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Welsh publishers Y Lolfa recently released a book Dreaming a City: The Story of Hughesovks/Stalino/Donetsk that traces the towns growth from patriarchal beginnings through the Russian revolutions, Bolshevism, Stalinism, Nazi occupation and the collapse of Communism, Nineties rising Ukraine nationalism, to Ukraine post-independence in the present market economy. Partly a revisiting of the making of the television series Hughesovka and the New Russia , this book is Russian and Welsh social and political history; travel journalism, and a tribute to Welsh historian Gwyn Alf Williams. Above all, though, it explores the tensions between a belief in social change and the danger implicit in utopian visions. Probing important themes such as capitalism and communism; internationalism and nationalism, in addition to freedom and exploitation, the author uses the city as a metaphor to explore a retreat from political idealism, and the nature of hope and disillusion. It also includes a DVD of the award winning documentary.
Dreaming a City is available on www.ylolfa.com for 9.95
A preview of the documentary can be seen here:-
"The name of Colin Thomas...a guarantee of intelligence and scrupulous integrity" (The Financial Times)
Would you be interested in helping to raise funds for one of the biggest Welsh Charity projects in 2009 ? Or could you help by forwarding this post to all your friends and family.
On May 23rd 2009, over 30 Welsh Football Supporters will set off from Cardiff in old bangers to aim to reach Baku to watch Azerbaijan play Wales in a World Cup qualifier on 6th June. The cars will have a value of 400 maximum, some will make it, some probably won't.
We will be raising funds for Gl, the Welsh Football Supporters Charity, established in 2002, which has helped over 30 orphanages over the last 6 years as well as children's hospitals and charities in Wales such as LATCH and Ty Hafan. Some photos of the places we have been before can be seen on our website.
All the money donated for BakuorBust will be spent on good causes at over 20 orphanages which will be visited, some of which we have visited before, some totally new in. We will be backed by the Football Association of Wales and the Welsh players, who had a photo shoot with one of our cars back in November.
Gareth Bale and Lewin Nyatanga with myself in one of our cars going to Baku.
If your society would like to fundraise as a project and decide to focus on one of our orphanages to help we can take photos for you and acknowledge your contribution on our website. Alternatively anyone will be welcomed to make an individual donation online at our justgiving site. Donations of any size will be much appreciated.
http://www.justgiving.com/bakuorbust
Help make your countries football team proud in 2009 and give Wales a caring name around the world.
Kind Regards
Neil Dymock
Gl Trustee and BakuorBust Project Manager
Gl is a registered charity with HMRC, with the number XT14176.
In the past three weeks Seren have been celebrating prize nominations from around the country. The Wales Book of the Year 2012 shortlist for fiction includes two Seren authors, Robert Minhinnick and Patrick McGuinness for the most prestigious literature prize in Wales.
| Minhinnicks The Keys of Babylon is a collection of linked stories about people migration, set in countries around the world, the main characters from which are brought together in a final story which looks at their lives on the same day. A story from the book was shortlisted for the Sunday Times/EFG Bank Short Story Prize earlier this year, and was also long-listed for the Edge Hill Story Prize 2012 . |
| McGuinnesss novel, The Last Hundred Days is a story of a young Englishman abroad, caught up in the final days of the Ceausecu regime in Romania. The book is on the shortlist for Desmond Elliott Prize 2012 along with Grace McCleen and Rachel Joyce. The winner will be announced on the 28th June. Patrick has been nominated for five prizes since the release of his debut novel: The Man Booker Prize 2011 (long-listed); 2011 Costa Best First Novel Award (shortlisted); Desmond Elliot Prize 2012 (shortlisted); Wales Book of the Year 2012 for best fiction (shortlisted) and Authors Club Best First Novel Award 2012 (shortlisted). |
Keep checking the Seren website, Facebook or Twitter for updates on how both authors get on in the next couple of weeks. All of us here at Seren are enjoying the celebration parties nearly as much as Patrick and Robert!
