Bruce Laders fourth collection of poetry, Embrace, is about the need for love and intimacy. Winner of the 2010 Left Coast Eisteddfod Poetry Competition, he has received a writer-in-residence fellowship from The Wurlitzer Foundation and an honorarium from the College of Creative Studies at UC-Santa Barbara. A New York City teacher for many years, he is the founding director of Bridges Tutoring, an organization based in Raleigh, North Carolina, educating multicultural students. AmeriCymru spoke to Bruce about his work and about the poets craft.

AmeriCymru: Hi Bruce, and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. You won the Left Coast Eisteddfod poetry competition last year with your poem 'Iberia' . Care to tell us what inspired it?

Bruce: The night I wrote Iberia, the famous gypsy flamenco dancer, Carmen Amaya, and I danced a passionate duet at Los Gallos in Sevilla. The image in the fifth stanza of the poem, gypsy fires dance duende from earth/ like poppies of blood/ flaming Andalusian mountains refers to our unforgettable performance. Actually, Ceri, what really inspired the poem might not sound as exciting.

I was traveling alone in Spain in 1977 with a Berlitz handbook and a semester of high school Spanish. Being a fan of flamenco singing and dancing, I attended a flamenco performance in Sevilla. I wrote the poem in Mallorca, then flew to England for the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth, and visited Laugharne where Dylan wrote most of his poems. The friendly people I met in Wales are also in my memory.

The words and images flowed together in a single draft. It was an attempt to evoke the duende spirit of Spains culture. The sprung organic energy of poets like Dylan Thomas and G.M. Hopkins (who considered himself half Welsh) had already influenced me, as had the surreal poetry of Lorca. A Spanish friend in Brooklyn helped me translate the poem when I came back home, but I havent tried to get it published in Spanish. Poems often live with me many years before theyre ready to send out. I wasnt satisfied with the last four lines and revised them in 2003 with the allusion to Don Quixote, then the poem was published by Talking River at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho. After reading the Eisteddfod Competition poems on the AmeriCymru site, I thought it might be a good one to enter and was honored that Peter Thabit Jones chose it. Iberia is included in one of my full-length books thats almost finished.

AmeriCymru: Your most recent collection, 'Embrace' marks something of a departure from earlier anthologies like 'Landscapes of Longing' . What prompted you to focus on personal relationships and the universal human need for love in this collection?

Bruce: Id been publishing poems about love and eroticism in magazines for many years. The decision to include all love poems in one book took place after having many relationship experiences and being in a second marriage. Like many of us, Im still trying to understand relationships and how to make marriage succeed. Just imagine all the trouble and time it would save if everyone owned talking social robots downloaded with different personalities. We could finally get rid of the problems involved in maintaining relationships. The Vicissitudes of Romance section of Landscapes of Longing, has poems focused on intimate relationships, and Discovering Mortality, my first full-length collection also includes poems about love.

The motive to write positively about love and sex went into Embrace. Its about various conflicting and amusing moments between lovers. My wife, Renata, who is Polish, likes to believe that every poem in the book is about her, and thats fine with me since she inspired the book and I want the marriage to survive. There are so many kinds of love that perhaps the need for it is what makes it universal. I dont believe romantic love, as we know it in the western world, is universal, though the need for a kind of intimate loving connection with another is probably what makes us human and prevents total destruction. Contemporary poetryin the US anywayis losing the intimate author-reader connection. A thin line separates the personal from the sentimental, and experienced poets try to stay away from the greeting-card zone. That could be one reason there arent more poets writing about love affairs. It also requires a lot of strength to explore difficult conflicted feelings.

AmeriCymru: Your poem "How to Bring a Marriage Good Luck" contains a number of 'tips' to help maintain a healthy relationship. Care to tell us a little more about it? I particularly enjoyed the sparseness and finality of number 5:- "Cancel seven business engagements."

Bruce: Ceri, Im glad you like the fifth step. My brother asked me to read this poem at his wedding in Eugene two year ago and its one of my favorites. I want readers to imagine browsing through a bookstore, opening an old book of mysterious encoded spells and turning to a page on how to bring good luck into a relationship. The book of charms has been used so much that part of the last step is missing (maybe stolen) as indicated in the poem.

The poem is about the magic that can happen when we make time for ourselves and the loved ones in our lives. It takes time and effort to crack the secret encryptions of our relationships. Perhaps love relationships have become too much like business engagements. Step five seems to work almost as effectively as number six, the sensuous/erotic step, which has been proven effective through many years of personal experience. Five works better in theory than practice since a lot of us would settle for canceling even one business engagement if we could. The entire poem is intended to be a humorous satire on our struggles to balance our hectic lives and make relationships work. I have to voice a disclaimer that any of the tips in the poem help to maintain a healthy relationship, though sharing humor about loves craziness can bring temporary relief.

AmeriCymru: How should we approach our reading of poetry in the 21st century? Should it be a comfortable/entertaining or an unnerving and unsettling experience?

Bruce: Perhaps when we read poetry, we should ask ourselves if the poems have a magical effect on us, if something in a poem invites us to read it again, if the subject and the way its written influence the way we think about, feel about, or perceive the world. The question is related to others like what is beauty in poetry, what kinds of challenges should poetry be offering, and how much risk should poets take with their work? That is to say, a lot of uncomfortable poetry challenges us because it deals with unpleasant subject matter, and at the same time its impact brings to awareness a sense of beauty within us. Since the question is perennial in literary history and argued among poets and critics, its hard to answer it adequately.

What can be inferred from this question is the issue of whether should poets focus on unpleasant subjects like suffering, evil, death, economic inequalities, and politics, or write comfortable feel-good poems, leaving to politicians and journalists the ugly, messy stuff about war and other horrendous problems that threaten our planet. I believe that poets need to address the important issues of their times. The challenges will be to interpret scientific breakthroughs in the fields of physics, biology, environmental studies, and technology. Recent discoveries are already changing the way we think about the origin of the universe and the meaning of life. The changes themselves are unsettling and poets need to address the problems.

I like to read challenging social and political poems that explore difficult age-old themes like the meanings of freedom, justice, and love in new ways that seem magical. My emotional and intellectual responses to themes like these are similar to listening to certain kinds of music like jazz and European classical, but I cant speak for the ways that other readers approach poetry since, like music, what we look for, and find in poetry, differs depending on our life experiences and knowledge of the arts. Much of what I liked to read when I was a newcomer to poetry isnt the kind of poetry I enjoy after four decades of reading and publishing, though I return to the classics and continue to get ideas from them. The second section of Landscapes of Longing is my interpretation of the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus from the viewpoints of 12 different speakers. I wrote them to get at certain truths about human nature that might be disturbing.

Poets provide lenses of experience for reflecting on the world. Poetry written from the perspectives of established religious beliefs will always be around and readers may find comfort in them. However, the dichotomy of comfortable versus disturbing is paradoxical in that poets with the ability to write about difficult emotional material can open a window of empathy for readers and provide them with opportunities to find comfort. Poetry concerned with the unpleasant real world we live in can be entertaining, comforting, and even spiritual to the extent that readers can connect with a poets emotions and share the knowledge, experiences, and wisdom in the poems. Poetry will continue to help us become better human beings and lead more fulfilling lives.

The experience of reading and listening to poetry is already being revolutionized. In the next two or three decades, poets will be projecting virtual sensory images as holographic text messages from computers, cameras, and phones. Poets and audiences will be able to participate in slams, open mics, and workshops in our living rooms, classrooms, and on our porches. Poetry books and magazines will be sold at supermarket check outs, as well as bookstores, for those of us who want hard copies in our hands. The proliferation of online magazines and social networking tools is only the beginning of how poetry will be popularized and marketed as entertainment. Many poetry publishers and poets will be marketed like other entertainment enterprises. Its a good idea for poets and readers to invest more in each other. We havent done that enough in the past.

AmeriCymru: Is the ability to write poetry a gift or is it the end result of decades of hard work?

Bruce: Another complex question. The ability to write lyrical verse is probably a gift related to the ability to create music. Most of what we consider to be traditional lyric poetrystanzas with end-rhyme schemes set to classical metric forms that dominated poetry for so many centurieshave become less popular in contemporary poetry. The fact that a poem is rhymed and has classical Greek meter doesnt necessarily make the poetry lyrical, in my opinion, only formal.

