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Theme: Literature

Am yr Awdur: Luned Aaron

Luned Aaron is a writer and visual artist. Over the past few years she has created several Books for children, including Mae’r Cyfan i Ti, Mira a’r Dant and her Byd Natur series. In 2017, she won the Tir na n-Og Award for her First book, ABC Byd Natur. She runs the publishing house Llyfrau Broga alongside her husband, Huw Aaron.

Am yr Awdur: Huw Aaron

Huw Aaron is a cartoonist and author of a number of popular books for children (including A am Anghenfil, Seren a Sparc, Ble Mae Boc?, and Gwil Garw a’r Carchar Crisial). He was the founder of the comic Mellten, and he lives in Cardiff with his family.

Byd Bach Dy Hun – Sioned Medi Evans (Y Lolfa)

What is special about your little world? What kind of creatures and wonders are there? Come and see a world with flowers, trees and sea and animals of all kinds, and people who are ready to lend a hand and work together to maintain and preserve our little world. Come and see what is similar […]

Am yr Awdur: Sioned Medi Evans

Originally from Pen Llŷn, Sioned Medi Evans now lives and works as a freelance designer in Cardiff. She feels passionate about drawing, telling a story and portraying everyday life in her work, and tries to add a little colour and positivity to the world.

Powell – Manon Steffan Ros (Y Lolfa)

Mae bod yn Powell yn fraint yn Nhrefair, ac mae Elis Powell, 15 oed, yn falch o’i gyndaid a adeiladodd gymaint o’r dref. Ond pan aiff Elis a’i daid ar drip i’r Unol Daleithiau i hel achau, maen nhw’n dod i wybod llawer mwy am hanes eu teulu, ac mae bod yn Powell yn sydyn […]

Am yr Awdur: Manon Steffan Ros

Manon Steffan Ros is an author and playwright who has won numerous awards for her books for children and young people. Llyfr Glas Nebo was the Book of the Year 2019 and she won five Tir na n-Og Awards for Trwy’r Tonnau, Prism, Pluen, Fi a Joe Allen and Pobol Drws Nesaf. She is originally from Rhiwlas, Dyffryn Ogwen, but now lives in Tywyn.

The Mab – Various (Unbound)

If you think you’ve heard all the fairy tales out there, think again. Inside this book you will find 11 epic Welsh tales from long ago, but not so far away, that are bound to enchant you. The Mab is a collection full to the brim with brand new versions of really, really old stories […]

The Last Firefox – Lee Newbery (Penguin Random House Children’s)

Between bullies at school and changes at home, Charlie Challinor finds life a bit scary. And when he’s made guardian of a furry fox cub called Cadno, things get a whole lot scarier. Because Cadno isn’t just any fox: he’s a firefox – the only one of his kind – and a sinister hunter from […]

When the War Came Home: Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)

The First World War has ended, but it hasn’t gone away.

When Natty has to move to a new village, she meets two young soldiers who are still battling the effects of war. Huw can’t forget the terrible things he’s seen, but Johnny doesn’t even remember who he is.

As Natty tries to keep a secret and unravel a mystery, she finds her own way to fight for what she believes in – and learns that some things should never be forgotten…

More about Lesley Parr here

About the Author: Lee Newbery

Lee Newbery lives with his husband, son and two dogs in a seaside town in west Wales. By day, he helps vulnerable people look for jobs and gain new skills, and by night, he sits down at his laptop to write.

About the Author: Lesley Parr

Lesley Parr grew up in south Wales and now lives in England with her husband. She shares her time between writing stories, teaching at a primary school and tutoring adults. Lesley graduated with distinction from Bath Spa University’s MA in Writing for Young People.

About the Author: Isabel Adonis

Isabel Adonis is a mother, a writer and an artist. She was born and brought up in London until she was six, when her father began working in Khartoum in Sudan. She lived and went to school there until she was nine when her parents bought a house in Wales. For the next nine years Isabel lived and went to school in Wales and travelled to Africa in the holidays.

Her work has been published in the New Wales Review, Urban Welsh, Just So You Know and the Journal of Caribbean Literature. She was the winner of the Best Article 2002 in Impact magazine and has four grown up children.

About the Author: Jude Rogers

Swansea-born arts journalist and writer Jude
Rogers started her journalism career at the Llanelli Star as a teenager, she
has written about arts and culture for The Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times, New
Statesman and many women’s magazines since her mid-20s, and made many acclaimed
documentaries for BBC Radio 4, including the 2021 series ‘A Life in Music’. She
now lives near Abergavenny.

Drift by Caryl Lewis

Caragh Medlicott reviews Drift, a strange, folkloric novel – the English-language debut of multi-award-winning novelist, playwright and screenwriter Caryl Lewis.

