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Books From Wales - Seren Newsletter - November 2011

Ceri Shaw » Blog » » Books From Wales - Seren Newsletter - November 2011
user image 2011-11-24
By: Ceri Shaw
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The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness is shortlisted for the 2011 Costa First Novel Award

Congratulations to Patrick McGuinness, who finds his debut novel on the Costa Book Awards shortlist. The Last Hundred Days is up against three other titles for the 2011 Costa First Novel Award. Set during Ceausescu's last hundred days in power, Patrick McGuinness's accomplished debut novel explores a world of danger, repression and corruption. The Last Hundred Days was also long-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2011. The Costa Book Award First Novel judges Henry Layte, Emma Lee-Potter and Jojo Moyes described the book as "Funny, insightful and compelling."

Other Reviews

"stunning" The Times
"an assured performance" The Literary Review
"...the sardonic crispness and evocative power of its language distinguishes it from the run of contemporary fiction." Sean O'Brien, TLS
The other titles on the First Novel shortlist category include City of Bohane by Kevin Barry, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson and Pao by Kerry Young. The category winners will be announced on 4th January 2012.

First Minister Carwyn Jones AM toasts Seren at thirty

Seren celebrated 30 years of publishing and launched the latest instalment of their Mabinogion re-tellings. Award winning authors Fflur Dafydd and Horatio Clare read from their latest novellas at a glitzy bash in Cardiff at Chapter Arts Centre, in the company of First Minister Carwyn Jones, who is also Seren's local AM in Bridgend.
Carwyn Jones was delighted to be present at the launch, and paid tribute to Seren for their work over thirty years publishing high quality literature from Wales.
You judge a country on three things: politics, food and writing Carwyn Jones said. Wales has always had the talent, but not always the opportunity but thanks to publishers like Seren, Wales has been given more of an opportunity
Carwyn Jones went on to describe his school days, when Seren Founder, Cary Archard was his English teacher. Cary Archard joked I must have done something right, Carwyn seems to have done well for himself.
The Mabinogion Series Serens re-tellings of the Mabinogion Stories which began in 2009 has now grown to six titles with acclaimed authors Owen Sheers , Russell Celyn Jones , Gwyneth Lewis , Niall Griffiths , Fflur Dafydd and Horatio Clare contributing their versions of the Welsh myths. The series has not only attracted Welsh press, but also national press, with the Guardian saying:Serens series of new stories inspired by the Mabinogion may be the greatest service to the Welsh national epic since Lady Charlotte Guest

More News

Seren are set to publish Wales Rugby World Cup 2011 in pictures, Heads Held High . Unique images from official tournament photographers, GettyImages. Foreword by Phil Bennett and Afterword by Max Boyce.
For two weeks in October, Wales held its breath. In the Rugby World Cup, with an influx of young players and probably the most exciting rugby played in the competition, Wales had negotiated a difficult qualifying group to reach the quarterfinal against an unbeaten Ireland side.
Ireland were dispatched 22:10; next up was a France side which had misfired through the tournament. In New Zealand and at home, Wales believed; over 60,000 people watched the game at the Millennium Stadium. But injuries to key players, missed kicks, and the sending off of skipper Sam Warburton meant that Wales came up just short in a grippingly tense match that they dominated.
A must have memento for all Wales rugby fans: fantastic Christmas gift.
Price 16.99 (less 20% if you join the online book club). Available from 24th Nov 2011
Seren author Catherine Fisher was recently named Wales' first Young People's Laureate. Literature Wales said the Young People's Laureate post is the first of its kind in the UK and aims to inspire young people in Wales to become involved with reading and creative writing. Catherine Fisher's appointment was announced by singer Charlotte Church.
Seren were very pleased to see two debut poetry collections on the shortlist for the Forward Prize 'Best First Collection' 2011 - Nerys Williams with Sound Archive and Judy Brown's collection Loudness . Unfortunately neither poet were crowned winner at the prize giving ceremony in London on the 5th of October. But our congratulations to both poets for making the shortlist and also to the winner Rachel Boast.

