To mark the centenary of the battle of Mametz wood in the First World War, a North Wales author has published a new novel about the massacre.

Mametz is a powerful novel following the story of three Welsh soldiers – Huw, Cledwyn and Ephraim – and their path from Wales to the battle field in France.

Mametz by Alun Cob is Book of the Month with the Welsh Books Council and National Museum Wales for July 2016.

In July 1916 around four thousand soldiers from the 38th (Welsh) Division were killed or injured in the successful attempt to capture Mametz Wood from the German military. The Battle of Mametz Wood began on 7 July 1916. The wood was intended - by the generals, at least - to be taken in a matter of hours. In the event the battle lasted for five days as the Germans fiercely resisted the assaults of the Welsh Division. Mametz was part of the Somme massacre and was one of the First World War’s biggest battles.

Alun Cob says “This is a novel about the ordinary Welsh lads who went to the Great War and their lives leading up to the massacre at Mametz. The lads’ background and story are important – it’s not just a book about war.”

Mametz is the fifth Welsh-language novel by Alun Cob from Garndolbenmaen, Gwynedd, and is published by Gomer Press. “This is a timely, harrowing novel, full of humanity. It’s one hell of a story!” says the editor Elinor Wyn Reynolds from Gomer Press.

Mametz is now available from your local bookshop or directly from the publisher Gomer Press for £7.99.  To read a snippet from the novel log on to www.gomer.co.uk

Bibliographic details

Mametz by Alun Cob

Publisher: Gomer Press

paperback, 190 pages

ISBN 9781785620072

£7.99

Welsh writer and journalist Tim Hartley has travelled the world in an attempt to make sense of globalisation, international culture and politics, football and his own place in the modern world.

Kicking off in North Korea is a series of travel diaries that follow his adventures from herding reindeer with the last of the Sami people to watching football in a silent crowd of 50,000 in North Korea. Through his travelling, Tim casts a piercing and sometimes judgemental eye on the kaleidoscopic world around him.

‘I think the seed for my travel addiction may have been planted when I visited the former Yugoslavia in 1979.’ says Tim, ‘It was still a communist country, I was a politics student and while my family were happy to sit on the beaches of the Dalmatian coast I was peering into offices and government buildings looking for evidence of workers committees, red banners, hammers and sickles.’

‘The travel bug was there, in my head, and I think the aim was to find further, maybe more difficult places to go to.’ he continued.

‘Some of charity drives we did across Europe, to Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Macedonia were fascinating because the landscape and people changed every day. The shockwaves of the fall of the communist empire is still being felt in Eastern Europe.’ he explained.

‘The riots in Kiev, the blood feuds in Albania and the ethnic tensions across the former Yugoslavia are for real, but you don’t have a chance of understanding them without going there yourself and talking to those involved.’ he continued.

But it was not all plain sailing.

‘There have been some hairy moments like when we hitched a lift across the Jordanian desert at dusk with the driver asking us to spell ‘terrorist.’’ says Tim. ‘There have been checkpoints, North Korean minders and young Israelis with guns. But there’s a myth that foreign places are inherently dangerous.’

The travel diaries also tell the story of his developing relationship with his son, Chester, while they travel the world together.

‘It never crossed our minds that Chester would not be part of our travels.’ he says, ‘I have seen him grow in confidence and become thirsty for knowledge of other places, other people.’

Tim Hartley is a writer and journalist. He has worked for the BBC for 17 years and for the British Council and the United Nations Development Programme in Central Asia and Africa.

He is also a regular contributor on radio and television and has shared his obsessions on the BBC’s ‘From our own Correspondent’ and a number of newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, Golwg and the Western Mail.

‘You don’t have to travel to the ends of the world to get some great travelling experiences.’ concludes Tim. ‘North Wales may seem small on a map but every town has its own history and character.’

The nation lost a giant of a man who had a devoting passion for Wales and the Welsh language when Meredydd ‘Merêd’ Evans died on the 21st of February 2015.

Now, in Merêd: Dyn ar Dân , the enormous contribution Merêd made to Welsh culture and politics is remembered -  as well as the man himself - the loving figure who had a deep love for his square mile. 

The diversity of the contributors found in the volume is a testament to the popularity Merêd had amongst people of all ages. Authors include Angharad Tomos, Gai Toms, Lyn Ebenezer and Cynog Dafis - each paying tribute to Merêd, to his genius and his tenacity, his vision and his affection.

There is also an article by the late Professor Gwyn Thomas, who died on the 13th of April this year.

There are also many poems paying tribute to Merêd, and the last poem written by Merêd himself, along with a host of pictures from all of the periods in his life.

