Looking back over the last few months I can hardly believe all that’s happened in such a short time. In the course of one year I have gone from blogger to literary event organiser and MA student, and am now fully immersed in Modernist poetry, as I slog on towards my first deadline. But so much has happened in between, including a smattering of literary festivals and events, so here are just five of my literary highlights from 2017: Continue reading
Festivals & Events in 2017
Collective 2017 – Poetry on Ice
Last week’s freezing temperatures could not prevent a host of poetry enthusiasts from congregating together in Little Man Coffee Company for the second annual Collective event, organised by Christina Thatcher. The poetry was entertaining and captivating in equal measure, beginning with four poets whose collections were published this year… Continue reading
Made in Roath – Literature / Spoken Word Events
Every city has its artistic areas, and Cardiff is no different. Roath is one of its most creative suburbs, partly due to ‘Made in Roath’ (the annual community arts festival) which often includes a number of literary events. This year there’ll be more literature and spoken word events than ever before, from storytelling and performance to exhibitions, competitions, comedy and workshops, all in just one magnificent week (15th-22nd October). So here’s a taste of what’s to come… Continue reading
The Cardiff Book Festival – Highlights from 2017
The Cardiff Book Festival began last year as a brand-new annual celebration of all things literature in the Welsh capital, and this year’s festival followed in a similar vein, with a slightly stronger Welsh slant to the majority of events. On Friday night I braved the darkening skies, sideways drizzle and end-of-week exhaustion on my walk across town, to emerge inside the bright, grand foyer of the old Angel Hotel, where most of the weekend’s events took place… Continue reading
Looking Forward to a Literary Autumn
Autumn has arrived (my favourite time of year) bringing with it longer shadows, a chill in the air, and a determination to get things done before Christmas. The literary festival season is in full swing, and I’m really looking forward to the Cardiff Book Festival this coming weekend. But there are lots of other exciting events taking place around the UK over the next few months, so here’s a quick glimpse at what’s in store… Continue reading
Artistic Inspiration: Ekphrastic Writing Prompts
Ekphrasis is a word used to describe the written response (usually in the form of a poem) to a piece of visual art. I find it inspiring and intriguing, partly because it provokes so many questions and layers of meaning… Does the poem still make sense away from the artwork? Do the writer and artist agree on their interpretation of the piece? Can both poem and artwork interact and create new meanings together? Continue reading
Word Ward – A Therapeutic Writing Group
Creative Writing Groups can be as fascinating and varied as the people who attend them. I’ve been involved in several, and have recently started running one myself, so I thought it would be interesting to do a series of features on particular groups. To start us off, Rhian Elizabeth has written about her brand new group ‘Word Ward’…. Continue reading
Lost and Found: A Cheap Dialogue Event
A Guest Post Written by Gordon Anderson
(in the form of some musings and a plug for a rather unusual creative event)
That thing. You know the one. You found it and it wasn’t yours but you kept it. You didn’t know why, it was just there and… well, it’s kind of a funny story. Isn’t it? Continue reading
Looking Forward to The Anglesey Môntage Writing Festival
A Guest Post Written by Joy Mawby (Chair of Môntage Writers)
“What shall we do next?”
“How about organising a writing festival?”
I remember this conversation during a Môntage Writers’ Committee meeting about eighteen months ago.