Rhythm is an open-ended resource for creativity. Modern and contemporary free verse that sings from an organic place in the poets distinctively voiced instrument is far more interesting, to me, than formal poetry and comes from decades of desire and hard work, though good formal and free verse both require lifetimes of commitment to craft. Commitment is about making poetry the top priority, and the willingness to sacrifice income and material comforts. A sense of being true to ones poetic gift, a striving to get it (the gift) right, may be a poets ultimate responsibility.

I began as a lyric poet and all the poems in my first chapbook, Buoy on the Water, are free verse songs. Then I decided to blend natural cadences with narrative poetry so that I could more effectively relate what I know to readers. I like to let the content and rhythm of each poem determine its eventual form. The turn, or shift, in rhythmic direction that occurs in sonnets is natural for me and I have experimented with the possibilities of sonnet form. The ability to work with metaphorical ideas to convey feelings, especially extended metaphor, may also be inborn, and can certainly be developed.

AmeriCymru: How difficult is it for modern poets to find an audience? Is the internet an aid or a hindrance?

Bruce: Since the advent of the Internet and social networking, poets are finding the audiences they want a lot easier, and its a lot easier for audiences to find the poets they like. Poetry is becoming more of a viable product to larger audiences. Millions of viewers visit certain poetry magazine sites every issue, but I dont think they carefully read more than a few of the poems on each site. I can read steadily at the computer for 20-30 minutes before my eyes get weary, but I can read a book or magazine in my hands for hours. The increased number of open mics, workshops, and literary organizations also makes it easier for poets to find their audience. The real difficulty is how to maintain the audience after finding it, since there are so many interesting poets in the marketplace and most of the audience is comprised of poets. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of audiences read poetry who arent also writers. This is a problem that publishers and small press, non-commercial writers continue to face.

Poets with Internet know-how and the time to social network are having good results. The Internet has been helping my work get published. Whether the Internet will influence the quality of poetry to achieve a higher or lower level over several decades is debatable; everyone has an opinion and its still too soon to conclude one way or the other. One of the dangers is that poetsbeginners in particularmay believe that networking is a shortcut to learning the craft of writing and use it mainly to become popular. By focusing mainly on their audience, and not taking the time to read poets of proven excellence, many are neglecting better-quality poets who have spent lifetimes developing their craft.

AmeriCymru: What advice would you offer to anyone considering poetry as a vocation?

Bruce: Go for your dreamwhether the dream is organizing poetry events in your community, writing poems to change the world, or winning prestigious award competitions. Reflect on why you write and the deeper meanings of your poems. Remember to write about the things and people you love; even experienced poets often forget this. Locate your inner comfort zone and take risks, research new subject matter of interest to you and try to write about ideas in ways you didnt think you could, challenge yourself to write about a subject that is emotionally difficulteven if that poem doesnt work, another one in the future could surprise you. If nothing in a new poem is surprising you, it probably wont grab other readers. Write several versions of the poem, experiment with various rhythms, let the content determine the rhythm and free verse shapes of lines and stanzas, and use traditional forms to see what works better for you. Stretch outside your zone and keep learning. Ask for feedback about your writing from various poets whose writing you admire and from editors of magazines you value for the work they publish.

My practical advice is to spend a lot of time writing. Learn the poetry press market and network as soon as you can, but not at the expense of sacrificing needed writing time. If youre spending more time networking and promoting than writing poems, schedule more writing time. Use search engines like Duotropes Digest to find publishers looking for your kind of work. Also develop the craft of prose, if you can, to complement poetry and help build a career. Join writers groups and societies, writing meetup groups, book clubs, mens and womens centers, attend poetry readings and workshops, and get into college writing programs. Develop a routine of writing and/or submitting every day. Dont worry if your work doesnt get published the first five or more years you submit; unsigned rejection slips and email responses with no comments are disappointing, but they dont mean anything about the quality of your writing. Search for other magazines and book publishers and believe in your talent. Support other poets and they will eventually support you if you stay committed.

Read a variety of international poets living and dead. If you dont enjoy the process of reading and writing poetry, read other genres. Maybe fiction or nonfiction is better suited to your talent. Poets need a lot of time to write, independent publishers expect them to spend a lot of time to promote their books, and the books bring little if any profit to the poets. A very small percentage of poets are fortunate enough to find commercial publishers. Anyone who believes they can earn a significant income from publishing only poetry should choose another occupation. Some money from poetry can be made from teaching workshops and courses, but the work is harder, travel expenses are involved, and the hours are much longer than in other vocations.

My rewards from poetry have come from the dream of being a poet who writes inventive poems that others understand and enjoy. I also get a sense of fulfillment from being friends with other poets in writers groups, and reading my work in print alongside poets whose work I admire. There have been exciting surprisesthe $150 and publication in The Seventh Quarry that came with winning the Eisteddfod Competition were unexpected bonuses. There are poetry contests that offer thousands to the winner. However, the chance of winning any contest is like a lottery. In other words, Im not going to leave my job as director of Bridges Tutoring. Besides, I enjoy helping students develop writing and reading skills and they have inspired many of my poems.

AmeriCymru: Where can people read/purchase your work online?

Bruce: My thanks to anyone who reads this interview. People can find excerpts of my books and purchase them from my author site at www.brucelader.com . The books are also available from the publishers, but you save shipping and handling costs by emailing me directly at bridgesbl@aol.com. Plus, you will receive a FREE jewelry gift of your choice: one pair of beaded earrings or one FREE beaded bookmark for any copy of Embrace, Landscapes of Longing, or Discovering Mortality that you order. My wife, Renata, is Polish and an award-winning artist who crafts gorgeous gifts. She made the complimentary jewelry to help launch the books.

There are YouTube videos of my readings and interviews, and magazines like Poetry, New York Quarterly, Harpur Palate, CircleShow, Centrifugal Eye, Earthshine, and Contemporary Verse 2 have archived my work online.

Here are links to my readings and interviews:

Red Room

The Artist's Craft Interview & Reading (Channel 10, Raleigh) January 2010

Full of Crow Radio Podcast Interview & Reading, August 29, 2010

AmeriCymru: What's next for Bruce Lader?

Bruce: Diolch/Thank you, Ceri, for this chance to introduce myself to AmeriCymru members and visitors.

Radio interviews and public readings in NC to promote Embrace and Landscapes of Longing will continue. A chapbook of my antiwar poems is due to be published soon. The title is Voyage of the Virtual Citizen and the publisher is Lummox Press. The book is about a Special Forces soldier and his experiences from enlistment through his adjustment to civilian life and coping with PTSS (which reminds me that Ive been reading Alun Lewiss Collected Poems, thanks to my friend Mary Perkins-Gray, an excellent Welsh poet). Toward the end of 2011, erven Barva Press will publish Fugitive Hope, a full-length book of poems about ways that hope is lost and regained.

Im always busy working on new poems and publishing in magazines and anthologies. I have been working on three chapbooks and a new full-length manuscript and querying to find interested publishers. Anyone is welcome to email me and talk about life, poetry, and the interview. I have edited poetry manuscripts for authors to submit to book publishers and magazines, and have edited papers to help students meet course and degree requirements. We could also talk about those possibilities if you like.

Pob hwyl/All the best to your organization.

Interview by Ceri Shaw Email

Americymru: Your first published collection of poems Lull of The Bull has been very well received and reviewed. Do you have any further works in preparation?

Paul: I am currently working on another collection of poems, provisionally entitled "My Enclave". I hope that this will appear in the summer of 2011. It will be a more claustrophobic, introspective, partisan and surgical work than my debut.

Americymru: Care to explain the significance of the title - "Lull of The Bull"?

Paul: Firstly, I consider it to be internal poetry in a small way in itself, almost musical in a Middle Eastern by way of West Wales route. Secondly, I live in a rural area and am of farming ancestry but have no practical experience of this former family lifestyle like many of my contemporaries though we are surrounded by farms our families used to own. Thirdly, it could be a comment on artificial insemination, emasculation, enforced celibacy and the changing roles of both genders, more pertinently the male in this case. Essentially, I don't really know. I just write the stuff, waiting for shapes to appear in a log jam of words. I like the look and sound of it like a magpie might. I prefer the reader to reach his or her own conclusions.