'One of the greatest tributes of this volume is unwritten – that is to say that it features authors ranging from their twenties to their nineties have all contributed. Each, in their own area of expertise and each in their own style want to acknowlede their gratitude to Merêd,' said Rocet Arwel Jones.

The volume acknowledges Merêd’s contribution as a broadcaster, philosopher, performer, researcher, and educator; to the establishment of community newspapers, S4C and the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, among many other things. He made large and lasting contributions to Wales during a life that spanned nearly a century.

‘He was an activist in everything he did – from earning a living as a lecturer and television product to campaigns in education, broadcasting and language acts’ added Rocet Arwel.

The volume has been edited by Eluned Evans, Merêd’s daughter, assisted Rocet Arwel Jones.

'He was a man of national and international platforms, yet nothing was more important to him than his square mile. Tanygrisiau was always there with him as he travelled to Bangor, Cardiff, America and eventually to Cwmystwyth, where he planted deep roots’ said Rocet Arwel Jones.

Rocet Arwel Jones was born in Rhos-y-bol, Anglesey and was educated at the Young Farmers Club in Rhos-y-bol, Amlwch Secondary School and the University of Wales in Aberystwyth. He has already published two books about his experiences in a humorous tour of Africa and Kenya, a volume of interviews with Emyr Humphreys and a book of oral history at the turn of the millennium. He is a familiar voice on Radio Cymru and S4C and has published poems and essays in Taliesin, Tu Chwith, Barn, Golwg, Y Traethodydd and on the internet. He is married to Sharon and is the father of three boys.

A Merêd memorial concert to celebrate the Welsh folk singing tradition will be held at Pontrhydfendigaid Pavilion on Sunday May 1st.

Merêd: Dyn ar Dân (£9.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

Margaret Wynne of Gwydir is remembered as ‘an angry woman’ but after reading and research author Haf Llewelyn has claimed that Margaret was ‘misunderstood completley’. Her story has been reimagined and written anew in a brand new novel published this week.

‘Y Traeth’ , which translates as ‘The Beach’, by Haf Llewelyn is set in Meirionydd during the 17 ^th century and follows the lives of some of the gentry families of the period. It follows the story of Margaret Cave who marries the nobleman Sion Wynne of Gwydir when she was still a child. Although Margaret tries to persuade herself that she belongs, she suffers the contempt of her family in law, experiences bouts of depression and longs for her little girl and husband who spends time in far away London.

When Begw comes to work as her handmaiden, a close relationship develops between her and Margaret, and Begw comes to feel that she has no choice but to stay with her mistress through it all.

‘This is mainly a story of friendship and loyalty – particularly the handmaiden Begw’s loyalty towards her mistress, Margraet,’ explained Haf Llewelyn. ‘Begw did not choose to be poor. Margaret did not choose to be rich. But what is important is the choices the two make during the novel.’

Rewriting Margaret’s story was like ‘making up for the abuse she suffered during her life’.

‘She was clearly a very lonely woman and had to bend to the society of the time. Because she could not bear an heir, she was discredited and insulted by this powerful family,’ says Haf. ‘I took to her at once. As I read more about her I began to feel closer to her. I wanted the best for her. So I decided to write another story around her.’

The beach is also a central part to the novel.

‘Many of the characters feel drawn towards the beach. It is an embodiement of an attachment to somewhere. Like the characters of the novel know the sea and the beach, I’m sure many of us feel an attachment to familiar places or some feeling of belonging.’

The events of Y Traeth happen in the same place as Haf’s other novel, Mab y Cychwr , and some characters from that novel make an appearance. But Haf stresses that Y Traeth is not a sequel.

‘You do not need to read Mab y Cychwr to read this novel,’ she says. ‘Perhaps the reapperance of some old characters is a sign of my attachment towards the world I have created!’

Haf Llewelyn grew up on a mountainous farm in Ardudwy but has lived in Llanuwchllyn for over thirty years. This is her third novel for adults, following Y Graig and Mab y Cychwr , and she has published many novels and books for children, including Diffodd y Sêr , a novel told from the perspective of the younger sister of poet Hedd Wyn, a book which won her the Tir na n-Og prize in 2014.

‘You do not need to know the history of the period or the story of the Wynne family of Gwydir to read the novel,’ added Haf. ‘The period is simply the background for the story. Not much differentiates today and yesterday in the sense that the characters would make the same decisions they make in 1612 as they would today.’

‘This is a story about friendship and human nature. And those themes are timeless.’