NEW TITLES

The Princes Pen by Horatio Clare
Award-winning author Horatio Clare refracts politics, faith and the contemporary world order through the prism of some of the earliest British myths, the Mabinogion, to ask who are the outsiders, the infidels and who the enemy within. "...an epic tale of conflict, faith and banishment...this reworked tale provides a graphic depiction of the cruelty of war and torture The Guardian 2011.Paperback 8.99 ISBN: 9781854115522
The White Trail by Fflur Dafydd.
Life is tough for Cilydd, after his wife seems to vanish into thin air at a supermarket one wintry afternoon. So begins a tale of intrigue and confusion that ends with a wild boar chase and a dangerous journey to the House of the Missing. "Dafydd seamlessly amalgamates the extraordinary into the everyday in her reworking of 'Culhwch and Olwen The Guardian, 2011.Paperback 8.99 ISBN: 9781854115515
The Keys of Babylon by Robert Minhinnick
A collection of 15 linked stories by award-wining poet and author Robert Minhinnick, giving voice to migrants around the globe. Both a fictional record of, and an exploration into their lives, the migrants and the people with whom they interact reflect a comprehensive mix of hope, success, failure, fear, indifference and passion.Paperback 8.99 ISBN: 9781854115508
The Salt Harvest by Eoghan Walls
The debut collection from a startling new talent. Dark and evocative, these poems involve rich, multi-layered descriptions of the natural world, and cast a sardonic and tender eye on the human condition. Threads of humour run throughout, an imaginative playfulness evident in Martin Healeys War on God and Ireland, Frog and Star Matter.Paperback 8.99 ISBN: 9781854115492
Loudness by Judy Brown
Shortlisted for the Forward Prize 'Best First Collection 2011. An outstanding and original new voice in modern poetry with a straightforward manner and a gift for ironic humour which belie the artful complexities and exacting observations evident in her poems. A baroque quality, along with her sudden modulations of tone and register, and a keenly sensuous appreciation of the physical world, make her work reminiscent of the metaphysical poets.Paperback 8.99 ISBN: 9781854115478
Cusp by Graham Mort
Mort's new collection features many of the qualities readers have come to admire; keen observation, a feeling for the natural world and the sense of the individual as part of a larger society. Included in the collection is the remarkable, ambitious long poem, 'Electricity, fizzing with riffs on its theme. Mort's formal rigour, instinctive compassion, and warm humanity shine through in this new book, the first since his acclaimed: Visibility: New and Selected Poems.Paperback 8.99 ISBN: 9781854115485
Real Powys by Mike Parker
Observant, passionate, witty, offbeat, Mike Parker tours Powys from the border towns of Hay on Wye, Presteigne and Knighton, through the interior and on to the furthest points of Newtown, Penybont, Ystradgynlais and Brecon. Could it be that Powys is a time capsule of British life fifty years ago? Is it a stronghold for the Welsh language and culture? What surprises does he stumble upon among the mountains, forests, streams and farms of this mysterious countryside? Paperback 9.99 ISBN: 9781854115539

MEET THE AUTHOR

Thursday 22nd November 2pm: Ruth Bidgood reading from her poetry collection Time Being . This collection won the Roland Mathias Prize 2011. The Hours, Brecon.

Friday 2nd December 9pm: Seren author Owen Sheers ( White Ravens ) at Hay Winter Weekend. Screening of Owen Sheers film Resistance . The story opens in wartime 1944: after the failed D-day landings, a German counter-attack lands on British soil, Within a month, half of Britain is occupied. Starring Michael Sheen and Andrea Riseborough. Venue: Richard Booths Bookshop.

Saturday 3rd December 2pm: Mike Parker launches Real Powys at Erwood Station Craft Centre, Llandeilo Graban, Builth Wells, LD2 3SJ

Saturday 3rd December 10am: Seren author Horatio Clare ( The Princes Pen ) at Hay Winter Weekend. Explore the writing and crafting of short stories with Horatio Clare, then get hands-on with formatting and style under the expert guidance of Paul Thomas (BWA Design). You'll leave having created a completely unique book from start to finish. Bring a packed lunch. Venue: Parish Hall. Tickets 15.00, available from the Festival website www.hayfestival.com

Saturday 3rd December 3.30pm: Francine Stock talks to Owen Sheers about 'A Century of Film and How it Shaped Us. Join Francine on her personal journey through a glorious century of cinema, showing in vivid detail how film both reflects and makes our world. For tickets and further information visit the festival website: www.hayfestival.com/winterweekend/

Sunday 4th December 5pm: Award-winning author and contributor to Oxfams Ox-Travels anthology Horatio Clare introduces his striking contribution to Seren Books New Stories of the Mabinogion series, The Princes Pen , as the tale of Lludd and Lefellys is brought sharply into a world of suicide bombers and surveillance.Venue: Community Centre. Tickets 4.00, available from the Festival website: www.hayfestival.com

Thursday 8th December 7.30pm: Seren poet Ellie Evans reads from her debut collection The Ivy Hides the Fig Ripe Duchess at the Imperial Hotel, Merthyr.

Thursday 8th December 7.30pm: Seren poet Carrie Etter (The Tethers) reads in Swindon. Bluegate Poets reading series, Arts Centre, Devizes Road, Old Town, Swindon SN1 4BJ. For an open mic slot, email organiser Hilda Sheehan at hsheehan@btinternet.com . 4, 2 for Bluegate members.

Thursday 15th December, 6.30pm: Niall Griffiths will be reading from his 'Mabiniogion Story' The Dreams of Max and Ronnie and Gwen Davies from Sing Sing Sorrow at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre bookshop. We're working with independent booksellers across Wales (and Church Stretton) and the Welsh Books Council to offer 12 great books at a 3 for 2 offer.

Poem of the Month

Fidelity Charm
Cradle its stasis in your hands:
plain as a pearl, its unstrung eye
snow-blind at the minds tundra.
Smooth and cool an eggs
perfection but sterile as an ovary
masked men have sliced away.
Hold its dull orb between your knees
burnish it, peer at drifted sand where
the hours lie, and yesterdays.
It frightens you now. So fight its slick
of light on marbled stone, its golden
promise snug around your finger-bone.
From our forthcoming poetry collection Cusp by Graham Mort available from November for 8.99

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