A famous Welsh legend has inspired a new novel which is published this week. Return from Darkness  by Graham Jones is based on the story of the Twrch Trwyth, a deep vein in Welsh Mabinogi folklore. The publishing of the novel follows the Welsh Government’s 2017 tourism campaign celebrating the ‘Year of Legends’. ‘I learned Welsh after I moved to Pembrokeshire and relished exploring the county and beyond on foot. As time passed I learned more about the myths and traditions associated with Wales until it became such a fascination that the seeds of this book were sown’...

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This first biography of the famous Welsh painter Thomas Jones has been published this week. Thomas Jones of Pencerrig: artist, traveller, country squire by Richard Veasey is the full-length biography of the eighteenth-century landscape painter and seeks to draw together the different threads of his life. Born in September 1742, Thomas Jones moved with his parents from Llandrindod Wells to Pencerrig close to Builth Wells when he was around seven years old. He was educated first by Dissenting ministers before being sent with his elder brother to Christ College in Brecon....

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The connection between Wales and Liverpool has been explored anew in a book published this week. Penny Lane and All That by Camarthenshire author Ann Carlton is a celebration of growing up in Liverpool’s Penny Lane neighbourhood during the 1940s and 1950s – the same era as the Beatles and Quarrymen. Ann Carlton grew up at Penny Lane. Her father rose from a poor background to become a senior local government officer; thus giving her unique insights into both poverty and affluence in the city at the time. From first-hand experience she describes the Penny Lane area itself,...

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The story of a deep coalmine in Cwmtawe, the Swansea Valley. 'A tribute to those Tareni miners, their trials and tribulations but also their joys and successes both in and outside of work, and to their families and to all those others who worked the hard anthracite coalmines of the Swansea Valley.' £30 plus P&P £4.95. Cheques to be made out to Clive Reed at 17 Smithfield Road, Pontardawe, Swansea SA8 4LA. For more information please email lynnegent46 at gmail.com ...

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‘A general poverty of ambition for Wales is undermining its development potential as the confidence of a whole generation of our young people is challenged on a daily basis’. In his newly-released autobiography Carl Clowes, founder of the iconic language Centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn and prime motivator for the unique link between Wales and Lesotho, describes how communities the length and breadth of Wales are struggling to survive, rarely believing that they have the potential to overcome the disadvantages they are faced with. And when the occasional aspiring entrepreneurial spirit...

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Are the effects of global warming seen in Wales? That is the driving question behind the new publication  Tywydd Mawr – Extreme Weather in Wales published this week. To look for the answer, the photographer Iestyn Hughes studied countless archives for evidence of the consequences of weather over the centuries. As the world’s climate changes each year, the book shows the impact of these effects on the Alps and glacier shrinkage in Canada but primarily the dramatic views from across Wales – snow of 1947 and 1978, the summer drought of 1976, the 2003 floods, and the storms of 2013/14...

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One of Wales’ most well known actors has revealed the brave battle fought by his wife against cancer in his new autobiography published this week. In  Hunangofiant Dyn Lwcus (A Lucky Man’s Autobiography) the actor Hywel Emrys opens up about the death of his wife Liz to cancer last year, and portrays his own experience of losing someone so close to the cruel illness. ‘Liz was a unique woman’ says Hywel, ‘She was strong, she was brave and full of healthy humour – even towards the end.’ ‘I hope talking about my experiences in such an open way will help those who are going through...

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A new biography presents new and revealing revelations about Carwyn James, one of the most iconic and popular characters in recent Welsh history. The two sides to the life of Carwyn James are revealed in the book, Carwyn – Yn Erbyn y Gwynt by Alun Gibbard, published this week, the public figure and the private man. As well as new information and photographs never seen before, in depth research conducted by the author reveals new information about his personal life, including his sexuality, his drinking problem and his time in Italy. There's also details on the problems between his...

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The infamous Dai Jones of Llanilar publishes his autobiography this week which will tell his story over the past twenty years. Tra Bo Dai will follow the twists and turns of Dai Jones’ career over the last two decades as a farmer, presenter, and one of Wales’ most popular broadcaster. The book was co-written with his close friend, Lyn Ebenezer. A farmer, television and radio presenter on programmes such as Cefn Gwlad and the Royal Welsh Show, Dai Jones is one of the most well known and most poular figure in rural Wales. His first book was one of the most popular books to be...

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A remarkable story of military courage…. As Wales prepares to remember those who lost their lives in wars across the world a 98 year-old veteran from Carmarthenshire publishes a book detailing his incredible experiences as a prisoner of war. In All for Freedom D.T. Davies from Dryslwyn, near Llandeilo, provides an emotional account of some of the harrowing scenes he witnessed as a prisoner at Nazi camps across Europe. D.T. Davies was captured at the Battle of Crete at the end of May 1941. He was among hundreds of troops who were herded on to cramped wagon trains in Greece...

