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Back to Welsh Literature page > In a time of war and instability a new book published this week by Y Lolfa will ‘restore your faith in humanity’ according to a former politican. Originally published in Welsh, Evacuee – From the Liverpool Blitz to Wales is the remarkable story of Barbara Warlow Davies, an English-speaking four year old, who was evacuated from Liverpool to Talgarreg in Cardiganshire during the Second World War. The memoir recieved wide acclaim with former politican Cynog Dafis praising the volume and saying, ‘I don’t believe I have ever read such...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > The first serious study of the life and work of William Salesbury, published this week, will investigate the disparity between his very real achievements and the hostility shown to him by twentieth century academics. The Life and Work of William Salesbury by James Pierce is the long awaited biography of William Salesbury, a gifted linguist, scholar and lawyer who dedicated and risked his life to bring to his people the learning and benefits of the Humanist revolution. He was the principal translator of the 1567 Welsh New Testament and is...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > The assembly member Elin Jones was one of the main inspirations behind a new novel by a local Aberystwyth author it has been revealed. The Morlan centre in Aberystwyth was packed last week when over a hundred people came to listen to a conversation between Elin Jones AC, the reviewer Catrin Beard and local author Dana Edwards. The three were there to discuss the inspiration and background behind Dana’s new Welsh lanaguage novel, Pam? Pam? tells the story of Pam, Gwennan and Rhodri as they leave university and make their way in the...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > A telephone once belonging to the KGB is the inspiration for a new thriller which tells of a struggle for survival against prejudice and fanaticism.. Centered in Brittany, Last Rites by John Humphries begins with a ringing telephone, once belonging to the KGB, with a woman pleading for help at the other end of the line. But how can the telephone ring if it is not connected? The ringing telephone becomes an obsession investigative journalist Jack Flynt carries with him in a plastic bag from Paris to Wales, then to Île d’Iroise, an island...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > Gwenno Dafydd, professional broadcaster, singer, actress and leadership coach, writes the ultimate canon of female stand-up comics. ‘Funny is f u nny’ , as Joan Rivers said , regardless of gender—and with Stand Up and Sock it to t hem Sister , Gwenno Dafydd has finally managed to upend the old stereotype that women lack humour . She has tirelessly interviewed eighty four people working professionally in the comedy industry including numerous funny feisty females of all ages and backgrounds who share their success...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > A collection of Welsh wartime songs… A unique collection of Welsh songs from the First World War will be launched at the National Eisteddfod in Abergavenny this year. The author, Meic Birtwistle, along with Welsh folk singer and harpist Siân James, will present Rhyfelgan in a special event at the Tŷ Gwerin on Wednesday, 3 August at 3pm. A century after the First World War, this book features Welsh-language songs composed and sung at the time, some in support of the war, others expressing vociferous opposition to it. A number of the...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > Jack Scarrott’s Prize Fighters – Memoirs of a Welsh Boxing Booth Showman by Lawrence Davies ISBN : 978-0-9570342-3-5 Price £14.99 Published : 31/8/2016 451 Pages, 56 black and white photos and illustrations This book, a continuation of the previously unrecorded Welsh boxing history covered in the book Mountain Fighters, Lost Tales of Welsh Boxing , by Lawrence Davies (Peerless Press, 2011) and explores the world of the mountain fighters and early glove fighters of South Wales in the form of an expanded commentary on the memoirs...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > Post Brexit the political turmoil continues to cast shadows and uncertainty across Wales. None more so than in our farming and rural communities previously supported by subsidies, grants and loans via the EU’s Rural Development Programme. Hill farmer Tia Jones ’s new novel which launches at the Royal Welsh Show on the FUW stand on Thursday, 21 July, vividly depicts how the agricultural industry is inextricably linked to, and affected by, global and political developments beyond their control. The Curlew’s Cry is Tia’s third novel in a...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > Our fascination with societies and households united by social, class and occupational division continues unabated. The popularity of Downton Abbey , Upstairs Downstairs and Gosford Park bears testimony to this. But how much do we really know about the true experiences of domestic servants and the conditions in which they lived? Buy the book here ... .... No Job for a Little Girl by Rosemary Scadden is based on interviews with those women who had to leave home in the 1920s and 1930s –...
Read MoreBack to Welsh Literature page > A Story Of Survival, Love And Community In One Of Britain's Worst Disasters. On the 21 st of October 1966, the village of Aberfan in Merthyr Tudfyl was shattered by one of the worst disasters in Welsh and British history. Following days of bad weather, water from a spring had destabilized a huge coal slag tip – one of the black man-made mountains which surrounded the village. Thousands of tonnes of coal tip waste slid down a mountainside and devastated the mining village of Aberfan. The black mass crashed through the local school, where...
Read MoreREAD OUR 2013 INTERVIEW WITH JONATHAN HICKS HERE THE WELSH AT MAMETZ WOOD, THE SOMME 1916 Today will see national interest in the hundredth anniversary of the Battle for Mametz Wood on the Somme which began on the 7 th of July, 1916, and a new work containing previously unpublished personal accounts from both sides will aim to give hitherto unseen balance to the conflict. ‘The Welsh at Mametz Wood, The Somme 1916’ by Jonathan Hicks is a brand new interpretation of the First World War battle for Mametz Wood, telling the story of those terrible days from the...
Read MoreA striking new book giving a taste of fifty exceptional cafes in Wales has been published. Caffis Cymru by Lowri Haf Cooke will be launched on 9 July at Gŵyl Arall / Another Festival, Caernarfon and 16 July at Sesiwn Fawr, Dolgellau. Across Wales there’s a wealth of cosy, cool and quirky cafes to suit everyone’s tastes. Behind every teapot and cafetière there’s a treasury of personal stories, anecdotes and snippets of local history. Lowri Haf Cooke says “Welsh cafes in their various guises have been meeting points and great social hotspots for many years. From the...
Read MoreRead our 2010 interview with Jon Gower here Buy 'Rebel Rebel' here The influence of popular Anglo-American culture is what drives author Jon Gower’s latest newly-published volume of short stories. Rebel Rebel by Jon Gower is a collection of 21 short stories taking place all around the world, whilst introducing the reader to fictional and historical characters in believable and fantastic scenarios. ‘The literature of the United States, particularly novels, have had a big influence on me since I was a child – especially my hero John Updike and other giants such...
Read MoreTo 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...
Read MoreAll parties say that they want more ‘real people’ in politics, but one man’s experience perhaps suggests otherwise. In the normally sedate rural constituency of Ceredigion, the general election of 2015 exploded into sensationalist headlines and the dirtiest campaign in living memory. At the centre of the fray was Plaid Cymru’s English-born, first-time candidate, author and broadcaster Mike Parker. The Greasy Poll is Mike’s witheringly honest diary of the campaign, in which he chronicles the exhilaration and exhaustion of this knife-edge fight, from the many moments of great hope...
Read MoreWelsh 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...
Read MoreThe 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...
Read MoreMargaret 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...
Read MoreA 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...
Read MoreAn updated version of the practical guide to Wenglish, the distinctive dialect of the south Wales valleys has been published this week, which will serve as an important work on a ‘neglected part of Welsh culture’. Published by Y Lolfa in dictionary-format, Wenglish – The Dialect of the South Wales Valleys, combines the practical qualities of a reference book – alphabetical glossary, dialogue examples, grammar, exercises and all – with a general introduction to the social and geographical context of how we speak across the south Wales Valleys. It also gives the perfect introduction to...
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