It had all started about five years earlier, when members of two Anglesey writing groups met to discuss how they might work together to publish some of their own work. Continue reading
Poetry Review: The Mabinogi by Matthew Francis
Speaking at the Hay Festival last month, Matthew Francis described his first encounter with The Mabinogi (which he read in 1999 when he moved to Wales). “I was both baffled and fascinated by it,” he explained, “It’s extraordinary, and strange in the way it’s constructed, and it also has a strange logic.” He is not a Welsh speaker himself, and this is not a translation – he described it as a “re-imagining” of the myth, in the same way that Shakespeare drew on existing stories for his plays. Continue reading
A Very Welsh Anthology of Young Welsh Writers
A Guest Post written by Thomas Tyrrell
There is a short story called ‘Daffodil Nipples’, two different authors chose the title ‘Welsh Cakes’, and Blodeuwedd (one of the central figures of the Mabinogion) has a poem to herself. The Cheval 10 anthology definitely has a Welsh feel to it, and that’s appropriate for a collection created from pieces submitted for the Terry Hetherington Young Writers Award, (for writers under 30 who live or work in Wales). But there are surprises too: a short story with the familiar title ‘Hiraeth’ turned out to be about an asylum seeker living in Wales, Martina Biavati came all the way from Italy to read her New York-set story ‘Caffe Giallo’, and Katya Johnson’s story about the French painter Cézanne won the second prize for prose. Continue reading
A Day at the Ledbury Poetry Festival
Amali Rodrigo
I couldn’t have picked a better day for attending this year’s Ledbury Poetry Festival – the sun was shining, the roads were quiet and the poetry was exceptional. I only wish I could have stayed for longer. My first event was an opportunity to ‘Meet the Poetry Editors’, followed by poetry readings from Suzannah Evans, Tom Sastry, Jacqueline Saphra, Katherine Towers and Amali Rodrigo, as well as a personal serenade from a blackbird in Ledbury’s old walled garden. Continue reading
Looking Forward to the 21st Ledbury Poetry Festival
The Ledbury Poetry Festival is now well established, and 2017 will be bigger than ever, as they celebrate their 21st year. Described by Andrew Motion as “the best” poetry festival in the UK, it will be crammed full of events, including kids activities, free ’20 minute’ readings and writing workshops, alongside the big names in poetry. I interviewed the Festival Manager, Phillipa Slinger, to find out more. Continue reading
Diary of a Hay Festival Steward – Illustrating Films, Tolkien, Skeletons and Hay Mela – the Last Day!
The fun part of stewarding at Hay is that you never know what to expect. The venues change each day, some events get cancelled, and new events are organised. Day 6 began with another delicious cooked breakfast, and the discovery that two of our events had been cancelled – leaving gaps in the afternoon and an early finish, so I decided to try stewarding in a different venue… Continue reading
Diary of a Hay Festival Steward Day 5 – Nazis on Drugs, the Mabinogi and Live Music
Day 5 of stewarding at the Hay Festival began very well, with an early start in the catering tent for a cooked breakfast. Stewards get a free meal for each session they do, and if you’re camping, a free (cooked or whatever you prefer) breakfast is just the thing to start your day. This was followed by a solid hour of comedy (The Early Edition) with Marcus Brigstocke, Carrie Quinlan and Andre Vincent, taking a look at the news and poking fun at all sorts, including socks and Jeremy Paxman’s underpants… Continue reading
Diary of a Hay Festival Steward Day 4 – Friends, Enemies and the Rabble
My fourth day of stewarding at Hay began with a much-needed sugar rush in the form of a Danish pastry. It’s incredible how exhausting it is, and yet so addictive as well. The queue management is a real art, and it gets complicated sometimes, with queues overlapping queues and stampedes for the book tent – the most manic of which was the stampede for Neil Gaiman. The day continued with a rather depressing event about dementia, a smattering of politics and an unexpected new event with Tracy Chevalier… Continue reading
Diary of a Hay Festival Steward Days 2 and 3 – Truth, Lies, Fake News, Fact and Fiction
My second day of stewarding at the Hay Festival continued in a whirl of crowds, queues and high winds, with Lucy Worsley on Jane Austen and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, from Russian punk band Pussy Riot (both fascinating in different ways), followed by a late night traipse back to the tent and an early start the next morning for the hilarious Andy Hamilton, followed by a real mix of events including Tracy Emin… Continue reading
Diary of a Hay Festival Steward – Days 1 and 2
There’s something unique about the Hay Festival, apart from its size and global reputation; it is such a mish-mash of culture, politics, literature, comedy and even some music – all concentrated down into something quite intense. I stewarded last year and found the experience addictive – the thrill of waiting for the next event to start, wondering how full it will be, discovering new authors you’ve never heard of… So here I am again, stewarding, camping and breathing in the literary air of Hay. Continue reading