A pioneering new book aims to present a journey through Welsh history and ‘introduce the people of Wales’ to their own history through the Welsh Christian experience.

Our Holy Ground - The Welsh Christian Experience by John I Morgans and Peter C Noble tells of the Welsh Christian story and, through showing how it is rooted in localities, tells the story of Wales.

‘This is for the people who live in Wales to learn about their own story – a story which continues to be contemporary and relevant.’ John and Peter explained,

‘We want the people who live in Wales to know their own shared story.’ they added. This is the first book of its kind which attempts to tell the Welsh story from the widest possible perspective, whilst also being a readable retelling of old and recent revisions of Welsh history and integrating both the ‘secular and religious story’.

John Morgans wrote the book and Peter Noble was the photographer. Both were aware that when they were introducing ministers from other countries to come and serve in Wales, the ministers were oblivious to the different national context and there was no straightforward book which they could recommend.

The answer seemed to be ‘put that right yourself’.

‘Our joint experience confirms our awareness that this is a story which is no longer being shared.’ they explained, ‘The majority in the churches have no concept of the wholeness of the story. Welsh denominations, as they weaken, are focusing on their own separate history and stories.’

‘But this historic story belongs to all the people of Wales. Our hope is that this book will alert the church and the wider public that there is one great story which belongs to everyone.’ they said.

‘This book is the appropriate history of a movement.’ added t he Rt. Rev. Dom Daniel OCSO, Abbot of Caldey, ‘This publication is not just a history book among many others but a re-telling the story in a way our ancestors would have done from generation to generation.’

The volume includes over a hundred photographs taken by Peter Noble as he travelled throughout Wales over a period of several years.

‘The photographs are an integral element to the book, the unique collection of images illustrating the historic narrative and at the same time the awareness of a contemporary journey.’ said Peter.

Two of these images include Our Lady of Penrhys and The Guardian of the Valleys monuments respectively which feature on the front cover.

‘The images we chose for the cover were deliberate’ they explained, ‘They symbolise a journey of discovery into forgotten Welsh history.’

John I. Morgans was born in Tylorstown, Rhondda and studied history, theology and church history at Swansea, Oxford and Hartford, Connecticut before ordination in 1967. His first pastorate included the United Reformed Church in Llanidloes and the Welsh Independent Church in Glanhafren. His ministry continued with the URC in Manselton, as Moderator for the Wales Synod, and at Llanfair, Penrhys where, with his wife Norah, he helped form the ecumenical church. He retired from pastoral ministry in 2004. Our Holy Ground is his sixth book.

Peter C. Noble was raised in Brynmawr, Gwent. Following service in the RAF he studied for ministry in the United Reformed Church at Manchester. Ordained in 1983 his ministries have been Brecon, Libanus and Cwmcamlais (UWI), Caerffili and Ystrad Mynach, Chaplain to Higher Education in Cardiff, Synod Training Officer, and Moderator for the National Synod of Wales. He is presently Ecumenical Chaplain in Cardiff Bay.

Our Holy Ground – The Welsh Christian Experience by John I Morgans and Peter C Noble (£9.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

The autumn edition of New Welsh Reader includes exclusive extracts from entries to the New Welsh Writing Awards 2016: University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing including the winning essay ‘Bush Meat: As My Mother Told Me’ by Mandy Sutter, which depicts a Nigerian domestic scene where subtle and interdependent racial and class issues are seething under a tight lid. ‘The Rains of Titikaka’ by John Harrison recounts the rise and fall of the pre-Columbian city of Tiwanaku in Bolivia, ‘Stranger Shores’ by Karen Philips looks at the underground (and underwater) currents of Mayan culture in the Yucatan, Mexico; ‘Seven Days: A Pyrenean Trek’ by Nathan Llywelyn Munday depicts the highs and lows of the grand narrative on trek through the Pyrenees; the etiquette of the Trans-Siberian station pitstop is narrated in ‘Moscow to Beijing on Train Number Four’ by Julie Owen Moylan and ‘No Situation is Permanent’ by Hannah Garrard follows the progress of a pioneering school from its refugee-camp origins in Ghana.

There is also an exclusive extract from Cynan Jones’ new novel Cove (Granta) publishing in November 2016. Out at sea, in a sudden storm, a man is struck by lightning. When he wakes, injured and adrift on a kayak, his memory of who he is and how he came to be there is all but shattered. Now he must pit himself against the pain and rely on his instincts to get back to shore, and to the woman he dimly senses waiting for his return. With its taut narrative and its wincingly visceral portrait of a man locked in an uneven struggle with the forces of nature, this is a powerful new work from one of the most distinctive voices in British fiction.