Diamond Jubilee Offer
To mark the Queen's Jubilee, we thought we'd celebrate the work of writers who, over the past sixty years, have made significant contributions to the cultural life of Wales.
We've selected six books by six distinguished veteran authors, which you can buy for 6 each (+ p&p) from our website over the course of the double bank holiday.
Emyr Humphreys The Woman at the Window
Mavis Nicholson What did you do in the War, Mummy?
Dannie Abse There was a Young Man from Cardiff
Ruth Bidgood New and Selected Poems
Tony Conran Eros Proposes a Toast
Dai Vaughan Totes Meer
This offer will be from 9am Monday 4th until 9pm Tuesday 5th June 2012.
New Titles Out Now
| After Brock by Paul Binding Paul Bindings After Brock , is a story of Pete, a talented and intelligent schoolboy, though an outsider in both home and school life. One December night he meets Sam, an attractive and flamboyant boy, but something of a misfit, with whom his infatuation is instant. They begin a tempestuous friendship seeking a world removed from the difficulties of home life: Sams alcoholic mother and Petes frayed relationship with his unappreciative family. ISBN: 9781854115683 Paperback: 8.99 |
| Witch by Damian Walford Davies A striking portrait in verse of a small town in rural England struck by the witchcraft panic of the 17th century. The poems in this collection are dark spells, compact and moving: seven sections, each of seven poems, each of seven couplets, are delivered by those most closely involved in the 'making' of a witch. ISBN: 9781854115799 Paperback: 8.99 |
Forthcoming Titles
| Poet to Poet: Edward Thomass Letters to Walter de la Mare by Judy Kendell (ed) This collection of letters from Edward Thomas to Walter de la Mare amounts to over three hundred, running from 1906 to 1917. Illuminating and insightful, inspiring and poignant, they give a moving account of the growing trust and influence between these two poets; including some fascinating biographical detail and illuminating insights into their composing practices, their close and changing friendship and their special influence on each other. ISBN: 9781854115805 Paperback: 14.99 |
| Keidrych Rhys: The Van Pool by Charles Mundye (Ed) Keidrych Rhys was one of the most influential writers in Wales in the 40s and 50s who counted Dylan Thomas, Glyn Jones, Vernon Watkins, Emyr Humphreys, Alun Lewis, RS Thomas and many others among his circle of friends and literary acquaintances.This book brings together The Van Pool (Faber, 1942), Rhys's only poetry collection. ISBN: 9781854115829 Paperback: 12.99 |
| The Mind/Body Problem by Katha Pollitt TheBritish edition ofthe prize-winning book of poetry by the renowned American poet and essayist, Katha Pollitt. Informed by a sensibility both keenly political and artfully subversive, she touches on such subjects as Lives of the 19th Century Poetesses andCollectibles. In revisionist tales from the Bible,female characters like Martha and Lots Wife get the last word, while otherpieces, suchas the title poem,hinge on philosophical questions that evoke paradox. ISBN: 9781854115744 Paperback: 8.99 |
| Lightning Beneath the Sea by Grahame Davies Already well-known for his prizewinning Welsh-language poetry and fiction, and for his scholarly non-fiction, Grahame Davies has now produced his first collection of poems in English. Using a native warmth and an intimate, conversational tone, his poems are as concerned with character and relationships as they are with wider cultural matters. ISBN: 9781854115751 Paperback: 8.99 |
| Big Low Tide by Candy Neubert * *SUMMER READ* * A small island stands in the channel, barely changed by the tides. On its surface, the islanders go about their daily lives aware that its not possible to make a move undetected here, where everyone knows everybody else; where the neighbours will always notice, and judge. They know this, but they may have forgotten that its always possible to leave. ISBN: 9781854115836 Paperback: 8.99 |
Hay Festival 2012
Meet the Author
Poem of the Month
'Witch'
Were in Domesday: meadow,
fallow, plot and gravel pit,
flintwork church a little to the east;
Great House and cherry grove;
damson orchards blemishing
the light; the river slick
with fish; those millsails beating
on the pent-up pond. Beyond
lies corn-earth draining
to the sea. Even on rafty days,
keen eyes can see five spires
Gods needles tacking up the dark.