Americymru: For my money one of the most interesting and powerful poems in the collection is:- "I Opened My Mouth and Set Free Twenty Thousand Demons Who Had Accompanied Me Thus Far" Can you tell us a little more about the poem?

Paul: This poem is the result of a planned one hour session of instant writing, all the baggage of that moment saved up for one Friday midnight. This partly explains its apparent randomness and disconnectedness and it is a precursor of much of my present favoured method of writing. The title refers to a cathartic process which is ongoing. I guess that some of what I write makes no linear sense which is how I and the Druids like it.

Americymru: I must ask you about 'Bombstar' . A great poem and a strong lyric. Was it written with musical adaptation in mind? Do you plan to adapt more of your work in the future?

Paul: "Bombstar" was not written with musical adaptation in mind. I would like to collaborate with more songwriters as I feel this is an exciting way of presenting my words.

Americymru: What significance does 'Y Gododdin' have for you personally and in your writing?

Paul: That epic poem speaks to me of a different, heroic age. It describes a glorious, doomed raid on the invader at a time when Wales could have been independent had it been united or even existed, a recurring theme. I don't dream of going back there that often but sometimes feel an outsider in my own land . The stylised depictions of weapons, armour and carnage have informed some of my own imagery as has my own personal collection of edged weapons, itself a response to that age, that poem.

Americymru: On your website there are a number of short stories. Is this a genre that you plan to explore further?

Paul: I am interested in exploring the short story genre more fully. Ultimately I'd like to publish a collection of short stories but that's some time off.

Americymru: What's next for Paul Steffan Jones?

Paul: I intend finishing "My Enclave" as soon as possible and ensure it doesn't turn into a sort of "Gangster Gododdin"! I am experimenting in poems culled from excerpts from magazines. I'm eager to resume writing in Welsh. I will be involved in industrial action against Government cutbacks soon, no doubt. I hope to pick up a long story called "Lovetown" I'm not writing and do more photography, using it differently. I have a number of poetry readings in Pembrokeshire in the coming months and have ambitions to take the poems overseas. Oh, and some romance and adventure would not go amiss, either.

Americymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Paul: Lull of the Bull is available at starbornbooks.co.uk . I'm glad to be on Americymru and am delighted at the interest shown in my country. I am a Welsh speaker and am happy to receive communications in that language.

Peter Luther is an author of exquisitely crafted and electrifying supernatural thrillers. Peter, who lives in Cardiff has been referred to as the ''Welsh Dan Brown''. In 2010 AmeriCymru spoke to Peter about this comparison, and other matters including his new ( then forthcoming ) novel The Vanity Rooms   Visit Peter''s website here

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AmeriCymru: In what way has your background as a lawyer ( attorney ) helped you as a fiction writer?

Peter: In my opinion there is no better training for writing fiction than being a lawyer. You meet interesting people and encounter a lot of unusual situations.

Dark Covenant mirrors the rough and tumble of my career as a practising solicitor, but the law does spill over to my other novels. There is an understanding probate solicitor in The Mourning Vessels , and a stressed criminal solicitor in Precious Cargo .

I also think being a lawyer hones your analytical skills: my stories have very tight plot structures, with strict rules within the bizarre world I have created. I’m sure this is partly as a result of my legal training.

On a general note, I think life experience is very important for being a novelist. I tried writing in my early twenties, but when I returned to it in my late thirties my perspective was far more rounded.

AmeriCymru: All your novels so far have been set in Wales. Is there any particular reason for that or is it just familiarity with the area?

Peter: I do a lot of signings in England, and the readers I meet are always pleased to see a story set in Wales. I don’t think there are enough of them east of the Severn Bridge. It’s a beautiful, dramatic country with inexhaustible sources of inspiration.

The Mourning Vessels is set in Tenby, probably my favourite place in the whole world.

The majority of my scenes are however set in my home city of Cardiff, which is because of my familiarity with the area.

AmeriCymru: Were you a horror fiction fan? Are there any particular horror writers whose style you admired or were inspired by?

Peter: I’m not a horror fiction fan per se, but I love anything that is original and well-conceived. In this respect I was very influenced, along with the rest of my generation, by the early Stephen King novels.

The Mourning Vessels involves bereavement counsellors visiting the recently bereaved and offering to ‘solve’ their grief, which they achieve by trapping the departed in the things they coveted in life. These objects - clocks, typewriters, even a bespoke Cluedo board (or is that Clue in America?) - then turn evil and leprous. This has more than an echo of Pet Semetery. It’s sort of a Pet Semetery with antiques...

AmeriCymru: You are quoted as saying that your novels are 'human interest stories masquerading as horror fiction' - what do you mean by that?

Peter: 100,000 words of things that go bump in the night would leave me asleep on my Mac. I need to write about the things that are important to me, which have relevance to my own experience. My characters are ordinary folk with all the ordinary problems: career, money, bereavement, fertility, parenthood. This gives the books what I would describe as their emotional heart, which hopefully leaves a mark on the reader even after all the paranormal conceits and puzzles have been digested, and which saves them from being left on train seats...

AmeriCymru: Could you have written your characters, their relationships and situations in a non-genre drama or in other genres? If so, what do you think you would have to change, if anything?

Peter: That’s a difficult question. If I have a talent, it is that I can take a completely off-the-wall concept and make it believable, and so I cannot really imagine writing in any other genre. With the supernatural anything is possible, and that’s what holds my interest.

That said, I can see myself writing a legal/corporate thriller one day, but it would need to have a very unusual angle.

AmeriCymru: You described your first novel, Dark Covenant , as "a parable of materialism" and your second, The Mourning Vessels, as "a parable of bereavement" - would you describe these as moral tales?

Peter: I wouldn’t be as pretentious to suggest my novels are moral tales, but they certainly have a message. Perhaps the message is a personal one, that I’m writing letters to myself.

In Dark Covenant a struggling lawyer makes a pact with the Devil through the crossword in a lifestyle magazine built from his desires. For me, the magazine represents the contracts we all make in life. We all bargain our time, and sometimes our principles, for the things that we need. For the things that we think that we need. The story is essentially Faust with a modern twist.

The Mourning Vessels was inspired by the loss of my parents. I lost my mum on Christmas Day 2004, and my dad succumbed to grief on Christmas Day 2005. During the year he was alone he created shrines to her memory, from photographs and the little things that she treasured. I didn’t think it was healthy. The book is very much about dealing with bereavement, and I suppose if there’s a message it’s that you need to let go. Remember the ones you loved with a smile, not with pain and torment.

Precious Cargo was based on another sad time in my life: my experience with IVF. There’s a chapter in the book called ‘the imagined child’, because I believed I could see my unborn child’s face, that the child was so close. We tried four times then gave up, because carrying on would have damaged us, I think. Sometimes you need to accept the cards life deals you, and be happy. Anyway, that’s what I believe.

AmeriCymru: how did you imagine the fantastical devices and sinister 'toys' in Precious Cargo?

Peter: I honestly don’t know. These screwball ideas come naturally, if that’s the right phrase...

AmeriCymru: You have been referred to as the 'Welsh Dan Brown'. How do you feel about the comparison?

Peter: My novels have some codes and puzzles, but that’s really where the similarity ends. Mr Brown has a very readable style, but I confess that I find his historical subject matter more interesting than the plot and the characters. That could be because I now read modern fiction with an editorial, critical eye; for this reason I much prefer reading classics or history, when I can completely turn off.

AmeriCymru: We learn from your website that you are working on a fourth novel ('The Vanity Rooms') at the moment. Care to tell us anything about that?

Peter: This is the third novel with my main character Tristyn Honeyman, an ex-Baptist minister from North Wales and a sort of spiritual detective.

The demonic society he encountered in the The Mourning Vessels and Precious Cargo are now posing as an arts charity, giving struggling artists free accomodation. This is in a building in Cardiff Bay once occupied by a chapter that escaped from Revolutionary France, who were obsessed with the Roussean concept of ‘amour propre’, or self image.

