Wales and Ukraine met in the most unlikely of circumstances when Liliya Revenko, a teacher from Ukraine, contacted Welsh author Colin Thomas.

‘It began last Autumn. I was asked by school authority to do some research work and all of a sudden, the topic of the history of our city, that has been suffering so much recently came to my mind. But what new things can we write about if there is so much information? We started our pursuit for new facts that were not translated into Russian.’ explained Liliya.

‘We were surfing the Net when we came across the part of Colin Thomas's video about his work to create the film about Hughsovka. We got interested at once!’ she continued.

Having recieved information about Colin himself and after realising it would be impossible to obtain his book on their city given the current situation in Ukraine, Liliya was put into contact with him via Susan Edwards at the Glamorgan Archive. The archives at Glamorgan had an extensive section on Hughesovka/Stalino/Donetsk.

‘Myself, along with my student Polina Pavlolva, contacted Colin and collected the information and Polina assembled the research.’ said Liliya.

‘When we received the letter from Colin, we got excited at once! We are currently reading his book and thinking about the second part of our research work.’

Dreaming a City by Colin Thomas is the history of one Ukraine town, a microcosm of Russia. Hughesovka (later Stalino and Donetsk) was a mining and steel town founded in the 1870s by Welsh entrepreneur John Hughes and seventy Welsh workers.

The book traces the town's shifts from patriarchal beginnings through the Russian revolutions, Bolshevism, Stalinism, Nazi occupation and the collapse of Communism and 1990s' rising Ukraine nationalism, to Ukraine post-independence.

Difficulties with crossing the border and sending parcels and packages to Liliya at her Kharkov address meant that she had to recieve a digital copy of the book.

‘The situation in Donetsk has improved a little but still we have military men in the streets and no peace treaty.’ said Liliya.

‘I read about what has happened to Donetsk with great sadness.’ added Colin Thomas.

‘Colin’s work is very important for our region’ said Liliya ‘If we don’t know our past we will not have a future. In the past information about the origin of Donetsk has been concealed and reduced to maybe 2-3 lines in a school textbook. A lot of common people didn’t think what city they lived in.’

‘Even today we still have a lot of work to tell people the truth about the origin of their city. As a teacher, I am going to prepare some tests based on Colin’s book and will include in my work to popularize our history!’ she continued.

Dreaming a City is a mixture of Russian and Welsh social and political history; travel journalism, as well as a tribute to Welsh historian Gwyn Alf Williams. 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.

Dreaming a City by Colin Thomas (£9.95, Y Lolfa) is available now.

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To the sound of distant gunfire, school children in Donetsk are now learning about their city’s Welsh past. Lily Revenko, a teacher in the war torn city, has decided to make the book  Dreaming A City the basis of a what she calls “investigative journalism” by her pupils, a means by which they can both improve their English and discover the origins of their city.

Donetsk was originally founded by Welshman John Hughes . Born and brought up in Merthyr, he began work as an apprentice in the Cyfarthfa ironworks, developed his own business in Newport and then London and finally, with the help of hundreds of Welsh workers, established the centre of the coal and steel industry in Ukraine – the city of Hughesovka .

Following the 1917 revolution, it became Stalino and Hughes was written out of its history but, since it changed its name again to Donetsk , the city has been prepared to acknowledge that it was founded by a Welsh capitalist and a statue has been erected to him there.

Lily Revenko became aware of Y Lolfa’s book on her city through an enquiry to the Glamorgan Record Office and its author Colin Thomas eventually managed to get a copy to her across the Ukraine/ Russia battle lines in eastern Ukraine.

Of the book, Lily said, ‘One of the strengths of the book is the combination of the past and the present - historical events and the process of making the book, a dialogue with the reader.’

The book comes with a DVD of the BBC’s three part series Hughesovka and the New Russia presented by the late Professor Gwyn Alf Williams.

‘The brave and artistic voice of Gwyn Williams does the same – you feel yourself part of the past and of the present.’ added Lily.

