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THIS POST IS OUTDATED. FOR THE LATEST ENROLMENT DETAILS GO HERE:- AMERICYMRAEG
The meeting times are:- 6 pm Pacific time/9 pm Eastern on Wednesdays. It is possible that, by mutual agreement, we can change the times if this does not suit everyone but of course, we are trying to cater for all participants in all time zones. The first meetup ( which is purely introductory to hash out timing and technical details ) is tomorrow, Wednesday 1st May, at the above stated time.
The 'Donate' button is just below 'Top Videos' on the right hand side of any page on AmeriCymru ( where it says 'The Meriwether Lewis Memorial Foundation'. Course fees for the first two months are $40 ( special introductory rate ) If you prefer you can simply log in to your PayPal account and make payment to the following PayPal email address:- americaneisteddfod@gmail.com
As soon as we receive payment we will invite you to the private group on AmeriCymru where all further course details will be discussed.
Its not often that I get a chance to read purely for pleasure but the installation of a new bedside reading light has opened up a new world of opportunity. As a chronic insomniac of many years standing I have often found that lying awake reading until I doze off is the only healthy and acceptable remedy. Alcohol works a treat of course but it has its obvious disadvantages.
Anyway, whilst rummaging through my bookshelves for some late night reading fare yesterday I came across a copy of Granta that I had been hoarding for a rainy day . Granta is a literary publication that specializes in short fiction and excerpts from forthcoming novels. Ideal! No chance of staying awake all night in a frantic effort to finish the book . Just three or four 'shorts' and I should be ready for lights out.
And so it proved. But Granta entertained me for several hours before I hit the switch.
The theme for this edition was 'Broken Britain'. Now I don't happen to think that Britain is any more ( or less ) broken than anywhere else but but it does have its fair share of historic and contemporary conflicts and some of them are faithfully mirrored in the stories in this collection. I particularly enjoyed 'Hands Across The Water' by Rachel Seiffert. This story revolves around the adventures of a young Glaswegian who is a member of an Orange marching band. It features a brief cameo appearance by an unidentified and heavily disguised 'UDA member'. But this is not a grim or overtly political tale, indeed it ends comically. The dear old Wiki has this to say about Rachel :-
Seiffert's subject is the individual in history: how political and economic upheavals impact on ordinary lives. Her characters have included the 12 year old daughter of an SS officer in 1945, a Polish seasonal worker on a German asparagus farm after the fall of the wall, and a London painter and decorator who killed a civilian as a 19-year old squaddie with the British Army in Northern Ireland. While the situations her characters experience are often harsh, a common thread in Seiffert's stories is the push and pull of family, the persistence of love, and the poetry of everyday life.
So it would appear that Granta has achieved its goal. I for one will be looking for more from the pen of Rachel Seiffert.
Of course I rarely read anything that has no Welsh relevance or content whatsoever and this was no exception. This edition includes an excerpt ( The Hunt ) from a forth coming novel by one of Wales most promising new writers - Cynan Jones. There are no details of publishing dates etc but if this excerpt and the quality of his previous offerings are anything to go by the new Cynan Jones will be well worth the wait.
There is also an excellent short poem on the subject of Tryweryn by Jamie McKendrick
If you happen to be looking for some bedtime reading there are a few suggestions below. Unfortunately the AmeriCymru bookstore doesn't sell bedside lamps ( or alcohol ).
Christmas Competition - Win Copies of 'Big Fish' and 'Homeland' by Jon Gower
By Ceri Shaw, 2010-11-24
Big Fish In this collection of short stories, first published in 2000 Jon Gower introduces us to a range of colorful and tragic characters. Some of these stories are set in Wales, others in the U.S. but ALL are hugely entertaining and some of them are amongst the funniest you'll ever read.
"This is a lively, entertaining collection of verbal arabesques traced by the zany flights of a wild fantasy. The writing is pacy, stylishly manic, streetwise and state -of-the art demotic. The author is able to add a convincingly Welsh accent to an american style of humour - elliptically staccato sentences, riffs of wisecracks, vivid shifts of verbal register." - M. Wynn Thomas
Homeland
This collection of essays, edited by Jon Gower, looks at the changes in farming in Wales in recent decades. originally published in 1996 it contains much that is of contemporary relevance.
" Homeland . This Wales in which we dwell, its mountains high, its history ample and complicated, its natural history still bountiful, just. This collection of essays, by a range of writers connected with the BBC Wales series Homeland, takes this great small country as its theme. It is a country small enough to hold out the promise of being understood, whilst constantly offering discoveries around every corner.".
The Winter 2013 Edition of The Seventh Quarry Poetry Magazine is out now!
From the Editorial:- "This 17th issue features work from America, Cornwall, England, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Scotland and Wales. It also includes a PROFILE of world-renowned translator Gregory Rabassa ; John Dotson's interviews with Americans Conrad Selvig and John Laue ; and poems from the endangered Ahtna Athabaskan language of Alaska by John Smelcer an American Native Indian poet."
It also includes the winning submission from last year's West Coast Eisteddfod Onilne Poetry Competition: When You Smile You'll Be A Dog No More by Paul Steffan Jones.
The editor of 'Seventh Quarry' , Peter Thabit Jones has adjudicated the WCE Online Competition since it began in 2009 and he will be the judge of this years competition. To enter the 2013 WCE Online Poetry Competition please go here:- West Coast Eisteddfod Onilne Poetry Competition .
SUBSCRIBE TO SEVENTH QUARRY HERE
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We have added a new footer section to the site and in traditional footer style it appears at the bottom of all pages on the site. A number of useful links have been incorporated but we have room for eight more. What would members like to see featured here for easy reference?
Click to enlarge
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Child's Christmas in Wales comes to life at Seattle's Stone Soup Theatre, recreating the nostalgic magic of Thomas' childhood Christmases in South Wales during a time when everything seemed brighter, better and more alive. Experience a peek inside Dylan's memories and find your own in the colorful characters, family dynamics and live Christmas music in Stone Soup's new version of this holiday classic for the whole family, performed by both youth conservatory graduates and seasoned professionals.
archives after Tennessee's death and seldom produced.
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Follow the whole nine yards here (a 95 part series) :- Half Marathon Blog
Why I am running:- West Coast Eisteddfod Bryn Seion Church
For details of how to sponsor see this post
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Not much to say today. I ran around the turnips for 15 minutes and my feet hurt. I will try to be a little more expansive tomorrow
Today has been my day off for the week and I've spent much of it reading. Many thanks to Peter Lewis for his review of 'The Coward's Tale'. I am reading it now and it is excellent. Hoping to have an interview with author Vanessa Gebbie on the site soon. Meanwhile here is a link to Part 2 of our interview with Bernard Knight:- http://www.storyforgestudios.com/americymru/directory/usersblogs22/98-interview-with-welsh-writer-bernard-knight-part-2
In this interview Bernard speaks about the Madoc legend , Jack the Ripper and his experiences with television forensic series. He also discusses plans for a forthcoming series of short stories or novellas centered around the adventures of a 1930's Cardiff based tramp steamer.
On a side note, if you live in the LA area please consider helping out with the fund raising drive for the St Davids Day event there next year. I've posted a link over in the right hand column---->
That's all for now....back to my book. More tomorrow
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