Gordon Hewitt interviewed me – very perceptively – for the May 2026 Poetry and Spoken Word issue and I appreciate this great opportunity to reflect on my writing practice.
4 interviews with CAP Arts ‘The Monthly’
Category Archives: PortfolioPrint
Imaging Writers in Public in Wales
I’m very pleased to be featured among the portraits of writers taken by photographer, John Briggs for his exhibition Write in the Eye at Cwtsh Gallery, Newport.
‘ Write In The Eye’ brings together some 100 portraits in colour and black and white of Wales-based writers since 2002. Selected from thousands of images and taken at all manner of literary events in Wales over the past 25 years – festivals, book launches, award ceremonies, readings at open mics, literary walks, authors at home – the series illustrates just how rich and varied the Welsh literary scene is today, was and will continue to be.
John Briggs is a wonderful photographer.
You’ll recognise these folks.
John Briggs told me this about the exhibition:
“I’d like to think this is a significant documentation of literary life in Wales. |It’s organised chronologically going back to 2002, and John Berryman before that, who I photographed in 1967 in Minneapolis.
I’ve photographed so may writers because the opportunities were made available to me by two people in particular- Peter Finch and Alan Roderick. To start with, photographing people in general is my favorite subject. I’m also a lover of the written word – studied French Lit and Classics at university, so the chance to hear and photograph authors reading and performing their work has always appealed to me.
From one photoshoot to the next, experience tells me that I never quite know what to expect, to be on my guard constantly in trying to capture a telling image. Taken as a whole, my collection impresses upon me the fact the literary world in Wales is not just full of surprises, but also far more extensive and varied, fuller of talented, passionate writers than I could have ever imagined. I hope the exhibition will be useful in promoting that fact. “
Exposure reviewed in Fortnight
Maureen Boyle is a poet and former committee member of the John Hewitt Society.
Her review is published in Fortnight magazine issue 502 July 2026
The Poetry of Hope workshop
This was a day of great creativity. In my workshop we looked at examples of poetry across a spectrum from blank despair to marked optimism and worked, prompted by these, to write fresh material. It was a moving experience.
Participants in both workshops met after lunch to do a shared reading which was eye-opening in its breadth and variety.
The Language of Belonging
I was delighted to appear on a panel at the Jaipur Literature Festival – Island of Ireland JLF we discussed how writing can draw on experiences of duality and change, and how literature, in its many forms, becomes a home for identity, inheritance, and connection. Writer and editor, Elaine Canning was due to chair but was, unfortunately, unwell so crime novelist, Paul Waters – Author – Author, Podcaster, Broadcaster, Trainer (left below) stepped in. Maire Zepf, the first Children’s Writing Fellow (2017 – 2019) for Northern Ireland is centre.
Between the panellists many languages were represented. Cauvery Madhavan the Indian novelist living in Ireland spoke about capturing Irish voices in her work.
It was good to see my short story collection, ‘A City Burning’ (Seen Books) for sale among great company.
Exposure at Waterstone’s Coleraine 16 May
2pm Saturday 16th May I did a reading from my new poetry collection
Poetry Reading with Angela Graham | Events at Waterstones Bookshops
It was a pleasure to interact with such a receptive audience. I was asked what in my own life had led to my interest in conflict. A fair question! I tried to answer honestly. There was an exchange about minorities, what it’s like to be in one, or not. Frank and direct. And several people shared their own artistic practice.
Is love ever present at the root of violent action? Another issue that came up. Can someone behave violently motivated by love of something? What is love in such circumstances? Big questions.
Neill Walker, manager at the Coleraine branch, was a great host.
Exposure launches at Corrymeela
I was delighted to launch ‘Exposure’ at Corrymeela, the centre for peace and reconciliation which is only a short walk from my Ballycastle home. And particularly pleased that the event was held in An Croí, the wonderful building whose name is Irish for ‘The Heart’ and which expresses the welcoming and inclusive approach of the centre. It was designed by Norman Hawthorne in 1979. The photograph of it at the head of this article is from a post by his son Corin Hawthorne.
Treasure Trove of Art In Miskin
Yes, that is indeed Saunders Lewis, top left, depicted as an evangelist, in the company of poets, R.S. Thomas and David Lewis and the composer William Mathias. This bold interpretation (R.S. Thomas was alive at the time) concerned the church authorities so this set were moved to the underground columbarium and David John, the wood carver, was asked to do a second set. This time he portrayed composer, Alan Hoddinott (also alive) and poets, Vernon Watkins, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Wilfrid Owen.
I am very pleased that an article of mine that was published years ago has a new lease of life as the church of All Hallows in Miskin, south Glamorgan, approaches its 30th anniversary in May. It is beautifully re-presented, with a new set of photographs, on the website of the archdiocese.
When I first visited the church it was brand new, in 1996. I was filming for a tv documentary. The church design and the works of art in the church were excellent but there didn’t seem to be a record of who the people behind these were.
I was intrigued to find that the faces carved on the front of the lectern, which one might expect to represent the evangelists, were (if I wasn’t mistaken) the faces of Welsh poets. How fascinating.
I am always interested in the choices made by artists and architects so I set out to discover who these people were – because there is always a a story worth hearing. I found them and interviewed them. It was a wonderful experience. I arranged for a photographer to take pictures of everything and David John, who did the many wood carvings, kindly met me in the church so he could walk me round himself. I wrote up the results of my research as a substantial article which was published in a magazine in 2009.
At an event in the Irish Consulate in Cardiff, June Ryan of Henstaff Conferencing Centre, near Miskin, told me she remembered that I had mentioned knowing something about the art works and asked if I could find the information in time for the anniversary. I did find it, and the current parish priest has reproduced it in a new format for the website of the archdiocese with new, and first-rate, photographs.
Continue reading Treasure Trove of Art In Miskin
Documentary poetry
Angela Graham considers the influence of her career as a documentary-maker on her poetry collection Exposure: war, media, democracy from Culture and Democracy Press.
This appeared in nation.cymru (without Enemy in the Woods images) on 22.3.26
My new collection of poetry, Exposure: war, media, democracy began from my response to a photograph of a dead Russian soldier on the outskirts of Kharkiv. It was taken on the invasion’s third day, but he had died on its first afternoon.
As I saw more and more photographic coverage of this one death, there before me was evidence of how the choices made by the photographers were emphasising particular aspects of the scene. Changes in the weather were powerful influences – snow loomed, arrived, dominated, melted; as were changes in access – front line crisis, aftermath, stasis. Each variable was likely to touch one rather than another emotional chord in the viewer. Every image was ‘true’ but many images considered in relation to one another revealed the complexity in the circumstances, making them more challenging to decipher – the truth deepened; or the truth undermined?
Continue reading Documentary poetry
Exposure Ballycastle launch
My latest book is EXPOSURE: war, media, democracy 74 poems, from culture & democracy press, due in February 2026. It brings together my journalistic and literary experience.
These poems are prompted by photo-journalism, documentary film, radio, tv and social media reports of war – the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel/Gaza war as well as conflict at home.