Over 9000 people have died in the Donetsk region since it became a centre of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in 2014. Despite what Lily Revenko calls ‘this horrible war’, she has just set her pupils a series of questions about Dreaming A City.

‘Our readers need this book – it will teach them not only about the past but also will teach them how to live in the present, how to work in a way that will make sparks fly.’ she said.

Dreaming a City by Colin Thomas (£9.95, Y Lolfa) is available now.

John Hughes statue

Recorded at the book launch event at the Dylan Thomas Center, Swansea on March 13th 2014.

The characters Gari Pêl and Bronaldo go head to head in the latest issue of Mellten – published this week, as the two have a competition to see who is the best football player.

This is the second issue of the new quarterly comic for the children of Wales, comic Mellten .

Mainly aimed at children between the ages of 7 and 13, this is the first original Welsh comic to be published in decades. Edited by Wales’ best and most original cartoonist, Huw Aaron, Mellten contains contributions from many artists, cartoonists and authors.

Between the pages of the second issue, we reunite with characters such as Gwil Garw, a hero from an age before history who loves collecting and fighting monsters, Bloben and Capten Clonc – the most handsome hero in the universe. We also follow the adventures of Iola, the young pilot who dreams of winning the Space Rally Competition but she is stuck on planet Cymru Newydd (New Wales).  The second issue will also include the favourite ‘Ble mae Boc?’ (Where is Boc?) with the poor little dragon lost in Cardiff city stadium amongst a crowd of excited Welsh football fans!

There is also an opportunity to win a pair of tickets to see the Wales rugby team play against Japan at the Principality Stadium on the 19 ^th of November.

‘It has been fantastic to see the enthusiastic response of the children of Wales to the first issue of Mellten and the second issue is full of adventure, silly jokes and colourful characters!’ said the comic’s editor, Huw Aaron.

Huw Aaron will also be joining in the fun and festivities of the ‘Enormous Weekend’ in Caernarfon this weekend as he visits Penygroes Library at 10 am and Palas Print at 2.45pm on Saturday the 17 ^th of September in a cartoon making session.

The next issue of Mellten will appear in December but the fun will continue on the website with new content added regularly.  

Mellten is available to buy separately or by subscription through the website, schools, local bookshops or Y Lolfa publishers.

Huw Aaron will be at Palas Print in Caernarfon on Saturday the 17 ^th of September between 2.45pm and 3.45pm as part of the enourmous weekend.  

The second issue of Mellten (£2, Y Lolfa) is available now.

Today marks the centenary of Roald Dahl’s birth in Cardiff, Wales.

He wrote children's books including 'Matilda' 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' and 'The BFG'

In his autobiography ‘Boy’ Dahl talks about his childhood in Wales.

Wales is celebrating the centenary with a number of events:

http://www.roalddahl100.wales/ whats-on/

How Welsh was Roald Dahl? Find out in a BBC interview with Prof Damian Walford Davies author of ‘Roald Dahl: Wales of the Unexpected’ and Lleucu Siencyn CEO of Literature Wales:

http://www.bbc.com/news/ entertainment-arts-36963989

BUY THE VANITY ROOMS HERE

Penarth author Peter Luther, whose supernatural thrillers have resulted in him being dubbed by critics as the Welsh Dan Brown, is about to launch his fourth novel.

A successful solicitor and an accomplished musician, Peter Luther’s first novel Dark Covenant became a word-of-mouth publishing sensation and has already been reprinted twice by Ceredigion-based publishers Y Lolfa. Following the success of the widely acclaimed Dark Covenant and his follow-up novels, The Mourning Vessels and Precious Cargo, the man critics have dubbed the Welsh Dan Brown will be launching his fourth novel in Cardiff Waterstones on Friday evening.

The Vanity Rooms is located in Cardiff Bay, in a decrepit building that offers free accommodation to wannabe actor Kris Knight. His room contains a chess game which has a life of its own, where the pieces come to resemble real people, and very soon the game becomes a ruthless one of life and death. The Vanity Rooms is the third in a series featuring Tristyn Honeyman, a Welsh minister and spiritual detective on the trail of a secret society.