In addition there is new poetry from Wales Book of the Year 2016 category winner Philip Gross , Argentinian poet Daniel Samoilovich, Chilean poet Malu Urriola, (both translated by Richard Gwyn), Ian McLachlan, Syed Shehzar Mukkarim Doja, Agatha Abu Shehab and CM Buckland.

New Welsh Reader editor Gwen Davies talks through the edition highlights:

New Welsh Reader poetry submissions editor Amy McCauley explains why she chose Philip Gross' poems:

Cynan Jones will be reading from Cove at Chapter’s First Thursday on 3 November at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff.

http://www.newwelshreview.com

@newwelshreview

The celebrations to commemorate 50 years since the establishing of Y Lolfa publishers and press have begun with the publication of a calendar of old posters.  

Calendr Posteri’r Lolfa 2017 ( Y Lolfa Poster Calendar 2017 ) is a collection of commercial and political posters that were printed by Y Lolfa during the 1960s and 1970s. 

It is published to coincide with Y Lolfa’s 50 ^th anniversary celebrations in 2017.   

Amongst the posters are old favourites such as ‘ Gwnewch Bopeth yn Gymraeg’ (Do Everything in Welsh) – as seen on the front cover, the iconic poster which shows the silhouette of two lovers behind a colourful backdrop. It was designed by Elwyn Ioan in 1972 and has been reprinted many times over the decades. Other classics include the infamous poster of Eirwyn Pontshân – ‘ Gwell Llaeth Cymru na Chwrw Lloegr’ ( Better Welsh Milk than English Beer).  

Others are more political in their nature such as the popular image of Ifas y Tryc in front of the Union Jack, ‘ Britannia Rŵls ddy Wêls’, and drawing by John Jenkins, , ‘ Gwyn eu Byd y Rhai Erlidir o Achos Cyfiawnder’ that was drawn when he was in prison. 

Some of the posters also revisit the world of pop including Pinaclau Pop, the disco of Mici Plwm, and the psychdelia of the end of the sixties in the form of Y Blew – the first ever electric rock group in Welsh. Other notable icons include Meic Stecens, Dafydd Iwan, and y Tebot Piws which appear on posters that reflect the exuberance and confidence of the time. 

‘It will appeal to the nostalgia of the older generation but most importantly, I hope, to the younger generation who were not around when the company was established during the excitement of the late 1960s.’ said the founder of Y Lolfa, Robat Gruffudd. 

Y Lolfa was established in 1967 during an exciting period of fun and protest. The company evolved gradually, producing an ever widening range of popular books in both Welsh and English, and next year will be celebrating its 50 ^th anniversary.   

Calendr Posteri'r Lolfa 2017 (£10, Y Lolfa) is available now.

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New Welsh Review, in association with the University of South Wales and CADCentre, announced the winner of the New Welsh Writing Awards 2016: University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing at a ceremony at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff on Thursday 7 July.

The Prize celebrates the best short form travel writing from emerging and established writers based in the UK and Ireland. The judges are New Welsh Review editor Gwen Davies and award winning travel writer Rory MacLean.

Mandy Sutter from Ilkley won the top prize for her re-telling of her mother’s story of growing up in mid 1960s white Nigeria through her own eyes, ‘Bush Meat: As My Mother Told Me’. She was given a cheque for £1,000 by judge Rory MacLean and her winning entry will be published by New Welsh Review on their New Welsh Rarebyte imprint this autumn and will also receive a positive critique by leading literary agent Cathryn Summerhayes at WME.

NWR editor and Prize judge Gwen Davies said ‘Travel writing creates bridges of understanding across physical and imaginative borders, between our own and 'other' cultures as well as between the past and the present. Mandy Sutter's Nigeria rises like a mirage from her story as a child there in the mid 1960s; her use of fiction techniques such as empathy and multiple viewpoints, especially her mother's adult experience as an ex-pat negotiating her own family's conforming views of race and class, create a complete arc of innovative concision.’

Co-judge Rory MacLean said ‘Mandy Sutter's 'Bush Meat' triumphs, in its lean prose and true dialogue, in its disarming humour, in its evocation of a family divided by sexism and racism in 1960s white Nigeria. In her story, Mandy stitches together the threads of memory to create a moving tapestry of lost life, building bridges of understanding across time and place, enhancing literature's ever-changing, ever-supple genre.’

