We are still looking for a couple of competitors for the Poetry recitation and Story telling competitions at the West Coast Eisteddfod in Portland OR on October 13th.

• Free tickets for the event, two per competitor.
  
• A chance to compete for $150 cash prize. Five competitors in each category.
  
• 8 minutes at the mic. Stories or poems on ANY subject.
  
• Celebrity judges and a chance to record and promote your performance.
  
• NO registration fee
  

Email americymru@gmail.com if you are interested.

6.00-6.50 pm Storytelling Competition

( $150 First Prize - No registration fee! 8 mins at the mic.)

Competitors: Julia Strozyk Hiram Asmuth Ken Iverson + two more. You?

7.20-8.15 pm Poetry Competition

( $150 First Prize - No registration fee! 8 mins at the mic.)

Competitors: Anatoly Molotkov David Cooke Emily Pittman + two more. You?

VIEW THE EVENT PAGE HERE

Cover to Cover is published alongside a Welsh version, O Glawr i Glawr to coincide with the publishers 120 year anniversary in September 2012. Pont Books is an imprint of Gomer Press who are, this year, celebrating their 120th year as a printing and publishing company. On Thursday morning, 27 September, the award-winning author and illustrator, Rob Lewis along with Sioned Lleinau, the author of the Welsh adaptation, O Glawr i Glawr, will be launching the book with the pupils of Llandysul Primary School. The book features Robs trademark sheep as both author and editor but there are real-life photographs too which show machinery and personnel at a working printing and publishing company. The reader is introduced to the technology and vocabulary used in the industry such as editor, storyboard, designer and proofs and the questions and comments from the characters ensure that the story is presented in a fun and entertaining way.

During the process, metal plates are created and John Llewelyn Jones from Llandysul is seen checking that the pages are in the right order on the plates before sending the book to print. There is one plate for every colour and there are four colours altogether Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black and by printing one colour over another, they produce all the colours needed. Vince Lloyd has worked for Gomer Press for over forty years and he can be seen working on the folding machine. Like many others at Gomer, Vince has worked for the company since leaving school and, with over fifty full and part-time employees, Gomer remains an important employer in the rural Teifi valley. To this day, Gomer Press is a family business and Jonathan Lewis is the managing director of the company his great-grandfather, J.D.Lewis, founded in 1892. On the last page of the book, theres a photograph of Jonathan, his brother Rod and their father John Lewis next to an old printing press and we continue to be astonished by the considerable develpoment that the industry has seen over the years. During the summer of 2012, a new printing press and machinery were installed at Gomers site in Llandysul as the company continues to invest in the future.

It is thanks to J.D. Lewiss initiative, the perseverance of the Lewis family and Gomers workforce throughout the years that many wonderful Welsh and English books adorn many bookshelves in shops, libraries and homes across Wales and Cover to Cover is a special picture-book to celebrate Gomers 120th birthday this year.

We are very pleased and proud to announce that a copy of "In Search of Gareth Jones" is being made available to us by its creator, Americymru member Kelvin Guy , for showing at the Left Coast Eisteddfod in Portland . The documentary will be shown in Lola's Room in the Crystak Ballroom on Saturday August 22nd ( precise time to be announced ). For more information about Gareth Evans see below or visit the film's website HERE .

About Gareth Hughes - From the Wikipedia

Born into a working class family in Dafen, Carmarthenshire, after undertaking some local amateur roles aged 15 he walked to London and joined a West End theatre based group of Welsh players. The group took a tour to the United States, and although not successful Hughes was spotted in New York, and left the group to take a series of minor roles on Broadway. Seen by the right people, they persuaded Hughes to get involved in the new-fangled picture business.

Hughes earlier screen work was with Clara Kimball Young in Eyes of Youth, Marguerite Clark in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. He was teamed with Viola Dana in The Chorus Girls Romance, and was with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, in Sentimental Tommy, the picture which attracted immediate attention to his ability. Even though he had already appeared in many films before this,he always regarded Sentimental Tommy as his favourite and most successful. In total he made forty five films spanning 1918 to 1931.He was also the Welsh dialect coach, on The Corn Is Green made in 1945 starring Bette Davis (another Welsh connection). Ceil.B.DeMille called him a young idealist. Fulton Ousler describes him as the charm boy to end all charm boys

In 1929 like many others he lost his fortune in the Wall Street crash and was left penniless, but he carried on making films until 1931 when he appeared in Scarce Heads. He then decided to leave the world of film and return to theatre, which he had always been his first love. His last performance ran for 18 weeks at the Hollywood Playhouse in 1938, where he starred as Shylock in the Merchant of Venice.

In the early 1940s Hughes decided it was time to leave his full and exciting but also lavish and selfish lifestyle. Adopting the name of Brother David, in 1944 he became a missionary to the Paiute Indians on the Pyramid Lake Reservation of Nevada. Hughes spent almost 14 years with his children as he liked to call them.

In 1958 Hughes decided to return to Llanelli to spend his final years. But he longed for the sunshine of the West Coast, and after five months he returned to California. Later Hughes moved into the Motion Picture Country Home, in Woodland Hills, where he had his own cottage. He baptised silent film actress Clara Kimball Young prior to her death. There he died at the age of seventy, and his cremains were buried in a Masonic Cemetery at Reno, Nevada.

In 2008, Hughes relative Kelvin Guy made made the film Desert Padre , which premiered in Llanelli.

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AmeriCymru spoke to author Christopher R. Williams about his new mystery and adventure series for children - The Stories of Rhys . Set in North Wales and based on real locations these stories have delighted local school children and been featured in the North Wales press. ( see pics below ) We talked to Christopher about the series and about his future writing plans.

AmeriCymru: You're the author and illustrator of The Stories of Rhys a juvenile fiction series set in North Wales, can you tell us a bit about this series and how did it come about?

Ysgol St Thomas

Ysgol Gwynedd

Across the Severn is Eva Goldsworthys heartfelt tribute to her parents, who were forced to uproot themselves from Wales after the 1921 miners strike and had to face down anti-Welsh sentiment when they moved to England. The author says, This book is an account of two people I loved. From one angle their lives were uneventful but they illustrate the great courage inherent in the Welsh as a people the way they stick to a task and make the best of difficult circumstances. May and Joe stayed true to this tradition even though they would have been the last to admit it.

More than a familys story, Across the Severn is also an excellent piece of social history. Events in the lives of the protagonists are constantly rooted in the wider context of the turbulent politics of the early 20th century. Goldsworthy examines the devastating effects of pit closures in the Valleys and the 1921 miners strike, which left her father with no choice but to seek work in hostile England. On a trip home to Ogmore Vale in 1926, the author observed firsthand the obvious signs of poverty following the General Strike. She says, I remember boarded-up shops and thin, grey-faced men hanging around on street corners. The coal mine owners had taken their revenge and there had been savage cuts in employment, most of all for the so-called agitators. The burning aim of most of the youngsters in Ogmore was to get out.

The author also includes her reminiscences of the time she spent working on the development of radar and nuclear fission during the Second World War. Socialism, the emancipation of women, and the swan-song of the English gentry are amongst the other wide-ranging topics which form a background to this fascinating story of how individuals coped with the difficulties they faced during an era of unprecedented change.

Eva Goldsworthy was born in Wales but spent most of her life in London as a mathematics teacher. She has three daughters and now lives in Llanfyllin. She is also the author of A Flat-Pack in Greece.