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The Manchester United Welsh by Gwyn Jenkins and Ioan Gwyn offers an insight into Wales' contribution to one of football's most famous clubs. From its early beginnings nearly a century and a half ago and players such as Jack Powell and Billy Meredith, through the Golden Age of the 1950-60s when Jimmy Murphy was Matt Busby's right-hand man, and on to the latter-day glory years under Alex Ferguson with worldwide icons such as Mark Hughes and Ryan Giggs, Welshmen have played a vital role in shaping the history of a club supported right across the world. ‘What is unique about the book...

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‘Caryl Lewis is the new queen of our literature’ according to prominent Welsh book reviewer Bethan Mair. Her comments come following the publishing of a new volume of stories by Caryl Lewis this week as well as Caryl’s phenomenal success at the Book of the Year awards this year. Y Gwreiddyn by Caryl Lewis is a collection of short stories on the relationships people have with their fellows, love, loss and roots. ‘I love the idea that there is a ‘tree’ of roots underneath each tree that shapes and drives it’ says Caryl, ‘After writing the title story I imagined that the idea...

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Back to Welsh Literature page > Players from the Wales football team have sung the praises of a new book that details the incredible success story of the team during the summer of 2016. Published this week, When Dragons Dare to Dream is the follow-up to Jamie Thomas’ successful The Dragon Roars Again and starts where that left off, charting the amazing progress of the Welsh football team through the Euro 2016 finals. ‘Qualification for Euro 2016 meant absolutely everything to us, as a team, as a nation of people who have waited our whole lives to see Wales competing...

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Back to Welsh Literature page > One of Wales’ most beloved bears will be joining the Wales football team in his latest adventure. In Alun the Bear and the Football Match by Morgan Tomos Alun has the opportunity to train with the Wales football team. But he can't play very well so he decides to be a referee instead. But what kind of referee will Alun be? ‘I was inspired by the Wales football team’s recent success during the Euros this summer’ explained the author Morgan Tomos on what inspired the latest Alun adventure. ‘But I can’t kick a ball to save my life!’ he...

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Back to Welsh Literature page > The first Welsh colouring book for adults is published this week by Y Lolfa publishers.  Lliwio Cymru / Colouring Wales is the first adult colouring book for adults with a Welsh theme running throughout the pictures. It contains 21 beautiful hand-drawn Welsh pictures by the artist from Llanrug, Dawn Williams, including pictures of Branwen, Saint David, Blodeuwedd, the Red Dragon, ‘Cariad’, and Calon Lân and the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad fy Nhadau. There has been a recent growth in the sales of colouring books for adults and...

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Back to Welsh Literature page > Instant Nostalgia: Read 'The Impossible Dream - Wales at EURO 2016' here When Dragons Dare To Dream Players from the Wales football team have sung the praises of a new book that details the incredible success story of the team during the summer of 2016.  Published this week, When Dragons Dare to Dream  is the follow-up to Jamie Thomas’ successful The Dragon Roars Again and starts where that left off, charting the amazing progress of the Welsh football team through the Euro 2016 finals.  ‘Qualification for Euro 2016...

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Back to Welsh Literature page > The first book in a new trilogy which tells the compelling story of the early years of Glyndŵr’s uprising is published this week. Glyndŵr: Son of Prophecy  by the late Moelwyn Jones is an imaginary novel based on the real life and battles of Owain Glyndŵr. The year is 1401, Owain Glyndŵr and his growing forces are still no more than a thorn in the side of the English crown. But when a force of some forty men succeed in taking the prestigious castle of Conwy from under the nose of King Henry IV, it marks a dramatic shift in the fortunes of...

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Back to Welsh Literature page > One of the first superstars of rugby union, Terry Davies, reveals the truth about his life in rugby in the 1950s as well as the loss of his talented brother to leukaemia at a young age in his long awaited autobiography this week. He also reveals all about what happened to that crossbar that was stolen from Twickenham in 1958. Terry Davies - Wales’s First Superstar Fullback  by Terry Davies with Geraint Thomas is a tale of a typical working-class upbringing and coming of age before finding glory on the rugby field – is as much a social...

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Back to Welsh Literature page > A Plaid Cymru candidate, who travelled to Libya with a delegation from the party in 1976 reveals that the party received £25,000 from the Libyan government. Carl Clowes, a well known anti-nuclear activist and candidate for Plaid Cymru in many elections, reveals this information in his autobiography published this week. In the book, called Super Furries, Prins Seeiso, Miss Siberia – a Fi , Carl Clowes recalls the research trip in 1976 to Libya with Dr Phil Williams, Brian Morgan Edwards and John Lewis. After watching Gaddafi speak a...

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Back to Welsh Literature page > ‘The hugely successful 2015 World Cup obscured the reality rugby union has become too dangerous’ according to John Dawes - architect of the historic 1971 Lions triumph in New Zealand. His views come from the new updated edition of John Dawes: The Man who Changed the World of Rugby by Ross Reyburn in which Dawes and the late Carwyn James cite their views on what could be done to transform the modern game for the better.  Reyburn’s biography is the only first-hand account of the 1971 Lions in print backtracking the tour’s success to its...

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