The apartment comes with a mobile phone, which has some unusual functions and a strange address book. Both apartment and mobile are infested by the eighteenth century chapter, who are determined to find the true meaning of celebrity, that exclusively human need to be admired.

I know, it’s not the work of a well man...

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of ameriCymru?

Peter: Thank you so much. I’m trying to do something a little different, and I’m writing in a very unfashionable genre: the supernatural thriller without vampires. Your support means everything to me.

AmeriCymru spoke to Lyn Ebenezer about his fascinating new book 'Operation Julie' published by Y Lolfa. The book investigates what was at the time, the biggest UK police anti drugs operation in history. Allegedly 50% of the world's LSD supply was manufactured in the small Welsh village of Llanddewi Brefi. For more background information read the press release here .

AmeriCymru: When did you first become aware of Operation Julie? Care to tell our readers a bit about the background?

Lyn: I did not become fully aware of Operation Julie until the week-end of the arrests in 1977. Yet there were pointers that should have made me aware that something strange was happening. There were strangers more than usual in the bars of the local pubs in Tregaron. They passed themselves off as bird watchers. And a few weeks before the swoop I was told by a local man of a strange encounter with a stranger who carried a holdall. He began talking to my friend and they shared a few pints. As the stranger was preparing to leave he offered my friend a considerable sum of money for keeping his holdall for a few days. My friend, believing the man to be a bank robber or a member of the IRA made an excuse and refused.

Following the swoop, others mentioned similar experiences. In fact I know of one person who burnt over 10,000 he was safekeeping in his coalhouse for one of those arrested in case the police discovered it and traced it back to him.

AmeriCymru: Were any of the villagers in Llanddewi Brefi suspicious of the 'hippies' who had settled amongst them? Was there any friction?

Lyn: At Tregaron there was no friction between Richard Kemp, the brilliant chemist and his partner, Christine Bott. They, of course, were not hippies but seekers of the Good Life who kept goats and grew organic vegetables. They were rather reserved, but their next door neighbours found them to be friendly. At nearby Llanddewi Brefi, Alston Hughes, or Smiles one of the principal dealers - was a living legend. He was gregarious, funny and generous. He would throw money around like confetti. In fact, as I state at the end of my book, should he and his friends return there today, I have little doubt that they would be welcomed.

AmeriCymru: It has been suggested that the people arrested in Operation Julie were responsible for 90% of the UK supply of LSD and 40-60% of the world's supply. How accurate do you think these figures are?

Lyn: Many of the figures released to the press were massaged. I have no doubt of that. Operation Julie was political. Its brief was to stop LSD production in the UK. But as Christine Bott said in court, it was more to do with the money being made rather than with drugs. I also believe that the Government was wary of the young peoples popular movement that was rapidly spreading from Haight Ashbury around the globe. There was also a political element being Operation Julie. Dick Lee, the Operation Commander had dreams of establishing a UK-wide drugs squad like the FBI. So he began feeding the press with some exaggerated stories in order to further his case.

Differing figures were bandied about. It was said that the two LSD production rings were responsible for from 40 60% of LSD made world wide and 90% of LSD made in Britain. It was also said that Operation Julie led to such a scarcity of LSD that it rose in price from 1 a tab to 8. I would rather believe the Release organization that stated that the price of a tab of LSD soon after the trial was as low as 10 pence a tab for the buyers, who sold it on at the same prices as before, 1 a tab on the street. Operation Julie may have dented the trade, but LSD, following the sentencing, was as easy to obtain as cannabis.

AmeriCymru: In a recent press release it is stated that you were able to record recent interviews with people who were involved in these events. How difficult was it to track down the participants?

Lyn: My interviews over the past 30 years have involved mostly ex police officers who did not wish their names to be made known. But I am friendly with Alston Hughes friend and chauffer Buzz Healey, who is a charming man. He was present when exchanges were made with 50,000 tablets changing hands for 62,000 at one bar and worth 125,000 of LSD being exchanged in another bar. Healey has not disclosed any incriminating evidence and I have never pushed him for information. He was not involved in the LSD conspiracy but was jailed for 12 months on charges relating to cannabis. He still lives locally and is much liked.

AmeriCymru: David Litvinoff plays a central role in these events and indeed you devote a whole chapter to him in the book. Care to tell us a little about his background?

Lyn: Litvinoff, like Alston Hughes also became a legend but some six years before Operation Julie was set up. He had been involved with the Kray Brothers in the East End of London and had been forced to flee. Ronnie Kray had slashed him across his face with a sword. He was also deeply involved with the pop scene and the Chelsea Set, who included the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. He worked as dialogue coach on the film Performance. Days after Hendrix died, Litvinoff showed me an invitation card he had received for Jimis funeral. Stuck on the card was a boiled sweet impregnated with LSD. Those who were not able to make the funeral were told to take the sweet at the exact time of the burial.

Litvinoff played me back a telephone conversation he had made with Bob Dylan. They seemed to be on friendly terms. It is believed that the character Davies in Harold Pinters play The Caretaker was based on him. Litvinoff left suddenly in the early seventies. He had been involved with drugs, undoubtedly, and I believe that he was the harbinger of the hippy invasion of the area. He later hanged himself.

AmeriCymru: What was the American connection in all this? We hear about visits to mid-Wales by Jimi Hendrix and others but were any Americans involved in the manufacturing operation itself?

Lyn: Plas Llysin, where Richard Kept manufactured his LSD at Carno had been bought by Paul Joseph Arnaboldi, an ex New Jersey schoolteacher. He was later employed by an American construction company in the Middle East where he sustained a serious injury. He was a friend of LSD prophet Timothy Leary and The Brotherhood of Eternal Love. He bought a home at Deia on Majorca and then bought Plas Llysin, on the pretence that he was there completing a biography of President Kennedy. He was at the top of the conspiracy to manufacture and marketing of LSD. At the time of the Opeartion Julie swoops he is believed to have been tipped off. He fled to Majorca where he was arrested but was released because no extradition treaty existed between the UK and Spain. He then flew to America and disappeared, but is believed to have died at Deia..

AmeriCymru: How did the UK press react to these events? Do you think on balance that they reported accurately and played a positive role?

Lyn: As I previously mentioned, the press was in Dick Lees pocket. As soon as the premier players in the affair had been jailed, Lee published his book on his part in Operation through the Daily Express, ghost written by an Express journalist, Colin Pratt. Another officer, Martyn Pritchard published his own memoirs through the Daily Mirror. Wild and exaggerated stories were circulated involving a plot to dump LSD in a Welsh reservoir in order to turn on the whole of Birmingham. Lees book is also riddled with mistakes. In fact, the first impression had to be called in after damages of 1,000 were awarded to a man libeled in the book. Much was made by Lee of a terrorist connection involving Bader Meinhoff, The Angry Brigade and the IRA. But not one of those charged was accused of anything remotely connected with terrorism.

AmeriCymru: In what way was the area permanently changed? How did the rural community react to the glare of international publicity?

Lyn: The influx of hippies to rural Wales coincided with the great influx of incomers in general in the sixties and seventies. Small communities virtually changed overnight. Yuppies and Good Lifers from the cities were able to sell their homes for around half a million pounds and buy a cottage in rural Wales for around 10,000. The LSD conspirators were a part of that influx. Having said that, many of these semi-hippies who settled down were largely welcomed. Otherwise they would not have been able to hide their secrets so successfully and for so long.

AmeriCymru: Do you think there is any truth in the rumour that there are 'undiscovered stashes of LSD and hidden fortunes' concealed in the hills and fields around Llanddewi Brefi?

Lyn: I believe the stories of hidden fortunes have been concocted by mischievous locals, as well as by friends of Smiles who wish to perpetuate his legend.

Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Lyn: Be careful what you believe. Fact and fiction have been so confused that it is almost impossible to separate the one from the other. Still, be they fact or fiction or a little of both they still make a great story!

''Huw Lawrence''s stories have three times won in the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition, have gained three Cinnamon Awards and a Bridport prize. He was runner up for the 2009 Tom Gallon prize. Born in Llanelli, he trained as a teacher in Swansea, continuing his education at Manchester and Cornell Universities. He spent several years doing a variety of labouring jobs in Manchester and the Ffestiniog area of north Wales and now lives in Aberystwyth.'' 

