Back to Welsh Literature page > Read our 2014 interview with Sam Adams here The turbulent history of the south Wales coalfield is a constant theme of this complex story of childhood and family history viewed through the eyes and in the memory of an acclaimed writer and editor. Where the Stream Ran Red  is the story of one place, one family (yet, in many ways hauntingly true of families throughout the south Wales coalfield) whose narrative takes us as far as the West Indies in the time of slavery, the high seas off Singapore and the pogroms of Tsarist...

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On World Book Day this year, Thursday, 3 March,Gomer Press will launch Ceredigion: At my Feet /Wrth fy Nhraed . Talented photographer Iestyn Hughes will present his new book at the Drwm in the National Library of Wales at 7pm. His striking pictures take us on a personal journey around Ceredigion looking at past and present images of the county. We travel from coast to uplands, through towns and villages in good times and bad, through the eyes of an adopted ‘Cardi’ whose love for his county is visible in every frame ... Iestyn Hughes, who lives in Bow Street, says that “Our...

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"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 . . .. 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...

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From the Six Nations to the European football finals, flying the Red Dragon flag of Wales will be very popular this year. However, the author of a new book on the history of the Welsh flag has called upon the people of Wales not to fly the Union Jack. Highly regarded popular author Siôn Jobbins believes that for Welsh people to fly the Union Jack is to "hoist up the white flag and surrender Welsh nationality". His comments appear in a new comprehensive history of the iconic Welsh flag published by Y Lolfa– the publishers who recently launched little Red Dragon flag...

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A Welsh historical novella based on true events has been published to coincide with the anniversary of the death of Welsh Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd - or Llywelyn the Last, who died on the 11th of December, 1282. In Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, The Life and Death of a Warrior Prince , Llywelyn narrates his own life story and the attempt to free Wales from English hegemony. His life and death has always confronted us with a puzzling contradiction - he was the only Welsh leader to be officially recognised by the English as Prince of Wales, yet, within a year of his death, Wales...

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Aberystwyth Boy , A Collection of Short Stories by Gwynn Davis Thirteen short stories, with all but one set in Aberystwyth when the author was between the ages of 10 and 18. What was it like to be a young boy growing up in Aberystwyth in the 1950 and '60s? The author of this collection of thirteen delightful short stories recalling those times - often, as he would be the first admit, not very reliably. But he remembers his school days at Ardwyn, the trips to the Urdd camp in Llangrannog, his brother Owen's distinctive approach to sporting competition and the characters of the...

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Welsh preacher Daniel Hughes (1875-1972) filled his long life with challenge and controversy. He is one of the most remarkable characters of 20th-century Wales, yet surprisingly unknown. Though a maverick, his story is part of the history of the new political and theological ideas in Welsh life, not least the conflict between young Socialists and the mammoth Liberal establishment of pre-1914 Nonconformity. A friend of the unemployed and Socialist intelligentsia alike - he was visited during his time in Detroit by Welsh statesman Jim Griffiths and in Machen by black singer and human...

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The Picture that Made Time Fly  published by Pont Books takes us headlong into the Victorian world of Cardiff’s past, in a story full of tension and mystery. Both the Welsh Books Council and the National Museum have chosen the debut novel by author Sheila Harries as their July Children’s Book of the Month and Book of the Month respectively. Over 50 shops have signed up to the Welsh Books Council’s scheme and Cathryn Gwynn, editor at Pont Books says “We are delighted that The Picture that Made Time Fly has been chosen as the first English-language title since the scheme was...

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A CO-OPERATIVE LIFE IN SOUTH WALES 1890-1964 In his lifetime, William Hazell was a leading figure in the co-operative movement of South Wales, but since his death in 1964 he has been all but forgotten. In this book, Alun Burge has unearthed an authentic, but previously unknown, working-class voice of the South Wales valleys. This book charts the journeys of Hazell and the Ynysybwl co-operative movement through strikes, lockouts, personal tragedy, political turmoil, and two world wars. It is a unique and absorbing account of life in a South Wales village which also sheds a...

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Read our interview with author Anthony Bunko here In a brave new memoir, best selling author, Anthony Bunko from Merthyr Tydfil reveals all about the hilariously funny and scandalous world of the business consultant after spending 15 years in the job. Lord Forgive Me… But I was a (Business) Bullshit Consultant (published by Y Lolfa) is a laugh-our loud ‘consultant had enough’ memoir based on true events, and is a rollercoaster ride full of fist-fights, muggings, kidnapping, gun chases, ghosts, psychopaths. hookers, back stabbing, bullshit, weird sex, strong drugs and...

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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...

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"One of the saddest and most inspirational sports autobiographies you''ll ever read" The poignant story of Bryan ''Yogi'' Davies who, during a rugby scrum at a match in Bala in 2007, broke his neck and was paralyzed. The book follows his day-to-day struggle to come to terms with the horrific incident. " Five minutes into a rugby match between Bala and nant Conwy on 21st April 2007, the first scrum collapsed leaving Bala hooker, Bryan ''Yogi'' Davies, with life changing injuries: a broken neck and damaged lungs. This book tells the story of his life before the accident and his...

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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 ... ... 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...

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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 ..... ..... 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...

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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 ,, .. ..... 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...

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This week an author from south Wales is launching his second novel in the only existing WW1 series of detective novels. Demons Walk Among Us is Jonathan Hicks'' second book featuring military policeman Thomas Oscendale, and is the sequel to best-seller The Dead of Mametz, published in 2011 by Y Lolfa which received much acclaim. Buy Demons Walk Amongst Us here Buy The Dead of Mametz here Read our interview with Jonathan here The brand-new sequel, Demons Walk Among Us, finds Thomas Oscendale fresh from the horrors of war on the Western Front and on...

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... Margaret Maund, one of the first women to be ordained priest in the Church of Wales, has launched a revealing book about her experiences as a nurse deep in the jungle of war-torn central Africa during her twenties. Buy ''Congo Calling'' here Buy ''Decades of Discovery'' here ... One of the first women to be ordained priest in the Church of Wales has published a revealing book about her experiences as a nurse in war-torn central Africa. Margaret Maund was raised in the Rhondda and trained as a nurse and midwife before spending her twenties deep in...

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Llandaf author William Vaughan has released a brand new thriller, called Blood Month Born and educated in Cardiff, the author taught English and History in schools in the Welsh capital, including The Cathedral School, Llandaf before becoming a writer of fiction. Blood Month is a detective story set in a fictional boys’ boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan, where a young teacher chances upon the body of the unpopular headmaster. As well as revealing a list of possible suspects, the resulting investigation also uncovers accusations of sexual misconduct and a climate of...

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Award-winning screenwriter Rob Gittins is launching his first novel next week. The hard-hitting and breathlessly pitched thriller Gimme Shelter (published by Y Lolfa) is a crime novel set in the hidden world of witness protection, and has already attracted rave reviews. Rob Gittins’s work for Heartbeat Casualty and The Bill has won him a Writers’ Guild Award, and he is currently the longest serving writer on EastEnders, having written over two hundred episodes of the programme. Gimme Shelter pits a young, female, Witness Protection Officer against one of the deadliest...

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On Monday the 11th of March Y Lolfa will be launching a new edition of To Dream of Freedom , a book that was once described in the press as a “handbook for Welsh terrorists”. The book caused a storm of controversy when it was originally published in 1980. The then Anglesey MP Keith Best, amongst others, called on the book to be banned, claiming that it contained instructions on how to prepare a bomb. To Dream of Freedom looks back at the Welsh bombing campaigns of the sixties and describes the volatile political climate of Wales between the drowning of Tryweryn and the...

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