My garden borders on the deadfold
where they murder down the lambs.
Witch is the title poem taken from Damian Walford Davies's new collection Witch
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In this the third and final part of Welsh author Rhys Hughes'' interview with Americymru he poses a number of ( rhetorical? ) questions to the reader. Feel free to respond to any or all of them in the comments box below.
This is part 3 of an in depth interview with Rhys Hughes , the Welsh Wizard of the Absurd. Rhys was born in Porthcawl, South Wales in 1966 and plans to write exactly 1000 stories in his lifetime ( see his blog here:- The Spoons That Are My Ears ). When this interview was originally published he had completed 468. Currently his total stands at 600+. Rhys can also be found on the web at:- The Rime of The Post Modern Mariner and on his Facebook page.
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Dear Reader,
For the third and last part of my interview with the Americymru Network, I thought it might be nice to do something different. In other words for me to interview you.
So please find six questions below that you may (or may not) answer when you are ready…
1. In Swansea library I recently saw a book with the title "My Ancestor was a Coal Miner". My first thought was how strange it must be to have only one ancestor! I''m confident I''ve had thousands of them and I''m sure that most of them were never coal miners.
Having said that, my grandfather on my father''s side did work in a coal mine as an explosives expert. He kept boxes of gelignite under his bed. But what is the most unusual (or memorable) profession that any of your known ancestors ever had?
2. Authors go out of fashion, sometimes come back into fashion, often don''t. One of the finest and most sophisticated of the English Victorian novelists, George Meredith, is now mostly forgotten and it doesn''t seem likely he''ll ever be accorded the attention he deserves. Despite its rather terrible title, his early novel, "The Shaving of Shagpat", is an exquisite work of deep imagination and manages to combine highly lyrical prose with a humorous muscularity…
Another author with a sinking – perhaps already sunk – star is D.M. Thomas. In the 1980s he was the novelist of choice for all middle class liberal thirtysomethings who wanted to upgrade their emotions and their justifications to ''complex''. I still like D.M. Thomas. Clearly my finger isn''t anywhere near the pulse of modern literary trends. But what unfashionable authors (if any) do you still champion?
3. I have a large collection of books but it''s going down. The reason it''s going down is because every time I finish reading a book I give it away. My aim is to reduce my collection to a manageable size. Otherwise I''ll keep adding to it and will end up with more books than it''s possible for me to read in my entire lifetime!
That seems inefficient and wrong. To stop it happening I have banned myself from buying new books. I read what I already have on my shelves instead. Some of my books have been waiting to be read for thirty years. I don''t want to disappoint them forever! To shrink my collection further I have given away some books that I haven''t read, books I once felt I ought to read but knew I wouldn''t – in other words ''Duty'' books.
Probably the most significant Duty book for me is Robert Tressell''s "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists". I know it''s a very important novel, a book with a crucial message, but I just don''t want to read it. And I won''t. What books do you own that you know you''ll never read?
4. E-books don''t interest me. I just don''t enjoy reading fiction on a screen. Brief technical articles, yes, but entire novels, no. I can''t bring myself to even read short stories online. That''s why I rarely submit stories for online publication. The only novel I''ve ever read online was James Branch Cabell''s "The Rivet in Grandfather''s Neck" and that was only because I couldn''t find it as a proper book. I plodded through it unhappily even though it is witty, wise and dry. But what is your opinion on this issue? Do you regularly read e-books or not?
5. Writers are required to sit still indoors for long periods tapping away at keyboards or scratching away with pens – I use both methods, sometimes writing one story on a computer and a different story in a notebook at the same time. And yet an inactive life is one that rapidly drives me crazy. I need the Great Outdoors – or in the case of Wales, the Grey Outdoors!