...

Americymru: How did you start writing?

Huw: The first thing I remember writing was a poem in response to the Cuba Crisis back in the sixties. I followed that with an attempt at a play about someone converting his cellar into a fallout shelter. Later, I turned to stories, and, still in the sixties, I wrote ‘The Yellow Umbrella’, which is in this collection. That was the first story I ever wrote.

Americymru: Care to tell us a little about ''Always The Love of Someone''. How did you come to write the stories in this collection? Were they written especially with this volume in mind or is this more of an anthology of your recent work?

Huw: No, they weren’t written with this volume in mind. I just wrote quite a lot of stories, and then eventually I selected fifteen that went together so as to suggest some kind of unity. They’re not recent work, though. Some go back a very long time.

Americymru: Most critics have taken the view that the theme of the collection is ''human relationships''. Would you agree with this? Does it necessarily have a theme?

Huw: I don’t know if it can be said to have a theme. That’s a hard question. People do talk about ‘theme’ in relation to story collections, but I’d say that most collections have a focus rather than the structural unity implied by a ‘theme’. That, of course, might not be true of collections like Miguel Street by Naipaul, where the stories are all about the same protagonist and his neighbours. Perhaps it’s a question of degree. The fifteen stories in Always the Love of Someone are all of them about love, and all but four of them about love between men and women – the nitty gritty realities of love, not romance.

Americymru: What attracted you to the short story genre? Are there any particular attractions or difficulties in writing short stories as opposed to writing novels?

Huw: I found myself writing stories for the most pragmatic of reasons. They’re short, and I had a full-time job. I could be confident of finishing what I started. There are attractions. You can carry one in detail in your head, and changing a short phrase can alter the whole balance, change nuance, adjust meaning. Getting it right is more like working on a poem than on a novel. What’s not right tends to stand out like a sore thumb. It’s an unforgiving form. But you can carry it around with you.

Americymru: Many people are fascinated by the writing process of successful authors? Do you have any kind of creative routine or do you write as and when inspiration strikes?

Huw: I can only conceive of one way of writing fiction, and that is to do it every day. You can’t afford to lose touch with the work in hand, nor can you afford to let good new ideas slip away. You have to get those down as some kind of draft to a degree where they can be picked up on later.

Americymru: Is your work available in print anywhere other than in this collection? Magazines? Anthologies?

Huw: Magazines and anthologies, yes. This is my first collection.

Americymru: Is there any one of your stories that you are particularly proud of or that you would like to especially recommend?

Huw: My two favourites are, ‘Would That Even Be Lucky?’ and ‘Nothing is Happening Because There’s a Point’. Because they counterbalance each other. The first one questions whether it is even lucky to be bound by the obsessive power of a romantic love you can do nothing about, even if it is requited. The second describes a meeting, followed by a pre-marital relationship, followed by a long, happy marriage, with plenty of conflict, but cemented by affection, loyalty and commitment – not romance.

Americymru: Are there any short story writers (or writers in general ) that you draw inspiration from?

Huw: The writer that has intrigued me most by his skill and whom I dip into just for the pleasure of reading a page or two of his prose, is Nabakov. As far as short story writers go, one of my favourites is Bharati Mukherjee.

Americymru: Care to tell us anything about your future writing plans?

Huw: A novel followed by a collection of poems, I hope.

Americymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Huw: Yes, be afraid that the meaning of ‘Cymru’ will disappear if the language goes, and it might die. So, support the language in any way you can. As far as keeping up with events in Wales through English is concerned, then I’d recommend Planet and Cambria, two magazines committed to Wales through the medium of English.

Interview by Ceri Shaw Email

At any rate there is no doubt in this readers mind that ''Always The Love of Someone'' is a collection to be savoured. The stories in this volume stopped me in my tracks several times and I felt compelled to share what I had read and discuss it with someone. Luckily my partner shares my literary tastes and pretty soon we were passing the book back and forth and swapping recommendations. There''s nothing like enthusiasm shared.

This collection focuses on human relationships and ranges in tone from the whimsical to the semi-tragic. There is the story of the old lady in "Yellow Umbrella'' who cannot understand a young boys ability to live for the moment. When she offers the lad, whose parents are ''itinerants'', shelter from the rain he appals her by revealing that he has no permanent address and is being ''home schooled''. Their contrasting reactions to their environment and in particular to the days weather reveal a tragic lack of spontaneity and a profound pessimism in the old lady''s character which has perhaps destined her to live alone. Then there is the tale of Alf whose lifelong dislike and fear of dogs evaporates in old age when he is prevailed upon to adopt a lurcher.

Throughout there are moments of profound introspection and equally revealing dialogue. In ''A Man And A Woman'' a bachelor on a date is credited with making a simple discovery " The man''s simple discovery had been to pause before speaking. A couple of seconds was enough to choose a better response than the one that leapt to mind, one that allowed dialogue, allowed the other''s world to exist. Speech was not for you to be right. It was to find outcomes." In the closing story, ''Nothing is Happening Because There is a Point'', a couple discuss their relationship and whether destiny played any part in it. The following rather incisive comment on logic stands out from this exchange "....Words can insist that other words following them have to be true, but logic doesn''t bring about marriages, or there probably wouldn''t be any."

There is much,much more to savour in this collection , which for the short story afficianado is a veritable feast of nectared sweets. Huw Lawrence''s touch is masterful throughout and each story is as elegant as it is insightful. I will be filing this collection on my bookshelf next to Raymond Carver and John Cheever and returning to it often.

At any rate there is no doubt in this readers mind that ''Always The Love of Someone'' is a collection to be savoured. The stories in this volume stopped me in my tracks several times and I felt compelled to share what I had read and discuss it with someone. Luckily my partner shares my literary tastes and pretty soon we were passing the book back and forth and swapping recommendations. There''s nothing like enthusiasm shared.

This collection focuses on human relationships and ranges in tone from the whimsical to the semi-tragic. There is the story of the old lady in "Yellow Umbrella'' who cannot understand a young boys ability to live for the moment. When she offers the lad, whose parents are ''itinerants'', shelter from the rain he appals her by revealing that he has no permanent address and is being ''home schooled''. Their contrasting reactions to their environment and in particular to the days weather reveal a tragic lack of spontaneity and a profound pessimism in the old lady''s character which has perhaps destined her to live alone. Then there is the tale of Alf whose lifelong dislike and fear of dogs evaporates in old age when he is prevailed upon to adopt a lurcher.

Throughout there are moments of profound introspection and equally revealing dialogue. In ''A Man And A Woman'' a bachelor on a date is credited with making a simple discovery " The man''s simple discovery had been to pause before speaking. A couple of seconds was enough to choose a better response than the one that leapt to mind, one that allowed dialogue, allowed the other''s world to exist. Speech was not for you to be right. It was to find outcomes." In the closing story, ''Nothing is Happening Because There is a Point'', a couple discuss their relationship and whether destiny played any part in it. The following rather incisive comment on logic stands out from this exchange "....Words can insist that other words following them have to be true, but logic doesn''t bring about marriages, or there probably wouldn''t be any."

There is much,much more to savour in this collection , which for the short story afficianado is a veritable feast of nectared sweets. Huw Lawrence's touch is masterful throughout and each story is as elegant as it is insightful. I will be filing this collection on my bookshelf next to Raymond Carver and John Cheever and returning to it often.

Ceri Shaw

Fflur Dafydd is an award winning novelist, singer-songwriter and musician. Whilst predominantly publishing in Welsh, she also writes in English. She records in Welsh, and her work is regularly played on Radio Cymru. She spoke to Americymru ahead of her forthcoming visit to Portland, Oregon with the International Writing Program ( 10/3-10/9 2009 ) .For full details of her visit and associated activities go to this page.

Americymru: You're a very prolific artist: at 31 you've published four novels, a collection of poems and short stories and non-fiction, written plays, screenplays, you're/you were a columnist for the Western Mail, in addition to a very successful music career which includes four albums, various singles and performances in Wales, Europe and the United States (please let me know what else should be in this list). What do you think of your success, do you feel lucky, tired, excited to go forever or do you ever want to take a break and wait tables or wash dogs?

