The highlight of my day at the Cheltenham Literature Festival was seeing Bernadine Evaristo and Dawn French in conversation, but I must admit that I was too tired to take proper notes by this point (and too busy laughing!) so I can’t report all of what was said. It felt good, after the last two years, to be part of a live audience again, and it was fascinating to hear them discuss their own careers and compare writing techniques, both coming from a background of theatre and performance. They also discussed the controversial topic of white writers writing black characters, agreeing that so long as the characters are fully rounded, well-researched and well-written, it is good to create diverse characters in order to reflect the society in which we live. Continue reading
diversity
Book Review: Explaining Humans by Dr Camilla Pang
As a young autistic girl, Camilla Pang asked her mother if there was such a thing as an instruction manual on the human race. Of course, the answer was no. Years later, now a qualified scientist, she has written her version of such a manual. This is an intriguing book, written from the perspective of someone who has had to self-consciously learn much of what most of us take for granted. It is amusing and thought-provoking in more ways than one. Continue reading
Llais Newydd: A New Welsh Poetry Press
Llais Newydd is not your average poetry press. The name means ‘new voice’ in English, and it was set up by Dee Dickens and Joe Thomas to provide a platform for marginalised voices. Each of them knows from personal experience what it feels like to be outside of the norm, and they are both poets themselves. I interviewed Dee to find out more about how this new poetry press came about…
Book Review: Just So You Know – Essays of Experience
This slim volume of essays invites the reader to step briefly into someone else’s shoes and see the world from a different perspective. It gives voice to those who often go unheard, challenging our preconceptions on race, disability, language, mental health, gender and more. But it also interrogates the concept of identity itself. How Welsh are you? How disabled are you? How black are you? Together, these writers explore what it means to grapple with the varied aspects of ourselves, our families and our culture(s). Continue reading
Voices: Varied, Various and Vocal
A Guest Post written by poet and photographer Sarah James, musing on the theme of ‘the writer’s voice’…
If I admit to having, or hearing, several voices, people might diagnose a medical condition. But as a writer in a busy and often cacophonous 21st century western society, hearing voices means something entirely different.
Traditionally, people often talk of experienced writers having found ‘their voice’. Continue reading
What’s your ‘Writer Identity’?
Are you a Welsh writer? Or an Irish writer? Or an Asian writer? Publishers love pigeon-holing their writers, and writers are often labelled by the media. But how do you identify with a particular location if you move around? Can ‘writer identity’ be a positive thing? And what do the writers think?
Here are just three opinions on the complex subject of ‘writer identity’ – not a representative snapshot by any means, but please do feel free to add your own thoughts using the comments below…
Beyond Psychopaths: Mental Health in Crime Fiction
Cardiff celebrated its first ever crime fiction festival last week, and one of the most interesting events explored the portrayal of mental illness within the genre. Local crime writer Rosie Claverton also happens to be a junior psychiatrist, and it was fascinating to hear her in discussion with Matt Johnson, a former police officer who also writes crime fiction, and has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, turning to writing as a form of therapy. Continue reading
Verve Poetry Festival Highlights – A Celebration of Diversity
What I enjoyed most about the recent Verve Poetry Festival (first of many, I hope) was the fact that it embraced poetry in all its guises, from the academic to the experimental, the hilarious to the downright ridiculous. We had spoken word at its most ostentatious, the big names and the new faces, plenty of opportunities to hear about the writing process, and workshops on themes as varied as ‘taking risks’ and performance technique… Continue reading
Poetry Review: The Immigration Handbook by Caroline Smith
The Immigration Handbook is an impressive collection which varies in tone and style. Smith uses simple language, small details and powerful imagery to present to us the extraordinary lives of ordinary people, caught up in situations beyond their control. As the asylum caseworker for a London based MP, she has spent years helping immigrants to navigate the complexities of an underfunded, overstretched bureaucratic system. Continue reading