Mandy Sutter grew up in Kent but now lives in Ilkley with her partner and a large black dog called Fable. She has co-written two books about the lives of Somali women, published in 2006 and 2007 and her first novel Stretching It was published in 2013. She has also published three poetry pamphlets with independent presses.

Second prize was awarded to Cardiff University PhD student Nathan Llewelyn Munday for his piece ‘Seven Days, A Pyrenean Trek’ that uses European creation myths to map the highs and lows of the grand narrative. A deceptively simple hike with his father becomes a timeless, scholarly, rich, human, engaging and heartfelt Odyssey. Nathan wins a weeklong residential course of his choice at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre in Gwynedd, north Wales.

Third prize went to Welsh travel writer John Harrison for his piece ‘The Rains of Titikaka’ that tracks the rise and fall of the pre-Columbian city of Tiwanaku in Bolivia, highest city in the ancient world and the hub of a trading empire stretching from Chile to Peru. John wins a weekend stay at Gladstone’s Library in Flintshire, north Wales.

All three entries will be published in extract form in the autumn edition of New Welsh Reader (112) on 1 September and all three winners will also receive a one-year subscription to the magazine.

Watch the ‘Bush Meat: As My Mother Told Me’ animation video, produced by Emily Roberts in partnership with Aberystwyth University: Bush Meat: As My Mother Told Me (this will go live at 7.30pm on 7 July) and Shortlist Showcase with Interviews, Readings and Animation: Shortlist Showcase

New Welsh Review also announced the winner of their Best Travel Book Poll at the event, Losing Israel by Jasmine Donahaye (Seren), a moving and honest account of the author’s relationship with Israel, which spans travel writing, nature writing and memoir. Voted for by the public, Losing Israel was the overwhelming winner from a shortlist of three titles that comprised Wildwood: A Journey through Trees by Roger Deakin (Penguin) and A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor (John Murray). Losing Israel has also been shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2016.

Winner of the New Welsh Writing Awards 2016: University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing from New Welsh Review on Vimeo .

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

WINE TALES FROM DOLGELLAU TO VERONA

A long-standing business relationship between an Italian winemaker and a Welsh wine importer was sealed with the presentation of a book at the world famous Vinitaly wine fair in Verona this week.

Dylan Rowlands and two members of staff, Emma Williams and Terri Jones, flew over to Italy on Sunday taking a copy of his newly published ‘ Rarebit and Rioja – Recipes and Wine Tales from Wales’ to present to Vincenzo Bossotti and his daughter Cristina.

Bossotti’s vineyard features in the Welsh wine importer’s newly published book about wine.

The book’s chapters and recipes are structured around the wine producing countries from which Dylan imports and has tales about his journeys through Europe searching for wine. Vincenzo fittingly features in the first chapter.

The story began with Dylan’s first steps into the wine world as he ventured to Turin in Italy fifteen years ago to discover his first wines to import in the very same wine fair – quite a daunting affair as it is a very large expo with over five thousand producer stands on the site.

It was here where he met Vincenzo before visiting their family run vineyard in Cisterna D’asti, a beautiful little hilltop town in Piedmonte, Northern Italy.

Quality reigns at the Bossotti vineyard and this won Dylan over immediately.

‘The integrity of the winemaker is all important in a long-distance partnership like this and you have to trust the person you’re trading with to be consistent. The Bossotti family have never let me down over the years and I’m proud to sell the wine of a small family producer.’ said Dylan.

‘There is little doubt the passion of the whole family is reflected in their product, from the beautifully designed labels to the wine in the bottle. Long may this Italian - Welsh relationship last!’ he continued.

Wine shop and cafe bar Gwin Dylanwad Wine is based in Porth Marchnad in Dolgellau. Since 2003 Dylanwad have been importing exclusive wines direct from Spain, France, Italy and Austria. These are available to drink or buy in Gwin Dylanwad Wine or to take out and can be delivered throughout Britain.

Rarebit and Rioja: Recipes and wine tales from Wales by Dylan and Llinos Rowlands (£14.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

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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AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh poet and Seventh Quarry poetry magazine founder and editor Peter Thabit Jones about plans for the forthcoming DT100 ( Dylan Thomas 100th Anniversary ) celebrations in New York and other US cities.

"Dylan Thomas is a cultural icon around the world and a poet who made a major impact on poetry itself. In many ways, poetry was never the same after the publication of the astonishing 18 Poems in 1934 and 25 Poems in 1936. For Wales, it is a great opportunity to celebrate his life and works and to put the spotlight on the main places of his inspiration, Swansea and Laugharne, indeed the whole of Wales."