Am yr Awdur: Caryl Lewis

Caryl Lewis is a multi-award-winning Welsh novelist, children’s writer, playwright and screenwriter. Her breakthrough novel Martha, Jac a Sianco (2004) is widely regarded as a modern classic of Welsh literature and sits on the Welsh curriculum. The film adaptation – with a screenplay by Lewis herself – went on to win six Welsh BAFTAs and the Spirit of the Festival Award at the 2010 Celtic Media Festival. Lewis’ other screenwriting work includes BBC/S4C thrillers Hinterland and Hidden. Lewis is a visiting lecturer in Creative Writing at Cardiff University, and lives with her family on a farm near Aberystwyth. Drift is her debut novel in the English language.

Cylchu Cymru – Gareth Evans-Jones (Y Lolfa)

This is a book that maps Wales through legend and picture. There are lyrical and impressive stories inspired by specific scenes during the author’s trip around Wales – along its coast and Offa’s Dyke. There is elegance and intensity as well as a distinctive attentiveness. This is an intimate book that will grab you gently […]

Am yr Awdur: Gareth Evans-Jones

Gareth Evans-Jones comes from Traeth Bychan near Marian-glas, Anglesey. He published his first novel, Eira Llwyd, in 2018, and won the Drama Medal at the National Eisteddfod twice (in 2019 and 2021). He is a lecturer in Philosophy and Religion at Bangor University. This is his first volume of micro stories.

Cerdded y Caeau – Rhian Parry (Y Lolfa)

Rhian Parry takes us for a walk through the fields to reveal the history hidden in their names. This beautiful volume is full of colour photos and maps that are part of the author’s doctoral research. The names of the farms and fields of the old Ardudwy commote are analysed, showing what they reveal about […]

Am yr Awdur: Rhian Parry

Rhian Parry grew up in Chester and then in Penmon. Following a career in education and the senior civil service, she undertook research under the direction of Professor Gwyn Thomas in Bangor. After gaining her doctorate, she used her research to share her knowledge with the public. She designed and facilitated projects funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, firstly for the Merionethshire History and Records Society and then for the Welsh Place Names Association. She was responsible for the research for two series of Caeau Cymru on S4C and co-presented it. She recently returned to Anglesey.

About the Author: Paul Henry

Paul Henry was born in Aberystwyth and came to poetry through songwriting. Since receiving an E.C. Gregory Award he’s published eight collections with Seren, including Boy Running and The Brittle Sea: New & Selected Poems. His work has been widely anthologised and translated. Paul has performed his poems and songs at festivals in Europe, Asia and the USA. He’s guest-edited Poetry Wales and presented programmes for BBC Radio Wales, Radio 3 and Radio 4.

Am yr Awdur: Peredur Glyn

Peredur Glyn comes from Anglesey. He developed his interest in medieval literature while studying at Cambridge University and is now a lecturer in Linguistics at Bangor University. This is his first fiction book.

Am yr Awdur: Sioned Erin Hughes

Sioned Erin Hughes lives in Boduan, near Pwllheli. She graduated in Sociology and Welsh at Bangor University, before following a Master’s course in Creative Writing. She won the Crown at the Urdd Eisteddfod 2018 and came second for the Drama Medal at the Urdd Eisteddfod 2022. She was the editor and curator of the book Byw yn fy Nghroen, which won the Tir na n-Og Award in 2020. She wrote a book for children, Y Goeden Hud, at the beginning of the first big lockdown in 2020. This is her first book for adults – a book that won her th Prose Medal in Ceredigion this year.

Am yr Awdur: Llŷr Titus

Llŷr Titus comes from Bryn Mawr near Sarn in the Llŷn Peninsula, and now lives in Caernarfon. He won the Urdd Eisteddfod Crown in 2011, and the Drama Medal the following year. His first book, a science fiction novel for young people, Gwalia, won the Tir na n-Og Award in 2016. Llŷr is also a playwright; his play Mirror was staged by Frân Wen in 2015 and he is one of the founders of Cwmni drama’r Tebot. He also jointly founded Y Stamp magazine and the Stamp Publications press.

Q&A with Sophie Buchaillard: What inspired you to write This Is Not Who We Are?

Shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2023, Sophie Buchaillard’s debut novel ‘This Is Not Who We Are’ is the story of two women Iris and Victoria. In 1994 they were pen friends. Iris lived in Paris, Victoria had been forced to flee her home in Rwanda due to a terrible genocide. In this clip, we asked Sophie where the inspiration for the book came from. You can watch our full Q&A with Sophie on the Seren Youtube channel

About the Author: Sophie Buchaillard

Born in Paris, Sophie has widely travelled across Europe, Asia, the United States and Africa and lived in several countries before settling in South Wales two decades ago.