Peter describes his books as supernatural thrillers with historical backdrops, but which have modern, relevant themes at their heart. “I write in an unfashionable genre – the supernatural thriller without vampires,” explains the author. “All of my stories are set in Wales, as it’s a beautiful, dramatic country with inexhaustible sources of inspiration. The majority of my scenes are, however, set in my home city of Cardiff, because of my familiarity with the area.”

He admits that his fictional work is influenced by his personal experiences. “I’m a great believer in writing what you know about, and this is true even of supernatural thrillers. My stories aren’t set on some alien planet or alternative reality. Cardiff is an important location in my books, and the characters are normal people with normal lives.”

Peter Luther has built a loyal band of followers, as testified by the response to his first three novels on his website, www.peterluther.co.uk . The Vanity Rooms will be launched in Cardiff Waterstones tomorrow night, Friday, 22 February at 6.30pm.

Acclaim for Peter Luther’s novels:

“This captivating story will keep you reading until the last page… Five stars.” Waterstones

“This is classic good versus evil horror stuff, enough to make you flinch at times, while admiring the imagination and accomplishment of a very fine author.” Western Mail

The psychological heartache after successive failed attempts at IVF treatment has inspired a new novel by Cardiff author, Peter Luther . Describing the IVF lottery of success as “absolutely horrible”, he has used the experience as a basis for the second installment in his Honeyman series of novels.

Precious Cargo  promises couples beautiful and gifted children when all other means have failed, but it’s a lifetime deal. The newborn children are ruled by its Trustees’ baptism gifts, handcrafted toys that nurture their talent and aspirations. The toys also understand what’s at stake, for while two Precious Cargo children are born every year, only one survives past age sixteen. Their fate seems linked to a Fabergé egg with an impossible lock, the clue to an old, fanatic crime…

As with all Peter Luther novels, the concept behind the story is bizarrely original: handmade toys communicating with a terrifying code, and a mystery that reaches back to the era of Marie Stopes.

Peter says of his third novel, “This is my most ambitious work to date. I always feel a sense of trepidation when my books are released because the ideas are so left field, so I wonder how they will be received. Fortunately, my readers have shown themselves to be very receptive to something which doesn’t neatly fit into one particular genre. In truth, my novels are human interest stories masquerading as supernatural thrillers, albeit with some entertaining twists.

“As someone who has trod the bitter path of IVF, Precious Cargo is also inspired from experience. The book is dedicated to my wife, the most courageous person I know.”

Peter Luther , a successful solicitor and an accomplished musician, lives in Cardiff and has already published Dark Covenant and The Mourning Vessels , supernatural thrillers which have been widely acclaimed in Wales and beyond. He has been called the ‘Welsh Dan Brown’.

Precious Cargo is published by Y Lolfa and was launched at Waterstone’s, Cardiff on 16 April 2010.

Peter Luther ’s debut novel, Dark Covenant , is having its third reprint this month. The novel was published in February 2007 and features a magazine with a mysterious crossword, which is completed as the story progresses and spells out a satanic code.

Peter , a Cardiff solicitor, was delighted at the news, saying, “It’s wonderful to have received such a positive response in a genre that’s so difficult to penetrate for a new author. I believe Dark Covenant has appealed to a wide range of readers, notwithstanding its ‘supernatural’ tag. This is perhaps because it explores the oldest of stories, that of gaining the world to lose your soul.”

Peter writes completely original supernatural thrillers, which address real life themes. His second novel, The Mourning Vessels , was published in October 2008 to critical acclaim and is the first in a series featuring Tristyn Honeyman, a Welsh minister on the trail of a nefarious secret society. The next instalment in the series, Precious Cargo , will be published by Y Lolfa in February 2010.

Peter Luther 's Website

Y Lolfa's Website