The fact that writing is such a sedate occupation means I''m always fascinated by the attempts of certain authors to infuse physical vigour into their prose. It seems an impossible task, but Jack London and Steinbeck managed it successfully. So did Edward Abbey. But Hemingway and Kerouac didn''t. Just my own opinion. What writers, if any, have made you take to the hills or the lakes or the moors, etc?
6. When I was much younger I read "Lord Valentine''s Castle" by Robert Silverberg. It''s a fantasy novel set on an alien world and many standard fantasy things happen, but the main character isn''t an obvious hero in the conventional sense. He''s not a warrior or a wizard. He''s a juggler. From the descriptions in this book I taught myself to juggle. Balls, fruit, stones, even shoes – though I don''t recommend doing that. Juggling is a practical skill. It won''t help to mend a burst pipe or change the fuse in a plug, but it can break the ice at parties. Sometimes the crockery too. I''m delighted I can juggle and I owe it entirely to Silverberg. Has any work of fiction ever taught you a practical skill?
Bydd gan Y Lolfa stondin yn Eisteddfod yr Urdd , Eryri (stondin rhif 127-128). Os ydach chi neu aelod och teulu yn cystadlu, dymunwn bob hwyl i chi, a chofiwch fod croeso mawr i chi alw draw am sgwrs ! Bydd cyfle i brynur llyfrau sydd ar restrau fer Llyfr y Flwyddyn Pantglas (Mihangel Morgan) a Cofiant Kate Roberts (Alan Llwyd).
Dyma restr o ddigwyddiadaur Lolfa yn Eisteddfod yr Urdd:
Dydd Llun 4 Mehefin
Canu gyda Rala Rwdins yn stondin CBAC , caneuon or llyfr Caneuon Ffadldi-Rwla-La , rhwng 11 a 2 or gloch .
Cyfle i neud Cadw Mi Gei papier mache yn stondin Palas Print am 2 or gloch , ac i glywed Morgan Tomos yn darllen ei lyfr newydd yng nghyfres Alun yr Arth - Alun yr Arth yn yr Ysgol.
Dydd Mawrth 5 Mehefin
Angharad Tomos yn arwyddo copau oi llyfrau yn stondin Y Lolfa am 11 or gloch , ac yna yn stondin Palas Print am 11.30 or gloch .
Dydd Sadwrn 9 Mehefin
Gwennan Evans yn lansio ei nofel newydd yn stondin Y Lolfa am 2 or gloch !
Bydd gan Y Lolfa nifer o lyfrau newydd fydd ar werth am y tro cyntaf yn Steddfod yr Urdd, yn cynnwys:
Alun yr Arth yn yr Ysgol Morgan Tomos
Guto Ny thbrn Jeremy Turner
Gwastraff Catrin Jones Hughes (Cyfres y Copa)
Gyl Peter Davies (Cyfres y Copa)
Bore Da Gwennan Evans (Cyfres y Dderwen)
Many of our members and readers will have noticed that content on Americymru is spread over two sites. We have sought to integrate them as seemlessly as possible but nevertheless we use both the Blogger and Ning platforms.
Until now interaction has only been possible on the Ning portion of the site but today we have added the Google Friends Connect Toolbar to the Americymru Blog . To join simply sign in with your Google or Yahoo password and you will be able to add comments to the comment wall which is a dropdown from the bar at the top of the page. It takes a little getting used to but we feel that it adds a whole new dimension to the site for our members. Google will, no doubt, be adding new features to the toolbar and hopefully it will become an even more useful tool for communication and interaction in the future.
For now it sports a comment wall which allows you to add comments and embed YouTube videos. It also allows integration with a few "external" services such as Twitter. If you decide to check it out heres a screenshot of the top left corner of the screen where you go to sign in:-
There is little doubt that Wales has a rich history of heroes and villains who are both idolized and despised in equal measures but Heroes and Villains in Welsh History published by Gomer Press compels us to question the virtues of those historical figures that we all thought we knew.
