Category Archives: Writing

‘STAR’ launch at Canton Library, Cardiff

It was a particular pleasure to launch my collection, ‘STAR: poems for the Christmas Season’ at Canton library because it’s my local library in Cardiff. And even more special because some of the poems in the book are set in nearby streets. Plus, I’m honoured to be Author of the Month for Libraries Wales https://libraries.wales/aotm/angela-graham-2

Libraries have been crucial to my development as a person and as a writer. My family couldn’t afford to buy books but the local library and Belfast’s Central Library enabled me to read widely. This is a kind of nourishment and without it my childhood and adolescence would have been stinted and stunted. It’s also, by a kind of osmosis, a lesson in the benefits of sharing resources.

I had the pleasure of doing readings and workshops with ‘STAR’ in 8 libraries in Northern Ireland and, just as here in Wales, that experience showed me time and again how a library sustains a locality.

Librarians deal in more than books. They are sources of information, support and encouragement and, crucially, they help people to help each other through many kinds of groups. Everywhere I sensed the loyalty and affection people feel for their libraries.

Launching ‘STAR’ in Canton Library, Cardiff

At every event people have enjoyed the images I present along with the poems. Martin Erspamer’s 15 beautiful linocuts in the book are always admired. And everyone likes the cover! I also show art works that relate to poems.

The local MP, Alex Barros-Curtis came along, so maybe ‘STAR’ will make it to Westminster!

Cardiff West MP Alex Barros-Curtis at Canton Christmas Fair

And Ward Councillor, Susan Elsmore came to the launch.

Canton Christmas Fair getting underway

I love presenting my work at events like this one because it is a wonderful way both to meet people and to see and feel how the poems are affecting those who listen to them.

I’m grateful to the very helpful and welcoming staff at Canton Library and to Libraries Wales.

Canton Library is a Carnegie building, opened in 1907, and is Grade II listed. I took the photo below when some stalls had packed up and things were quietening down. There’s such a feeling of spaciousness and light.

And a purple Christmas tree!

My sonnet read on Poetry Pause

Poetry Pause is run by Emma Baines, Philippa Davies and Jean Riley near Narberth, west Wales. In Episode 7 the focus is on Carol Ann Duffy and has a powerful sonnet from Mab Jones and one from me.

Continue reading My sonnet read on Poetry Pause

A City Burning – Cyfrol newydd o Straeon Byrion gan Angela Graham

Mewn argyfwng y mae dinas yn llosgi – am fod yr hen drefn wedi methu ac mae’n rhaid i newid ddod. Mae pob gwerth, perthynas a chred yn cael ei siglo ac mae’r dyfodol yn anelwig.

 Yn y chwe stori ar hugain yn A City Burning, mae plant ac oedolion yn llygadu eiliadau o drawsnewid posib yn fflamau trasiedi bersonol. Ar drothwy eu dyfodol, rhaid i bob un ddewis: sut i fyw yn y ‘nawr’ newydd hwn.

Wedi’u lleoli yng Nghymru, Gogledd Iwerddon a’r Eidal, mae’r straeon cwmpasu cyfnod yr Ail Ryfel Byd ac oes Covid-19.

Archebwch here

Wrth aros am garcharorion digalon ddod adre o’r Rhyfel, mae Eidalwr yn gweld ffordd ysgytwol i ailadeiladu ei fyd; ar arfordir Antrim, mae Gwyddel yn cael ei wthio i’r dibyn gan gythreuliaid ei deulu niwrotig; yng Nghymoedd de Cymru, helpu’r henoed yn eu cartrefi yn ystod y pandemig yw ffrwnt newydd brwydr y gweithwyr, ym mhrofiad un o’u gofalwyr. Merch yn ei harddegau yn digalonni wrth wynebu dyfodol ym myd Covid; terfysgwr mewn cariad; gweinidog dialgar; actores yn ceisio goleuni yn ei rôl i oresgyn rhwystrau ei bywyd go iawn: dyma bobol gyffredin mewn argyfwng – pob un wedi’i bortreadu â dealltwriaeth ffyrnig o anghyfiawnder a chreulondeb eu bywydau.

Ond mae’r sgwennu’n delynegol hefyd, llawn hiwmor ar brydiau ac yn craffu ar iaith ac ieithoedd – Eidaleg, Ulster Scots, Cymraeg. Yn ogystal â chymeriadau yn eu gwledydd eu hunain, rydyn ni’n cwrdd â Gwyddelod yn yr Eidal, Eidalwyr yng Nghymru, Cymry yng Ngogledd Iwerddon.

Angela Graham ar arfordir Antrim

Mae gweledigaeth sinematig o ffocws a lleoliad yn sail i bopeth sy’n digwydd: siop lyfrau diflas wedi troi’n gyrchfan rhamantus gan ysbrydion y meirw; dau offeiriad ifanc mewn cegin yn y Fatican yn gwrthdaro’n serchus; nemesis yn taro – o’r awyr – mewn coridor ysbyty.

Mae gan Angela Graham greddf am fanylion arwyddocaol a chlust am ddistawrwydd llwythog; fe fydd ei straeon yn gafael yn eu darllenwyr ac yn aros yn y cof ymhell ar ôl iddynt ddod i ddiweddglo.