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AmeriCymru: Hi Peter and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. What in your opinion is the significance of this Dylan Thomas centenary year to Wales and the Welsh American community?

Peter: Dylan Thomas is a cultural icon around the world and a poet who made a major impact on poetry itself. In many ways, poetry was never the same after the publication of the astonishing 18 Poems in 1934 and 25 Poems in 1936. For Wales, it is a great opportunity to celebrate his life and works and to put the spotlight on the main places of his inspiration, Swansea and Laugharne, indeed the whole of Wales. It will also be an opportunity to spotlight both literatures, English-language and Welsh-language, the unique culture of Wales and its varied and inspiring landscapes. It will be great if Welsh tourism, as well as literature, also gets a huge boost via DT100.

AmeriCymru: Of course, Dylan Thomas visited the US several times in his later years. How do you think he rated and valued the experience?

Peter: It was Dylan who wanted to go on that final tour, against the wishes of Caitlin and his tour-organiser, John Malcolm Brinnin. I think he was probably shocked and awe-struck by America, in particular New York, on the first visit. He was an ‘impoverished poet’, escaping a country still stuck in the rationing of World War Two, so the sheer size of everything American must have been a real eye-opener. He wrote a letter to his parents describing the size of an average American dinner and he sent sweets and treats back home for Caitlin and the children. He made many close friends there, such as sculptor David Slivka, who was to be the one, with Ibram Lassaw, to make Dylan’s death mask; and he loved to sit and talk to working-class, non-literary men in pubs such as The White Horse Tavern. He was ‘at home’ in such places.

I also think the incredible response to his first visit from audiences, where the likes of poet e. e. cummings were blown away by Dylan’s performances, endorsed a need for more clarity in his writing, which he had already started in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog and in Deaths and Entrances. Under Milk Wood was a step in that direction and had he lived I think he would have written dramas for television and worked on scripts for commercial films. Maybe Lennon and McCartney would have chosen him, rather than fellow Welshman Alun Owen, to write the script for A Hard Day’s Night, as they were fans of Dylan. He met many famous people during his visits, such as Charlie Chaplin, and he was as excited as any fan by such a meeting. His historic Caedmon recordings established what was to become the spoken-word industry. Dylan, in many ways and all alone, did what The Beatles were to do in 1964: take America by storm.

AmeriCymru: We understand that the First Minister of Wales will be visiting New York in February 2014 and that he will be guided on the Dylan Thomas Walking Tour as part of the DT100 launch in America . Care to tell us more about this visit?

Peter: Yes, the visit by the First Minister of Wales will be the launch of DT100 Starless and Bible Black in America, organized by The British Council. My and Aeronwy’s Dylan Thomas Walking Tour of Greenwich Village, commissioned and developed in 2008 by Catrin Brace of the Welsh Assembly Government in New York, will be launched as a tourist pocket-book. It has previously been available as a PDF, an audio version narrated by Welsh actor John Pierce Jones, and a guided tour with New York Fun Tours. Along with the tourist pocket-book, The British Council and Welsh Government have commissioned a company to do an internet/smart phone version. I have been helping the company and it is an exciting development, which hopefully will stimulate an interest in Dylan and his New York visits among young people who engage with this new technology.

The First Minister, other dignitaries, and the media will experience aspects of the Walk, such as The White Horse Tavern, guided by an official New York tourist-guide, Hannah Ellis, Dylan’s granddaughter, and me. My New York publisher, Stanley H. Barkan of Cross-Cultural Communications, will be accompanying me. Robert Titley of the Welsh Government in New York has organized it all.

Also, my New York publisher has organized a launch for the book at Poet’s House, New York, on March 5th. Hannah has written the Foreword; and it has such (extra) things as an unpublished photo of Dylan’s death mask, a drawing self-portrait by Dylan, a drawing of Dylan and Caitlin by Caitlin Thomas, and paintings of Dylan by America’s Carolyn Mary Kleefeld and Carey Crockett, and Italy’s Gianpiero Actis. I will give a talk, Dylan Thomas in New York, and Stanley H. Barkan, a terrific reader, will read some poems at the launch.

AmeriCymru: Are there plans to visit other US cities?

Peter: Yes, I am at the NEMLA Conference in Pennysylvania in early April, where I’ll be on a literary translation panel and where I’ll give a talk on Dylan Thomas and organise a poetry workshop. Whilst back in America, the book will be launched at the historic The Grolier Poetry Workshop in Boston on April 9th. I’ll deliver my talk again and Dr. Kristine Doll, my host and a poet, and poet and owner of the Bookshop, Ifeanyi Menkiti, will read some poems. Then in July, when I am writer-in-residence again in California for a fifth summer, it will be launched at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, where I’ll be accompanied by Carolyn Mary Kleefeld and John Dotson.