She writes contemporary fiction inspired by movement and travel. Sophie contributed to the travel writing collection edited by Steven Lovatt An Open Door: New Travel Writing for A Precarious Century (Parthian, 2022). Her short stories and essays have appeared in a wide array of literary magazines and newspapers. This Is Not Who We Are is her first novel.

Am yr Awdur: Rebecca F. John

Rebecca F. John was born in Llanelli. Her first novel, The Haunting of Henry Twist (Serpent’s Tail, 2017) was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Her story ‘The Glove Maker’s Numbers’ was shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award 2015. She won the PEN International New Voices Award 2015 and was the British participant of the 2016 Scritture Giovani project. In 2017, she was on the Hay Festival’s ‘The Hay 30’ list. Her stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in Clown Shoes (Parthian, 2015). Her children’s fantasy novel The Shadow Order was published by Firefly Press in 2022. She lives in Swansea.

Rhyngom – Sioned Erin Hughes (Y Lolfa)

There is some animal urge inside all of us, and that urge makes us always want to escape from something. But some ties are too tight to try to untie them – a relationship between mother and daughter, between a man and his homeland, a woman and her illness – and more often than not, […]

Pridd – Llŷr Titus (Gwasg y Bwthyn)

This novella offers a carnivorous but fascinating picture of an Old Man’s life in the countryside of Llŷn. Through the four seasons of the year, past and present, sadness and joy and all the messiness of living flow into each other. Over in the fields the big old stones speak their wisdom. And the Fox […]

The language of bees – Rae Howells (Parthian Books)

How can we have hope in a world that is dying? With a forensic eye, Howells takes us on a journey through ordinary human lives and the extraordinary natural world we are in danger of losing. The carder bee carries the story of a colony, a species, and, ultimately, the fate of all life on […]

Am yr Awdur: Menna Elfyn

Menna Elfyn is a Welsh poet, author and playwright who has already published 14 volumes of Welsh and bilingual poetry. Her latest book is Bondo (2017) from Bloodaxe press and her previous bilingual book Murmur (Bloodaxe, 2012) won acclaim with the approval of the Poetry Books Association and was the first book ever to be selected in Welsh/English. Her work has been translated into 20 languages including Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian and Catalan. Her poetry has taken her around the globe for readings and residencies. She has won several awards such as Wales Book of the Year 1990, and the distinguished International Anima Instraza Award in Sardinia for her contribution to European poetry. She was made Bardd Plant Cymru in 2002. She has previously published with Barddas in 2018 when her biography, Cennad, was published.

Am yr Awdur: Osian Wyn Owen

Osian Wyn Owen is a recognised poet who is quickly making a name for himself. In 2018, he was the Chief Bard of the Brycheiniog and Radnor Urdd Eisteddfod, and he also won the double – the Chair and the Crown – at the Lampeter Intercollegiate Eisteddfod in 2018. He also won the Eisteddfod-T main […]

Tosturi – Menna Elfyn (Cyhoeddiadau Barddas)

A new collection of poetry from Menna Elfyn with impressive illustrations by artist Meinir Mathias. A major theme that ties the work together is women; from women who are prominent today to historical figures, from Catrin Glyndŵr, Princess Gwenllïan, Ann Griffiths, Elaine Morgan, to members of her own family. There are poems of grief for […]

Meet the Tir na n-Og shortlisted Authors and Editors

Elen Caldecott Author of The Blackthorn Branch (Andersen Press) Tell us about the book: The Blackthorn Branch is a fantasy adventure in which Cassie has to save her older brother from the clutches of the tylwyth teg. Luckily, she has help from her cousin Siân and her nain on the quest.  What are your hobbies? […]

Pennod 11 – Y Traddodiad Arthuraidd: Rhodd fwyaf Cymru i’r Byd?

The Arthurian Tradition: Wales’s Greatest Gift to the World?

Considering all of the culture produce of the Welsh language through the centuries, what has had the greatest influence on the cultures of other languages and other nations? We suggest in this episode that stories about the heroic king Arthur is the answer to that question.

By the end of the Middle Ages, this legendry would travel across Europe and give birth to Arthurian literature in many different languages, and this wondrous journey continues today, considering all of the Holywood films, fantasy novels and computer games which display the influence of this rich tradition. But all of it started here in Wales – or, rather, it started in the Welsh language (remembering that the present borders of Wales were not the borders of the Welsh language in the early Middle Ages).

Was Arthur a real historical figure to begin with? What are the earliest examples of Welsh Arthurian literature which have survived? We discuss these questions, and while getting to grips with the roots of the Arthurian tradition we look at some of our favourite triads, including ‘Tri Gwrfeichiad Ynys Prydain’, translated by Rachel Bromwich as ‘The Three Powerful Swineherds of the Island of Britain’!