Fflur: Ive already done my stint as a waitress but Ill pass on washing dogs, thanks! I do feel that Ive been lucky in many respects to have the opportunity to do so many things, and to be honest, when you live in a small country and are part of a minority culture perhaps there is more urgency to do a little bit of everything, to contribute to the culture, to keep it thriving. But I have worked very hard these past years and I dont think success comes without real hard graft, so I do feel a little bit exhausted at times! My new album is coming out next month, and I think once Ive finished promoting that, I will be looking for some downtime eating chocolates and singing Christmas carols. I feel happy with the work Ive produced so far and theres no rush now to publish or to record again for a while.

Americymru: Your first novel in English, 20,000 Saints , was published in 2008 and you've written three novels in Welsh: Lliwiau Liw Nos ("Colours by Night," 2005 Y Lolfa), Atyniad ("Attraction," 2006 Y Lolfa) and Y Llyfrgell ("The Library," 2009 Y Lolfa). Do you have a preference for writing in English or Welsh?

Fflur: Welsh is my first language, so I instinctively want to write in Welsh and find it exciting to do so there is still so much that can be done with the language, and I like to think that Welsh contemporary authors now are helping move the language forward into the 21st century. But writing in English also helps me gain a sense of freedom, the sense of working on a broad canvas where no phrase is impossible, no word unutterable, and where no story would seem implausible there is a great thrill in that.

Americymru: Your latest novel, Y Llyfrgell (The Library), was inspired by your time as a graduate student pursuing your Phd in Aberystwyth, at the National Library of Wales - what can you tell us about this novel?

Fflur: This is a novel about a siege which takes place at the National Library of Wales, when two armed female librarians take the building and its workers hostage one day in 2020. It is a far-fetched, slightly magic realist, black comedy, with lots of action and a fast paced mystery Im very proud of the book and I do think its one of the best things Ive written in Welsh. It says something about Welsh culture and history and is a very political book in many ways. It has also been described as controversial which has certainly helped sales!

Americymru: "20,000 Saints" is also a sort of nickname for Bardsey Island and the second novel you've set there. How did this story develop, what was your process in creating it?

Fflur: I had seen the post of writer in residence on Bardsey advertised by Academi, the Welsh literature promotion agency, as an open call to their members, and it immediately appealed to me. I was writing a PhD thesis on R.S. Thomas, at the time, the Welsh poet-priest who had been instrumental in setting up the Bardsey Island trust, and many of his poems are about the island, as he was a frequent visitor there, and birdwatcher. It felt like I was destined to go there, to follow in his footsteps, to understand him better. I was fortunate enough to get the post, and of course, ultimately, I found the island to be the biggest source of inspiration for my own work. I wrote one book of fiction in Welsh Atyniad based on my own experiences, and then rewrote the book in a completely different way for an English audience, with a different plot, narrative , characters and it also had a different mood and feel.

Americymru: How autobiographical do you think your own work has been? Do you subscribe to the idea that you should write what you know and, if so, what does that mean to you?

Fflur: There is an autobiographical element to most works, I think, and characters always tend to embody parts of yourself. My first novel, Lliwiau Liw Nos, was far removed from my reality, and perhaps because of this, I dont consider it to be a particularly successful novel. Atyniad was heavily influenced by personal experience, and it has an intimacy and honesty that would be impossible without the raw emotion that went into writing that prose; straight out of my own heart, at times. But I have also learnt that ONE autobiographical novel is enough you do need to move away from yourself as a subject ultimately, because readers also want narrative, and they want you to make that necessary leap between your own history and imagination.

Americymru: Any chance your Welsh-language novels will someday get translated into English for those of us not lucky enough to read Welsh yet?

Fflur: One day I hope to be able to let someone else do the translating. It has struck me that Im changing so much when I adapt my own work that the English-language readers are unable to fully access the Welsh language writer in me, that part of me still somehow remains hidden. So Im going to do one more reworking of a novel (Im rewriting The Library now), and then I will let the languages take off in different directions hopefully working with a translator for my Welsh books.

Americymru: You're currently the writer in residence at the University of Iowa and you've previously been a writer in residence in Wales and Finland, what is a "writer in residence" and how did you come to become one?

Fflur: Basically a writer in residence is a when you spend time at a place or an institution, not merely to write about it, but to get time to really work on a project, away from the hassles of your daily life. I think theyre all important things. You usually get thrown in with a group of new people (Bardsey) or a new cultural experience (Helsinki) or you are part of the life of a University (Iowa) and can contribute in all sorts of ways by giving talks and readings and became part of that place for a short space in time. The International Writing Program here at Iowa is an excellent program, stimulating and culturally diverse (as Im here with writers from 32 different countries) and there is time to write during the day, which is a liberating thing. I was offered this post by the British Council the IWP have never had a Welsh language writer and they were interested also in getting a performer here, and so I fit the bill, and I feel extremely proud to have been chosen to represent Wales here.

Americymru: You're traveling to Portland, Oregon with four other writers as part of the International Writer's Program? Who are the other writers and what will you be doing while you're in Portland?

Fflur: I will be joined by Lijia Zhang (China), Soheil Najm (Iraq) Fedosy Santaella (Venezuala) and Osman Pius Conteh (Sierra Leone) and we will engage in a series of literary events, in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland State University, and the Oregon Council for the Humanities. This will be the first IWP delegation to take part in such a dynamic slate of activities in the city. There will be visits to classes, group readings on campuses, roundtable discussions and one or two musical performances. Please see http://homeroom.pnca.edu/inline/584932.pdf for further details of events.

AmeriCymru: We note from your biography that you are a member of The Gorsedd of Bards. How did you become a member and what, if any, ceremony was involved. Can you explain for an American audience what the Gorsedd is and what it does?

Peter: I have to refer you to my book on the Gorsedd. I became a member in l999 at the National Eisteddfod in Llangefni, Ynys Mon (Anglesey) because of my work for Welsh Americans and Wales, especially for my organizing a Welsh society in Delaware (of which i am president), lecturing on Wales, writing about Wales, conducting Cymanfaoedd Ganu (plural) and so on. I had to be recommended as are all members of the Gorsedd by those with influence in Welsh cultural affairs.

AmeriCymru: We note further that you are a director of the NWAF ( National Welsh American Foundation ). What is the history of the NWAF and what is its role today?

Peter: Since its foundation in 1980 the NWAF has spent close on 150,000 in support of Welsh-American activities including scholarships and grants to organisations and individuals. GRANTS: Grants of some 75,000 have been made to support Welsh language training in Wales and the United States; to support Welsh-American activities such as restorations, nursery schools, museums, the Welsh National Cymanfa Ganu Association and the National Eisteddfod of Wales; to individuals engaged in special studies; and the support of cultural events presenting Welsh choirs and entertainers. Our main goal is to support Welsh America by providing scholarships for Americans to go to Wales to study the language and culture, and for Welsh students to come here in exchange. We give financial support when we can to Welsh American organizations and events. We have a quarterly The Eagle and the Dragon (which I edit) for all members.

AmeriCymru: Peter, you have consistently championed the cause of "Welshness" and the Welsh language throughout your career. I think all Americymru members would want to thank you for that. How do you see the future of the Welsh language. Rumours of its death in 1962 ( I refer of course to the famous Saunders Lewis speech of that year ) were thankfully premature. What are your predictions for the future of yr hen iaith?

Peter: I see the future of the Welsh language as precarious, but I believe the happenings of the last 20 years or more will ensure its future as a minority language. Wales will be bilingual, of that I'm pretty sure. Saunders Lewis speech galvanized the youth into action. I was in Wales at the time and was told that I was hearing the kicks of a dying language. Since then, it has rebounded.

AmeriCymru: Many people would argue that Wales has experienced a massive increase in terms of self-confidence since the devolution vote? Would you agree?

Peter: The acquisition of self confidence has accompanied the resurgence ot the language, but there must be a million or more "non-Welsh" living in Wales with no interest in its culture, its traditions, its language, or its politics, being thoroughly "British" (ie, English) in their outlook. Wales sporting success is as much as anything to inspire self confidence in those that do honor their history. For half a century, it has been "the gallant few" that have kept alive the traditions, and an even smaller few that has safeguarded the language by pressing for its use in nursery schools and in the workplace.

