The cover of my new short story collection has arrived. Pre-order from Seren Books
Publication is 21st October. Details soon of Online Launch on Tuesday 27th October, 7pm.
A city burns in a crisis − because the status quo has collapsed and change must come. Every value, relationship and belief is shaken and the future is uncertain. Continue reading A City Burning: Cover Reveal & Pre-Order
I’ve finished the first draft of my novel, Thorn. I have to set it aside for a while to get some perspective on it, so I’d like to mark this milestone by saying thank you for the help and kindness I have received during the research and writing. I am looking forward to thanking everyone properly – inside the covers of the published book – and perhaps anything less than an exhaustive set of thanks risks making someone feel left out, nonetheless I want to express my gratitude in a ‘big picture’ way at this point. Continue reading First draft of novel completed
I’ve recommended three poets in Part Two of this fascinating list of reading tips from Welsh journal The Lonely Crowd: Glyn Edwards, Glen Wilson and Jean Bleakney.
Damian Smyth of Arts Council of Northern Ireland notes writers from Ireland who feature in Parts One and Two of this exceptionally-useful series of bestofs … much here to pursue, purchase & read . These include Caitlin Newby and Scott McKendry.
Notice taken here of Eilís Ní Dhuibhne’s gripping memoir Twelve Thousand Days: A Memoir of Love & Loss; Ciaran Carson’s final collection Still Life and & Frank Ormsby’s The Rain Barrel.
In the midst of the general election hurly burly an important consultation is proceeding in Wales: an inquiry into whether Wales should acquire greater powers over broadcasting. The deadline for submitting evidence has been extended from today, 9th December to Monday, 20th December. Whatever its outcome, this inquiry marks a key developmental stage in the process of devolution in Wales. Continue reading Devolution of Broadcasting, Wales
My review of Paul Murphy’s autobiography appears in the Autumn/Winter edition of Current Affairs magazine the welsh agenda.
Baron Murphy of Torfaen is a Welshman with a particularly close connection to Northern Ireland. Continue reading the welsh agenda – Review of ‘Paul Murphy – Peacemaker’
I am thrilled to receive an award from the Support for Individual Artists Programme (SIAP) of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Lottery funds.
This will help to fund a project on Place and Displacement. I will be working in poetry, memoir and fiction.
I appreciate this support very much in what will be a challenging undertaking.
At the BAFTA Cymru Awards in Cardiff on 13th October, Velindre, Hospital of Hope, a series following patients through treatment for cancer, won the Award for Best Factual Series.
Commissioned by ITV Wales, the series was made by Green Bay Media and was the company’s final production prior to joining forces with Wildflame Productions Continue reading BAFTA Cymru win for Green Bay Media
I’m looking forward to delivering this one-day hands-on Pitching Skills workshop. In Cardiff on Thursday, 28th November. £25 for union members. £50 non-members. It’s always a privilege to encounter the passion and inventiveness of the participants and to see how their pitches develop. Continue reading My Pitching for Creatives Workshop for CULT Cymru
I’m delighted that my short story ‘The Bangle’ is on the shortlist for the Write By The Sea Festival Competition.
I had three stories shortlisted for this last year. I messed up the payment process and ended up with 3 entries. The administrator for the Festival was impressively patient with my ham-fistedness and when I saw that all three stories had made the shortlist I was initially convinced that it was because I had somehow made another mistake!
As I like the sea theme, and since the Festival seems to be such a properly human enterprise, making allowances for the likes of hames-makers such as mysef, I wrote one for this year’s round. Hence my especial delight at making the shortlist again.
I very much enjoyed writing the story.
The Festival programme looks really good, with writers such as Paula Meehan, Kit de Waal and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne.
https://writebythesea.ie/programme-2019/
March 18th 2019 is the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Welsh novelist, Menna Gallie. She wrote one of the very first novels to engage with the Troubles: You’re Welcome To Ulster.
Set in 1969, it was published by Victor Gollancz in 1970. It is a fascinating double perspective on political agitation in both Wales and Northern Ireland written by a Welsh-speaker who had swiftly got under the skin of Northern Irish society.
Honno Press has re-issued four of Gallie’s novels and this month there is a 25% reduction on their price , using the code mg100.