi Study because I detest how students have to constantly reinvent the wheel. You have to find out what to read, and then get hold of it, both very difficult to do once you go beyond the first step or two. You copy type and make notes endlessly, which duplicates what a thousand others have done.

So all my notes and lists are going online. Who has translated the Mabinogi and which one is a good starter? What is Middle Welsh like? What’s this interlacing malarkey? Is Rhiannon really a goddess and if so what does that mean? What are her politics? What about shapeshifting? Why did Arianrhod get found out? Where did things happen? What do the names mean?

Plus a comprehensive bibliography of 1,000 listings, searchable. Biographies. A baby course on Middle Welsh, or a for those who just want to dip, a one page dictionary of the essential words. A weekly live seminar online.

Here’s some useful links to get started:

First Steps with Mabinogi: recommended starter reading, video, recordings.

http://www.mabinogistudy.com/xz-articles/first-steps-with-y-mabinogi.1/

Four Branches, brief summary: Overview of these well loved stories.

www.mabinogistudy.com/xz-articles/the-four-branches-a-brief-summary.171/

The Mabinogi Bibliography: This is on a separate site where I have collected about 1,000 books, articles, recordings etc. Not much fiction, interpretations, that will come later. Here you can search on a type or topic, even make your own booklist from mine.
www.zotero.org/groups/mabinogistudy/items/

Index of All Articles: www.mabinogistudy.com/xz-articles/articles-index.24/

The Mabinogi Meetings: www.mabinogistudy.com/xz-articles/mabinogi-meetings-weekly-welsh-myth.110/

AmeriCymru: That’s a lot! Anything else planned?

Shan: I’m waiting for a software script to be ready so I can post up a small encyclopaedia, a Mabinogi A-Z.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of Americymru?

Shan: Yes please. I’d like to say how very touched and pleased I was at how Ceri welcomed me on americymru. He didn’t just say the standard Croeso.

When I wrote and criticised his little 2010 Mabinogi quiz as inaccurate in a few places, even though I did it with courtly gentlesness, I expected the usual dickwaving defensiveness. I knew I risked a faceful of rudeness. Not a bit of it. Ceri actually welcomed the chance to consult me, and immediately proceeded to put me to work.

This is very rare. Most people don’t handle expert elders at all well. They are far too touchy and insecure, and as a result don’t learn, and don’t become expert in their turn. Nor do they get gifts of help on the way, and struggle more than is needed.

I’m well aware that in fostering and exploiting my talents Ceri is gaining much for americymru while helping me too. It works both ways. But again so few people know this skill of mutual support and flourishing called collaboration.

I’m well aware that in fostering and exploiting my talents Ceri is gaining much for americymru while helping me too. It works both ways. But again so few people know that skill of mutual support and flourishing.

I’m still exploring americymru full of admiration for what this skilled couple have built. I’ve already met some fascinating people here, and that is treasure to me.

To end I will just say that a warm welcome awaits you here in the homeland. Let me know you’re coming, then the cawl pot will simmer and the kettle boil as John collects you from the station, or as you park your car outside our rambling Welsh manor. We’ll gladly help you visit the beautiful places here. Just bow down to the mighty Cat clan and you are our honoured guests, my gentle readers.

Shan Morgain © March 2014