Gwyddeles Gymraeg sy’n wreiddiol o Belffast yw Angela Graham. Cyn ysgrifennu A City Burning roedd hi’n gynhyrchydd a chyfarwyddwr teledu ac yn awdur sgriptïau ffilm yng Nghymru. Mae hi wedi cynhyrchu mwy na 100 o raglenni dogfen a ffeithiol i S4C, BBC, ITV a Channel 4. Bu’n Gynhyrchydd Datblygu ar ‘The Story of Wales’, gyfres hanes Cymru nodedig y BBC a ennillodd gwobrwyon BAFTA Cymru. Cynhyrchodd a chyd-ysgrifennodd y ffilm sinema Gymraeg / Wyddelig ‘Branwen’ (ymgeisydd i’r Oscars yn y categori Iaith Dramor ac enillydd gwobrau rhyngwladol) ac mae hi wedi ysgrifennu sgriptiau ffilm wedi’u lleoli yn yr Eidal a Rwmania.

Mae straeon Angela Graham wedi cael eu cyhoeddi’n eang mewn sawl gwlad a’u canmol yn frwd am eu meistrolaeth o dôn a llais. Mae hi’n rhugl ei Chymraegac yn fardd arobryn.

Labelau: Canolfan Ysgrifennu Genedlaethol Cymru, Ty Newydd

Beirniadaeth ar A City Burning:

‘Angela Graham is a brilliant new voice. This is literature that will last.’ Kate Hamer

“In this powerful collection, Angela Graham shows herself master of the angle of vision: her tales capture the mercurial moment when a person’s world is changed forever, in a road or room, against a landscape, seascape or starscape, at the graveside or (as in the towering story, ‘Life-Task’) at a forsaken railway station in the aftermath of war.” – Stevie Davies

“These stories show us what the genre does best: the ‘snapshot’ of a moment which reveals a life or a culture in a moment of transition or realisation, what James Joyce called an ‘epiphany’. … This vivid, humane and beautifully-controlled collection suggests Angela Graham is another name to watch.”  – Prof Diana Wallace

“Good writing is compelling. Each of these twenty-six stories takes you out of your own skin and into the lived experience of another… The writing is sparse. Every word is telling… But there’s also lyricism, a feel for the rhythm of speech and an ability to capture natural beauty… These stories are not comfortable… but they are honest, searing, insightful and very, very good.” – Inez Lynn 

‘The stories entice and intrigue…highly recommended’ – Graham Reid

‘Short, sharp and sometimes shocking, these wonderful stories truly pack a punch.’ Sue Leonard

‘an impressive kaleidoscope of landscape and language’ – Angeline King

‘A debut collection of tales remarkable for its verve, depth and range. Elegantly arranged, pellucidly told and persistently perceptive: twenty-six stories, one singular voice.’ – Jon Gower

 

 

Eborakon: Gwyneth Lewis – Henaint/Old Age

Gwyneth Lewis – Henaint / Old Age, a double pleasure in Welsh and English.

Pleasure despite excruciating pain. I find myself recommending a tormenting thrill. Gwyneth Lewis’s Welsh poem Henaint and her translation of it into English, Old Age are excellent examples of the wonderful double enjoyment that a poet working in two languages can offer. Continue reading Eborakon: Gwyneth Lewis – Henaint/Old Age

Novel Research, Kindness and Methodology

The third research trip for my novel started and ended with snow. My flight from Cardiff to Belfast was delayed by 23 inches of it near the airport and by another fall on the return but I encountered nothing other than warmth from the people I met in Northern Ireland.

It was a pleasure to spend time with teachers, schoolchildren, community workers, experts in Irish and Ulster Scots, journalists, farmers and agricultural experts. I also enjoyed two great reading gigs and came home with a prize certificate.

Receiving Commended certificate in Bangor Literary Journal 40 Words Poetry Competition from Poet, Moyra Donaldson

Continue reading Novel Research, Kindness and Methodology

Research Trip 3

The motto of Belfast on the carpeted floor of the City Hall: For so much received what return can we make? I’m looking forward to returning to Northern Ireland for my third research trip for my novel from 3rd to 19th March.

I hope to be mainly outside the capital this time but here are two of my favourite Belfast buildings: the Art-Deco former Bank of Ireland…

Bank of Ireland, Royal Avenue

Continue reading Research Trip 3

Novel Research, Kindness and Trauma

Research Trip 2 for my novel, from 21st January to 2nd February in Northern Ireland, gave me access to generously shared experience and expertise from writers, sociologists, historians, academics, journalists, teachers and an educationalist, former civil servants, librarians, language activists, clergy, lawyers, a farmer, a statistician, a youth worker and many who shared from the cutting edge of their painfully gained experience.

I was struck too by the kindness with which I was treated.

I cannot do justice to the events and individuals who gave me their time. I will, however, single out, among the public events I attended,  the conference organised by the Ulster University Faculty of Health and Life Sciences: Addressing the Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma and Mental Illness in Northern Ireland.

I had noticed something of a narrative about Northern Ireland along the lines of: the effect of the Troubles is exaggerated; it’s all behind us now and I wanted to get beyond personal opinion to some facts about ‘legacy’ and ‘impact’.

Logo of the Institute of Mental Health Sciences, University of Ulster

Continue reading Novel Research, Kindness and Trauma