AmeriCymru: Regrettably many people in Wales do not have a knowledge of Welsh. Is it possible or desirable in your view to develop a distinct Anglo-Welsh cultural identity?.Can there be different "cultures" within the same language group?

Peter: There is already an Anglo-Welsh cultural identity. It was forged in the coal mining valleys of South East Wales in the 19th century. A million immigrants could not be absorbed into the language community, but because many came to the valleys from the agricultural Welsh-speaking areas, the language did not die out. A kind of mongrelization took place. On my first visit to South Wales I was amazed at the Welshness of the people in their attitude, but was also amazed that they didn't know the Welsh language, There was a kind of Wenglish spoken, strong Welsh accent and dialect, but mostly in the English language. But this is the area of the fastest growth today (well, it had to be didn't it?). Thank rugby football etc for some of this.

AmeriCymru: You have written a number of books a bout Wales. Do you have any plans to write more?

Peter: I have written quite a few books. As I approach my 75th birthday I think i should slow down. My alphabetical guide was a work of love, but endured years of toil etc. I have completed my Britain: the Rise and Fall of an Empire , in which I have covered the devolution movements in Scotland and Wales and the independence of Ireland.

AmeriCymru: Any other message for the members and readers of Americymru?

Peter: Messages are to keep at it. Never give up, despite obstacles. Our Welsh culture is worth learning about, worth saving, and worth working for.

Books by Peter N. Williams

A review of "Wales and the Welsh"

Writer Niall Griffiths is the author of six novels, radio plays, numerous travel articles and lives in Aberystwyth, Wales.

AMERICYMRU: How did you start writing?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: I picked up a pen. Honestly; it seems to've been that simple. I don't know why. There was never any books in the house, but it was full of stories, especially from my grandparents, of the old countries, the war, ghost stories etc. I don't remember the very first thing I wrote but it happened as soon as my motor functions were developed enough to hold a pen. I wrote novels at a very young age, about giant crabs and man-eating wolves, etc. My mum still has them, I think, somewhere. The world seemed less dangerous and threatening when I was writing about it. It seems like writing is always a thing I've felt a terrific compulsion to do. Don't know why, and don't care why, either; I don't question these things. Just accept them.

AMERICYMRU: What is your process as a writer? do you write every day, write in fits and starts, carry a notebook or voice recorder around with you? What's your creative flow?

NIALL GRIFFITH: Well, if I'm working on something big, I let it dictate itself. I'll work every day on it, yes, but if it's not flowing, I stop trying after a couple of hours. If it is flowing, then I can be at my desk for ten hours or so. The average, I guess, is about five hours. I carry a notebook everywhere. And I must write something every day, even if it's only a scribbled free-verse poem or an entry in my journal; I feel wretched if I don't. A blemish on the earth. Catholic guilt perhaps, but so what? It makes me feel worthy, and happy, and alive. Oh, and first-draft always longhand. Probably something to do with being brought up working-class. A proper job gets your hands dirty, even if it is just with smears of ink.

AMERICYMRU: One thing you're fantastically good at is staying in your character's voice throughout a story. Your first-person narrative in Runt, not a simple or easy character, is flawless. Do you base your characters on people that you've met or just develop them wholly yourself?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: Runt was kind of lucky, really; I wrote it in Sweden, when I was writer-in-residence at Lund university, a very flat part of the country. Where I live in Wales, as soon as I step out of the door, I'm bombarded by mountainous words, but in Lund, I wasn't surrounded by high ground, so it was relatively easy to stay within the 700-word or so lexicon that the main character possesses. Call it serendipity. In answer to your question, tho, I guess I'd have to say I don't know. Some parts observation, some parts imagination, and the ratio shifts for each character.

AMERICYMRU: Are your characters built before or as you write them of the things you're writing about, like the description of Kelly with the lamb in her dinosaur's teeth in Kelly+Victor ?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: Again, a bit of both. That particular episode was autobiographical; I actually put shreds of meat into the mouth of a plastic dinosaur, although my dinosaur was a triceratops, which, as we all know, is a vegetarian. I painted his beak blood-red, too. Characters grow as I write them, often exponentially so, and they don't really come to life for me until they open their gobs and speak or do something to surprise me. That sounds horribly precious, and I apologise, but that is kind of how it works: the character becomes rounded when they act out of character. I don't have any time for the kind of writer who says things like 'I love turning my laptop on in the morning to see what my characters have got up to overnight', but I understand what they mean. Sort of. And I'd never tell them that.

AMERICYMRU: The protagonist in Runt is such a beautiful, unusual character - what was your inspiration for him,how did you produce this person and his life?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: Sheer genius. And see the answer to question 3. Also, I wanted to write a book with a restricted vocabulary. I love words, and love being ravished by them, and love creating storms with them, and I wanted to do that in a way other than simply unblocking a torrent, so if I deliberately restrained myself, I'd have to be linguistically creative in a new way. As for the character, he's kind of like the sweeter twin of Ianto in Sheepshagger . He's natural innocence. Ianto is too, in his way, but I wanted to write a simpler innocence versus corruption story. Plus do some delving into shamanism. More than that, of course, but let's leave it there.

AMERICYMRU: The protagonist of Stump retreats to Wales after a disastrous experience in the Liverpool drug underworld. He seems to find the very place names soothing and reassuring. Is he returning to his "roots" and if so is Wales still a place where you can seek refuge from the urban maelstrom?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: In a way, yes, but don't confuse that with Wales being peaceful; it's kind of like finding a God - it's got everything to do with calm, and nothing to do with comfort. Rural Wales is a place of mud and death and shit and bone but it's also a place where connectedness is freely available and notions of re-birth declare themselves openly, and in that way, I find it immeasurably hopeful. Stump 's character retreats to a place that he remembers fleeing to as a child with his family, from his violent father. It's Alistair, in a sense, who rediscovers his roots; notice that he finds an inner strength to deny Darren as soon as they cross the border. It doesn't last long, but there's a flash of it. Alistair, in his way, saves the world - he's a placating influence on Darren, even tho neither of them know it. At least in Stump he is. There's great comic mileage in that double-act, I think.

AMERICYMRU: In Stump there's a violent denoument but it's not the one you expect - did you start this story with that in mind and with its resolution in mind? Were Stump and Wreckage originally one story in your mind or did Wreckage grow out of Stump?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: I wanted Stump to have a happy ending, so had a strong idea of what that would be, yes. And Wreckage did grow out of Stump although I knew that I wanted to explore those characters in greater depth. The first draft went much further; I was planning a section called something like 'Darren, His Antecedent', describing a fish climbing out of the primordial ooze. I didn't write it, on the advice of my editor.

AMERICYMRU: Wreckage is one of the funniest and most poignant books I have ever read. It seems to me that you created two of the finest comedy characters in literature since Falstaff (in Stump ) and wrote a sequel because we all wanted to hear more from them. Obviously the work has a more profound purpose. In what sense does Wreckage represent Liverpool today?

NAILL GRIFFITHS: Liverpool has just come out of it's European Capital of Culture year, so it's a changed city, in many ways, for both good and bad. The most noticeable change is in the general attitude; there's a renewed energy, an optimism, a new kind of buzz. But it's been the by-word for social and political decay for decades, and, given that it's Britain in miniature, what does this tell us? The UK's histories of colonial oppression and multi-culturality and slavery and defiance and everything else can be seen in the microcosm of Liverpool. In writing Wreckage, I didn't want to foreground any one of those narratives, but to look at them all, or as many as I possibly could. It's part of the fight against cliche, and neatness. A war in which each of us must play our parts.

AMERICYMRU: Does Sheepshagger represent a conscious attempt to undermine Anglo-Welsh literary stereotypes?

AMERICYMRU: Your characters are very "warty" and real, unpolished and smelly like real people really are, and you write them doing awful things and full of failings and weakness but also respectfully, as though you're presenting them whole but not to be ridiculed. Would you agree with this and if so, is it intentional? Why?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: Yes, and yes. Why? Because I believe that dignity is not a conferred quality; it's innate in human beings. It's one of the most valuable traits we have, and is, sadly, crumbling. People aren't simply vessels for a single act or outlook, nor are they simply the results of linear causation, yet they're often perceived to be precisely that, none more so, in today's tabloid culture, than the kinds of people I write about. I don't agree with everything they say and do, nor do I always like them, but I believe that they should be allowed to develop free from authorial censure. That's not my job. I write against reductionism, so it's imperative that I write my characters in all their moods, explore all their loves and perversions and tendernesses and guilts. One review of my first novel, Grits, said that 'each episode recounted bears the stamp of authentic experience, and is driven by angry love', or something very like that. Couldn't've put it better meself.

