Last year Seren, one of Wales leading publishing houses announced that it had commissioned an exciting new series - New Stories from the Mabinogion . Since then the first two volumes in the series have been published ( see details below ) and a further two are slated to appear in October this year. The Mabinogion has inspired a number of imaginative reworkings and adaptations over the years including Evangeline Walton's Mabinogion Tetralogy first published in four parts in the 1970's and Lloyd Alexander's award-winning The Chronicles of Prydain, published in the 1960's. It also inspired a film version, Y Mabinogi, produced by S4C in 2003. The exciting feature of the recent Seren initiative is that it has commissioned ten of the finest contemporary Anglo-Welsh writers to adapt and renew these stories for modern audiences thus effectively creating a 'new Mabinogion'. The project is introduced in the following terms on the Seren website:-

"In this series commissioned by Seren, the old tales are at the heart of the new. Each author reinvents a story in their own way: creating fresh, contemporary tales that speak to us as much of our own world as of events long gone."

The first two volumes:- 'White Ravens' by Owen Sheers and 'The Ninth Wave' by Russell Celyn Jones appeared in October 2009 and the next instalments penned by Niall Griffiths and Gwynneth Lewis will be published in October this year.

As an aside we would like to point out that Niall Griffiths , one of the authors of the 'New Mabinogion' will be judging the live narrative competition at the Left Coast Eisteddfod in Portland, Oregon this year. Anyone wishing to attend or compete in this event should go to this page for further details:- Night of The Living Bards

'White Ravens' - Owen Sheers

Owen Sheers on 'White Ravens'

Owen Sheers Poet and Author

Amazon.com 'White Ravens'

'The Ninth Wave' - Russell Celyn Jones

'The Ninth Wave' on Seren

GWales Review

Amazon.com 'The Ninth Wave'