Y Traeth by Haf Llewelyn (£8.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

A discussion of Y Traeth and Sian Northey’s new novel, Rhyd-y-Gro, (Gwasg Gomer) will take place at Y Fedwen Lyfrau in Galeri Caernarfon at 10 in the morning ond Saturday the 23 ^rd of April.

On Wednesday the 27 ^th of April at 7.30 pm at the Eagles Hotel in Llanuwchllyn there will be a special launch to celebrate the publishing of Y Traeth and new volume by Beryl H Griffiths, Mamwlad, by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch.

A psychological thriller published this week explores how surveillance can becomes its own addiction as the narrator of this novel attempts to possess, control and spy on his partner when she’s unaware he’s watching.

Investigating Mr Wakefield by acclaimed writer Rob Gittins, follows Jack Connolly, a war photographer whose career went into freefall after he manipulated the image of a dead soldier to make it appear the soldier died a hero’s death. The deception cost him his job, the trust of his peers and his career. It taught Jack an all-important lesson, only one thing matters and that’s truth. No matter how unpalatable.

He soon becomes obsessed by a nineteenth-century short story, Wakefield by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Wakefield tells the story of a man who, one day - and in Hawthorne’s own words - decides to absent himself from his wife. He hopes to assess how much she loves him by gauging the extent of her desperation at his apparent disappearance.

Jack attempts to recreate in fact the events of this fiction and gradually infiltrates the private spaces of his  partner’s life by the use of surveillance technology attempting to capture her private conversations and record her emotional responses to the tests he puts her through. His obsession inevitably spirals out of control, inexorably leading to the destruction of his relationship and his life.

Unsettling and culturally significant, Investigating Mr Wakefield digs into issues of trust and loss at the most intimate and disturbing of levels.

‘While the hero of Investigating Mr Wakefield clearly takes matters to an extreme, the theme of the novel can resonate with almost anyone.’ explained Rob Gittins.

‘Many people, at one time or another, have probably wondered what a wife, husband or partner are like when they’re not watching.  This novel explores the dangers waiting to ensnare those who try to find out.’ he added.

This is Rob Gittins’ fourth novel. His previous novels received high critical acclaim, including The Poet and the Private Eye (2014) which was praised as a ‘compelling novel that values truth above what is simply true – at the same time as declaring that death really does have no dominion.’ by T. James Jones, former Archdruid and translator of Under Milk Wood, and Gimme Shelter (2013), commended as ‘Visceral, strongly visual and beautifully structured’ by Andrew Taylor, Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Winner.

Rob Gittins is the longest serving scriptwriter on EastEnders having written over 250 episodes of the programme. In recognition of his work on EastEnders, Rob received an Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2015 British Soap Awards. He has also scripted for Casualty, The Bill, Emmerdale, Soldier, Soldier and Heartbeat and has won many other awards for his work including the Gold Drama Medal at the New York International Radio Festival.

Rob was Script Executive and Writer on Stella starring Ruth Jones (Gavin and Stacey) and was executive Producer and co-lead writer on Crash, a drama series for BBC Wales.  Rob has written over twenty original radio plays for BBC Radio 4 and over one hundred episodes of The Archers.

Rob’s short film Sacrifice, was released theatrically and Rob’s feature film, Blue Monday has just completed principal photography.

Investigating Mr Wakefield by Rob Gittins (£8.99, Y Lolfa) is out now.

"Esme's passions are treated sensitively and honestly in this memoir, brought again to life so graphically by Teleri"  Lord Dafydd Ellis Thomas

Buy 'Esme: Guardian of Snowdonia' here

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This is the story of Esme Kirby, the heroine of Thomas Firbank's 1939 international bestseller, I Bought A Mountain, which portrayed the rigours of farming in Snowdonia, North Wales.

Esme's marriage to Thomas ended at the beginning of the Second World War and this book takes up her life as she struggled to cope alone on the 3000 acre Dyffryn Mymbyr sheep farm. Still a young woman, she could easily have given up such an arduous life but, instead, she grew to love her vocation and appreciate the fact that she lived in the most remarkable of landscapes.

Such was her fondness for Snowdonia, and concern for its future, that she later established the Snowdonia National Park Society, a 'watchdog' to ensure that the landscape was protected from any adverse development. She also led a campaign to re-establish colonies of the native red squirrel in Anglesey. Her legacy in this beautiful, rural community continues to this day.

Teleri Bevan comes from a farming background, yet her working life was spent at the BBC where she launched Radio Wales as its Editor and later became the Head of Programmes for BBC Wales radio and television. In retirement Teleri has enjoyed writing books about women who made distinctive contributions to rural life in 20th century Wales: firstly the story of establishing Rachel's Dairy, and then recording the accomplishments of the Ladies of Blaenwern , who bred world-famous Welsh cobs.