AMERICYMRU: Your endings fit your characters so well - Runt has a "happy" ending, Stump suffers enough, Kelly+Victor and Sheepshagger are inevitable, Wreckage is also inevitable but very neatly avoids the morality tale. Do you have these in mind when you start writing or do they develop with the characters?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: Again, a bit of both. Sorry, that sounds like a cop-out. . . I have a strong sense of what the ending should be - Victor would die, Stump's feller would escape, etc. - but no concrete notions of how I would get there. Plastic notions, yes, amenable to moulding, but nothing rigid. A crap analogy; you have a blank wall, several different tins of paint, brushes of several sizes, a roller, a spraygun, etc. All of them are means towards a painted wall, but you don't know, before you start, how precisely you'll do it. See; told you it was a crap analogy. But it illustrates my point. I hope.

AMERICYMRU: Is there one thing you've done that you're more proud of than others, one that you love more than the others? What is it and why?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: Well, Grits saved me from myself, I guess; I was in something of a mess, before I wrote it, and, in fact, during much of it's writing. I was living as my characters were, but the writing about my experiences gradually overtook the 'homework', as it were. It's my most autobiographical, so I'm very fond of it. Stylistically, I like Sheepshagger , technically, K+V and Stump , linguistically, Runt . . . I don't know; the answer to the question 'what do you think is your best book?' is always 'the next one'. It needs to be. The one I'm about to start writing, called A Great Big Shining Star , will be better than all the others put together. I have to keep telling myself that.

AMERICYMRU: Do you have anything in particular you want to achieve as a writer, a particular goal or goals?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: Just to write and write and write until I die at a very old age. When I was younger, I used to think that the likes of Thomas and Behan and Fitzgerald and Byron and Shelley had it right; burn out, don't fade away, blaze half as long but twice as bright. Now that I've reached my early forties, miraculously it sometimes seems, I admire those who stoked the fire until the very last moment; Johnny Cash, Hardy, Bukowski, Burroughs. Funny that, innit?

AMERICYMRU: Who do you like to read? Who are you reading at the moment?

NIALL GRIFFITHS: America's producing the best writers now, in my opinion: McCarthy, Denis Johnson, Dan Woodrell, loads more. Much British stuff is parochial, dull, smug, irreparably middle-class, but of course there are exceptions. I read voraciously, always have; constant bedtime companions are religious tracts, volumes of nature writing, Renaissance and Jacobean tragedies. At the moment I'm juggling [Roberto] Bolano's 2666 , [Micheal] Braddick's God's Fury, England's Fire (a history of the English civil wars), Interrogations [ Interrogations: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands, 1945 by Richard Overy](a collection of interviews with the Nazi elite), an anthology of Gothic horror stories, and a book about the DeCavalcante Mafia family of New Jersey. It's becoming increasingly difficult to navigate my way around my house; there are towers of books everywhere.

Books by Niall Griffiths

Grits Cape, 2000 Sheepshagger Cape, 2001 Kelly &Victor Cape, 2002 Stump Cape, 2003 Wreckage Cape, 2005 Runt Cape, 2006 Real Aberystwyth (with Peter Finch) Seren, 2008 Real Liverpool (with Peter Finch) Seren, 2008 Ten Pound Pom Parthian Books, 2009

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In this the third and final part of Welsh author Rhys Hughes'' interview with Americymru he poses a number of ( rhetorical? ) questions to the reader. Feel free to respond to any or all of them in the comments box below.

This is part 3 of an in depth interview with Rhys Hughes , the Welsh Wizard of the Absurd. Rhys was born in Porthcawl, South Wales in 1966 and plans to write exactly 1000 stories in his lifetime ( see his blog here:- The Spoons That Are My Ears ). When this interview was originally published he had completed 468. Currently his total stands at 600+. Rhys can also be found on the web at:- The Rime of The Post Modern Mariner and on his Facebook page.

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Dear Reader,

For the third and last part of my interview with the Americymru Network, I thought it might be nice to do something different. In other words for me to interview you.

So please find six questions below that you may (or may not) answer when you are ready…

1. In Swansea library I recently saw a book with the title "My Ancestor was a Coal Miner". My first thought was how strange it must be to have only one ancestor! I''m confident I''ve had thousands of them and I''m sure that most of them were never coal miners.

Having said that, my grandfather on my father''s side did work in a coal mine as an explosives expert. He kept boxes of gelignite under his bed. But what is the most unusual (or memorable) profession that any of your known ancestors ever had?

2. Authors go out of fashion, sometimes come back into fashion, often don''t. One of the finest and most sophisticated of the English Victorian novelists, George Meredith, is now mostly forgotten and it doesn''t seem likely he''ll ever be accorded the attention he deserves. Despite its rather terrible title, his early novel, "The Shaving of Shagpat", is an exquisite work of deep imagination and manages to combine highly lyrical prose with a humorous muscularity…

Another author with a sinking – perhaps already sunk – star is D.M. Thomas. In the 1980s he was the novelist of choice for all middle class liberal thirtysomethings who wanted to upgrade their emotions and their justifications to ''complex''. I still like D.M. Thomas. Clearly my finger isn''t anywhere near the pulse of modern literary trends. But what unfashionable authors (if any) do you still champion?

3. I have a large collection of books but it''s going down. The reason it''s going down is because every time I finish reading a book I give it away. My aim is to reduce my collection to a manageable size. Otherwise I''ll keep adding to it and will end up with more books than it''s possible for me to read in my entire lifetime!

That seems inefficient and wrong. To stop it happening I have banned myself from buying new books. I read what I already have on my shelves instead. Some of my books have been waiting to be read for thirty years. I don''t want to disappoint them forever! To shrink my collection further I have given away some books that I haven''t read, books I once felt I ought to read but knew I wouldn''t – in other words ''Duty'' books.

Probably the most significant Duty book for me is Robert Tressell''s "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists". I know it''s a very important novel, a book with a crucial message, but I just don''t want to read it. And I won''t. What books do you own that you know you''ll never read?

4. E-books don''t interest me. I just don''t enjoy reading fiction on a screen. Brief technical articles, yes, but entire novels, no. I can''t bring myself to even read short stories online. That''s why I rarely submit stories for online publication. The only novel I''ve ever read online was James Branch Cabell''s "The Rivet in Grandfather''s Neck" and that was only because I couldn''t find it as a proper book. I plodded through it unhappily even though it is witty, wise and dry. But what is your opinion on this issue? Do you regularly read e-books or not?

5. Writers are required to sit still indoors for long periods tapping away at keyboards or scratching away with pens – I use both methods, sometimes writing one story on a computer and a different story in a notebook at the same time. And yet an inactive life is one that rapidly drives me crazy. I need the Great Outdoors – or in the case of Wales, the Grey Outdoors!

The fact that writing is such a sedate occupation means I''m always fascinated by the attempts of certain authors to infuse physical vigour into their prose. It seems an impossible task, but Jack London and Steinbeck managed it successfully. So did Edward Abbey. But Hemingway and Kerouac didn''t. Just my own opinion. What writers, if any, have made you take to the hills or the lakes or the moors, etc?

6. When I was much younger I read "Lord Valentine''s Castle" by Robert Silverberg. It''s a fantasy novel set on an alien world and many standard fantasy things happen, but the main character isn''t an obvious hero in the conventional sense. He''s not a warrior or a wizard. He''s a juggler. From the descriptions in this book I taught myself to juggle. Balls, fruit, stones, even shoes – though I don''t recommend doing that. Juggling is a practical skill. It won''t help to mend a burst pipe or change the fuse in a plug, but it can break the ice at parties. Sometimes the crockery too. I''m delighted I can juggle and I owe it entirely to Silverberg. Has any work of fiction ever taught you a practical skill?