Its Welsh launch, by the way, will be at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. I have also researched and organized a Dylan Quotations Trail, which will be on display for people to follow at the Museum, from July 2014 to March 2015.

AmeriCymru: Can you tell us a little about the internet app version of the Dylan Thomas Walking Tour Of Greenwich Village, which is being launched to coincide with the centenary?

Peter: It is based on the book version and is being produced by a Welsh company. A Welsh actor is being chosen to narrate the Walk and read some of Dylan’s works. Obviously an app has so much creative and interactive potential and so I can’t wait to see what is produced. Aeronwy and I always felt there should be a tourist book version and she would be so pleased. I’m sure, too, she would be thrilled by an app version. Her daughter, Hannah, is very excited by the book and the app.

AmeriCymru: Where can people go online to discover more detail about the various events and publications?

Peter: Firstly,

http://dylanthomas.org ; secondly, The British Council/Wales website, under Starless and Bible Black; thirdly, the Poets House website; and there will be various other links as things unfold.

AmeriCymru: How will your international poetry publication, The Seventh Quarry, mark the centenary?

Peter: I am including some wonderful drawings of Dylan during periods of his life by Swansea artist Jeffrey Phillips in the Winter/Spring and Summer/Autumn issues. Jeff has put together an exhibition on Dylan that will tour parts of Wales. I have also interviewed Dreena Morgan-Harvey of the Dylan Thomas Theatre in Swansea for the Summer/Autumn issue. Lastly, Quarry Press will publish a chapbook of Dylan-inspired work by a writers’ group based in Swansea. I will give a talk on Dylan and carry out a writing workshop with the group.

AmeriCymru:  Hi Chris and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. You have visited Portland before. Care to tell us more about your experiences on those occasions?

Chris: Portland is a wonderful, vibrant, hospitable city, full of life and colour and brilliant, creative people. I love downtown, and the river, and the size and scale of all that, and the detailed infill of bars and dance-halls between massive locations - iron bridges and docks, and steel and glass sky-scrapers, and then the suburbs, winding up into melancholy foothills, and freight-trains calling in the night; and the numbing vastness of the forest all around. I’m really looking forward to being back!

AmeriCymru:  You are presenting a workshop at Wordstock titled 'Sex and the Serious Novel'. Can you tell us more? When and where will the workshop take place?

Chris: My workshop is on Saturday October 5th, at the Oregon Convention Centre, from 4.30 to 5.45 pm, followed, for me at least, by cocktails. The workshop will look at the role of the erotic in literary fiction: sometimes moving, sometimes embarrassing, sometimes unintentionally hilarious. Sex is a major part of life; why do so many good writers have so much trouble with it? We’ll look at examples from the sublime to the toe-curling, in a format that will be participatory, discursive and interactive. Or, as the Festival programme puts it: Let’s get seriously sexy!

AmeriCymru:  You will also be giving a reading from your novel ''Flirting At The Funeral''. Will there be a Q&A session afterwards? When does this take place?

Chris: I’ll be on-stage with the fantastic Chelsea Cain from 2.00pm to 3.00pm at the Convention Centre. We’ll both be reading from our books, and there’ll be a Q&A session, and lots of black humour and serious fun. If you’ve got a ticket to the Festival, the event itself is free, so there is absolutely no excuse for not being there.

AmeriCymru:  You are appearing at the AmeriCymru/Portland State University panel discussion on the subject:- 'Culture Wars, Should Welsh Writing in English be taught as a separate course or module in U.S. Universities?' What are your initial thoughts on this topic?

Chris: I’m looking forward to this: an interesting question, and excellent fellow-panelists. It seems to me there’s a real issue here: in the wide world, UK literature tends to get called ‘British’ literature, but there’s a tacit or out-loud recognition that writing from Scotland occupies a territory of its own; and of course Ireland has a distinct national cultural voice. This leaves Wales annexed to England, in a long and unhappy marriage that badly needs relationship-counselling.

WORDSTOCK

Find AmeriCymru at stall 718 (see floor plan below, click to enlarge ).

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CULTURE WARS - OTHER VOICES IN BRITISH LITERATURE

Presented by AmeriCymru and the Portland Center for Public Humanities

Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 327/8

Fri Oct 4th 6.30-9.00 pm

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