Like the previous book in this series, A New History of Wales (Gomer 2011), this publication is the result of a collaboration between the Western Mail and a group of twenty-two historians who form part of History Research Wales. First published as part of a series of articles in the national newspaper, the essays retain the clear, easy-to-read appeal, which made them so popular with readers.
The 24 accessible and entertaining essays profile a number of characters in Welsh history from politicians to sport stars and saints to soldiers. The cast of both heroes and villains range from well-known national figures such as Oliver Cromwell and Gerald of Wales to ordinary local heroes teachers, miners and rugby players. Yet not all heroes and villains come in the form of a man or a woman, some of the essays also discuss the hidden villains in Welsh history, such as disease and poverty, which have also plagued the country.
Be prepared for some surprising conclusions as the authors pull no punches in their assessments and cast a new light on our perceptions of the heroes and villains in Welsh history and ask us to reconsider their achievements.
Several events will take place at this years Hay Festival to coincide with the publication of Heroes and Villains in Welsh History . Editor Huw Bowen, Professor of Modern History at Swansea University, will be joined by various guests for thought-provoking discussions which are sure to surprise as well as entertain the audience (please see below for full details of these events).
Heroes and Villains in Welsh History is available from
all good bookshops and online retailers.
For more information, please visit www.gomer.co.uk
Reproduced from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog
I'll wager that I'm not the only one who has the knives out on Valentine's Day! Mind you, I'll be carving a beautiful love token for a loving couple and not planning to moyderize someone for forgetting the big day!
In fact, I've been so busy with the knives frantically trying to get Valentine's orders in time for delivery on the 14th, that I haven't had a minute to spare for the Left Coast Eisteddfod spoon.
While I apologize for that, I did have time to answer a couple of questions that have come to me via email. A number of people have written to me asking what tools I use when carving my lovespoons. In particular they are interested in the power tools I use to save time and turn out spoons in double-quick time.
I'm sorry to disappoint, but the only power tools I make use of are an electric band saw for roughing my timber to size, an electric scroll saw to rough out the actual spoon blank (especially if there is a lot of Celtic knotwork involved) and very occasionally I will utilize a 4.5-inch angle grinder (!!) to sand my way through difficult grain figures. Other than that, it is all hand tools. I've included a picture of my workbench to show the tools necessary for carving the Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon. The vast bulk of my work is done with one or two straight and bent bladed knives. I use some small chisels and gouges to get into tight spots, some needle files for cleaning rough spots and lots of stropping compound and stropping to keep things sharp as I go. Those with keen eyes will notice two other necessities on the bench; glues for those little disasters which occasionally befall even the noblest venture and my collection of Simpsons characters who are present to help me laugh my way through those same ignoble disasters!
I'd love to be able to tell you that there are miracle tools out there which make things go super-quick and smooth, but really there are no finer tools than the ones you see in this picture. Even though I have to work at a brisk pace if I want to survive, I firmly believe that a carving takes as long as it takes and trying to shortcut anywhere only leads to a half-hearted looking lovespoon.
The second most common question I am asked is: "How do you sit and carve for 8 hours straight every day?" The answer is proper nutrition! I've included this photo taken during my Christmas visit to Cardiff where I was able to stock up on the very type of nutrition which fortifies me so heartily for the upcoming season of lovespoon carving! The key, as with so many things, is moderation. As you can see from the picture, I am careful not to over-do things.
Any former or current citizen of Cardiff can tell you that with two simple foodstuffs, Clark's Pies and Brains Beer, the body can be sufficiently and efficiently fed to perform at peak performance! Add a half and half curry on the way home and you're set!!
So there you are, my Valentine's Day gift to any and all you carvers out there seeking the secret to woodcarving success.
Next week, we'll resume action on the Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon but in the meantime, why not consider a romantic donation to the Eisteddfod in your sweetie's name? It's a great gift which might net this one-of-a-kind, hand-carved lovespoon!