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EastEnders’s longest-serving scriptwriter, Rob Gittins is launching his brand-new novel, The Poet and the Private Eye at Dinefwr Literature Festival this weekend. The novel depicts the last three weeks of legendary Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’s life, and is based upon real life events.

The year is 1953, and a private investigator takes on a tail job in New York City. His quarry is a newly-arrived visitor from the UK ̶ the private eye has never heard of him, but he will. The mark is the legendary Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, and in three weeks’ time, he’ll be dead.

As far as the poet Dylan Thomas is concerned, n othing that happens in this story is invented,” explains author Rob Gittins, who published his first novel Gimme Shelter last year. “All of the events in the novel actually happened.

In October 1953, Time magazine hired a private detective to shadow Dylan Thomas during what turned out to be his last visit to New York. Dylan had taken out a libel suit against Time because of a less-than-flattering profile the magazine had published about him some months before. Time intended to use any new material gathered by the detective to defend its portrait of Dylan who, they alleged: ‘… dresses like a bum… drinks like a culvert… smokes like an ad for cancer… sleeps with any woman who is willing… is a trial to his friends and a worry to his family…’.

“To shape the events into a fictional form, however, I have taken liberties in mixing events from different trips, as Dylan Thomas visited America four times in total. So taken as a whole, the story presents an accurate account of the poet’s time in the US. As little is known about the private eye, his character, background and history is, necessarily, entirely my invention.”

The Poet and the Private Eye tells a tragic, but ultimately life-affirming story. It also engages with an issue: how an artist can change the life of even the most hard-bitten and cynical onlooker – and how an artist’s work can then live on to change the lives of countless others.

Wales Book of the Year winner Wiliam Owen describes the novel as “…a gripping story which takes a highly original look at the unravelling of Dylan Thomas’s chaotic life and ultimate death. But central to the novel is the power of Dylan’s poetry and how it’s ultimately a force for hope, reconciliation and even redemption in the lives of the people it touches.”

Rob Gittins is an award-winning screenwriter who has written for numerous top-rated television drama series – including EastEnders, Casualty and The Bill – and film as well as creating and writing original drama series of his own. He lives in Rhydargaeau near Carmarthen. The Poet and the Private Eye will be launched in Newton House at Dinefwr Literature Festival this Saturday, 5.45pm and at Waterstones, Carmarthen on Thursday 17 July at 6.30pm .

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The renowed historian Gerald Morgan has published an informal, wide-ranging guide to Wales. Looking for Wales (Y Lolfa) is a pocket-sized introductory guide for the curious and inquisitive reader.

Buy Looking For Wales here

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How did dragons, goats and leeks become symbols of Welsh identity? Did Cardiff really want to become the Welsh capital? And where did all the Joneses come from? Looking for Wales answers these – and other – questions while also providing more conventional information on Welsh castles, churches as well as Welsh music, literature and sport.

“Looking for Wales is presented as an introductory guide to Wales, but I would argue that it’s a must-read for every Welshman,” says the author Gerald Morgan. “I can promise any Welshman or Welshwoman, however learned they may be, that there’s something in this book they don’t know about their country!”

Every page is informed by Gerald Morgan’s lifetime interest in Wales and its culture. The author is a respected historian, teacher and author who admits that he has “been in love with the history of Wales since I was ten years old…”. His other published works include Castles in Wales and Ceredigion: A Wealth of History.

“You may think you can survive without knowing about Winston Churchill and the Welsh goat, about Edith Mair Leonard, John Graham Chambers or Samothes, but I would like to persuade you otherwise.”

Similar to A Brief History of Wales, another one of Morgan’s popular guides, Looking for Wales is an easily digestable, pocketable and affordable introductory guide to Wales, priced at £4.95.

Gerald Morgan lives in Aberystwyth. After teaching English at Ysgol Maes Garmon, Mold, and at Ysgol Gyfun Aberteifi, he served 22 years as headteacher first of Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni and then of Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig, Aberystwyth. A second career saw him teaching Welsh and local history in Aberystwyth University. He has published numerous books and articles on a wide range of subjects, focussing on Welsh history.

A pictorial tour of some of the pubs Dylan Thomas visited in Swansea, west Wales, Oxford, London, and the USA. This book will put Dylan Thomas's love of public houses and liking of drink into its proper perspective. Events that happened to him in and around pubs are reflected in his famous works and these are discussed in the book.

Buy Dylan Thomas: The Pubs here

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A recent article about the current Dylan Thomas centenary in the UK Guardian announces that Wales is preparing to resurrect the poet''s reputation . But is there really much work to be  done? A recent book published by Y Lolfa looks at Dylan''s ''alcoholism'' from a new angle.

This meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated book seeks to put the record straight on Dylan Thomas''s lifelong love affair with the pub. Was the poet more interested in people than pints? Did he crave fellowship and social interaction more than alcohol?

In the introduction, author Jeff Towns makes a number of telling points in support of this thesis. Firstly Dylan was, for the most part, a beer drinker. He objected to a colleagues suggestion, whilst working at the BBC, to keep a bottle of whisky in the office and only consumed spirits in any quantity on his American tours toward the end of his life. Additionally he was regarded by himself and others as an entertainer, the ''pub fool'' perhaps. He had a wide repertoire of bawdy jokes and limericks at his disposal and he craved the adulation of a receptive audience for his performances. All of this is far removed from the traditional picture of the sad and lonely alcoholic sitting at home alone pickling himself with the strongest liquor available. Perhaps there is truth in Dylan''s own observation that:- "An alcoholic is someone you don''t like who drinks as much as you do." The opinions of contemporaries should also be borne in mind, some of whom recall him as a habitual ( and occasionally excessive drinker ) but by no means a hardened alcoholic.

But however persuasive the introduction, it is the sections on individual pubs and incidents in Dylan''s life which are the real meat of this volume. Here is an incident ( quoted in the book ) that occurred in the Mermaid Inn, Oystermouth Rd, Mumbles:-

" Once after a widely reported rabies epidemic, Dylan and friend Wynford Vaughan Thomas....used this as some spontaneous horseplay. They went down on all fours and crawled around the floor of the pub, pretending to be rabid dogs, biting people''s ankles. When Dylan tried this on actress Ruby Graham, she feigned anger and shooed him out of the door. She was astonished to see him continue across the pavement to a lamp-post. "I thought he was going to pee on it.", she recalled. Instead, he bit on it, leaving him with a broken tooth for the rest of his life. ( Afterwards he used to tell her he remembered her every time he smiled.) "

This incident was later referenced in Thomas''s radio play Return Journey . Other passages from Dylan''s writing are illuminated in the same way and this is one of the many strengths of this book.

Together with the wonderful illustrations by  Wyn Thomas, the wealth of incident recorded here is sure to delight  Dylan Thomas afficianados and casual readers alike. An unreserved thumbs up and five star recommendation.

Jeff Towns is a rare-book dealer based in Swansea who, for more than 40 years, from his Dylans Bookstore, has specialised in books about Wales in all its many aspects and ramifications and in particular, the life, works, manuscripts and iconography of Dylan Thomas. In 1993 he edited an unknown poem by Dylan, Letter to Loren , and is currently working on several other books and films on aspects of the poet''s life.

Wyn Thomas (Illustrator) was a design draughtsman before becoming broadcaster specialising in history and the arts for radio and television

A pictorial tour of some of the pubs Dylan Thomas visited in Swansea, west Wales, Oxford, London, and the USA.

Written by: Jeff Towns

Published by: Y Lolfa

Date published: 2013-24-11

Edition: 1st

ISBN: 1847716938

Available in Paperback

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From left to right:- The Worms Head Hotel, Gower - The Uplands Tavern, Swansea.

A study of the life and career of Owain Gwynedd (c. 1100-1170), who played a dominant role in the history of Wales before her conquest. He was king of Gwynedd from 1137 until his death, and was the first to be styled prince of Wales. He was considered the most successful of all the north Welsh princes prior to his grandson Llewelyn the Great.

Buy Owain Gwynedd here

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This is the first study for over a century of the life and reign of one of the greatest of medieval Welsh rulers, owain ap Gruffydd ap Cynan, or , as history remembers him, Owain Gwynedd.

Owain Gwynedd (1137-1170) was a leading figure in Wales for over thirty years during which time he earned the respect of his peers and established a reputation for fearlessness in war, wisdom in peace, ruthlessness in politics, and prudence and moderation in governance.

Lauded by chroniclers and poets, Owain was a man of flesh and blood, but one truly possessed of exceptional qualities. He acquired the epithet Fawr or Great, and in the opinion of one of the greatest of Welsh historians, Sir John Edward Lloyd, it is ''a description he fully deserved'' because his ''greatness was recognized alike by bard and chronicler, by Welshman and Englishman'', and by Irishmen and Frenchmen. This short, popular study is intended to ensure that the deeds of a great Welshman are not forgotten.

Roger Turvey is a native of the Amman Valley and a graduate of Swansea University. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors. He has published widely on medievaln and early modern Welsh history and was editor of the Journal of the Pembrokeshire Historical Society for over twenty years.