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Theme: Literature

Sgwennu’n Well: Cyhoeddi Mentoriaid | Writing Well: Announcing the Mentors

Sgwennu’n Well | Writing Well is a 12-month development programme in two parts for literary facilitators in Wales funded and delivered by Literature Wales. Part one offers intense training aiming to enhance the skills needed to facilitate literary activities in the community, and part two will support the cohort of facilitators to create and deliver participatory projects which benefit the health and well-being of participants. Find out more about the programme.


We are delighted to announce the names of the 6 celebrated participatory artists who will provide mentoring to the current Writing Well cohort.’

Dr Tracy Breathnach

Iola Ynyr

Christina Thatcher

Kittie Belltree

Cecilia Knapp

clare.e.potter.

Sut i Drefnu Priodas Pum Mil – Trystan Ellis-Morris, Emma Walford ac Alaw Griffiths

Cyfrol llawn cynghorion, syniadau ac awgrymiadau ar sut i fynd ati i drefnu’r diwrnod priodas perffaith, gan gyflwynwyr a threfnydd priodasau proffesiynol y gyfres boblogaidd Priodas Pum Mil. I ddathlu cyhoeddi’r gyfrol bydd Trystan Ellis-Morris, Emma Walford ac Alaw Griffiths yn teithio i rai o siopau llyfrau Cymru: Dydd Mercher, Chwefror 21 11am Sesiwn lofnodi […]

We are open for pitches!

I am looking to commission LGBTQ+ writers covering queer culture, from interviews to features & reviews to hot new takes.

I am looking for evergreen, niche and current, but if it is the latter make sure it has a strong hook 💫

Email Damian Kerlin – hello@damiankerlin.com 📧

Aberration presents Double Lives

Aberration celebrates LGBTQ+ History Month with ‘Double Lives’ – an enthralling evening of talks and performances. All welcome. 

Groundbreaking performer Tom Marshman presents painful, beautiful and hilarious anecdotes from his new theatre piece about Section 28 (the infamous 1988 law that banned schools and councils from ‘promoting homosexuality’). Historian Norena Shopland and Aberration’s own Jane Hoy bring to life Katherine Philips, the 17C woman-loving poet known as the Welsh Sappho (now poster girl for Double Lives!). Archaeologist Alessandro Ceccarelli shows how objects in Welsh collections can cast light on LGBTQ+ desire, love and identities. And author Alis Hawkins talks about her gripping new crime novel A Bitter Remedy with our host Helen Sandler. Plus bookstall from Gayberystwyth Books, and raffle for AllOut. 

‘Aberystwyth’s finest queer night’ – Alys Fowler in the Guardian
Generously supported by Aberystwyth University.

Tickets Here

The Great AI Scam

Considering the rise of AI in journalism, Cheryl Morgan argues the risks outweigh the rewards.

The People’s Newsroom

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The stories we tell each other inform what is possible between us. They enable us to see new ways of relating and being in the world, with one another and with nature. We believe collective storytelling can be at the heart of the transformational changes that our society needs.   That’s why The People’s Newsroom […]

Lansio ‘Sut i Drefnu Priodas Pum Mil’

Llyfr sy’n cynnwys awgrymiadau sut i fynd ati i drefnu’r diwrnod priodas perffaith gan gyfeirio at brofiadau’r tri cyflwynydd o drefnu’r holl briodasau ar gyfer y gyfres deledu ar S4C, ‘Priodas Pum Mil’. Dyma lyfr anrheg perffaith i bâr sydd newydd ddyweddïo, neu i unrhyw ffan o’r rhaglen deledu sydd am wybod mwy am y cyffro a’r cyfrinachau y tu ôl i’r camera.

Prynwch eich copi yma!

Sebra

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Sebra’s books entertain, challenge and offer fresh and contemporary perspectives which are relevant in Wales and beyond. The stripes on each zebra are unique. Our aim too is to bring something new to readers which will encourage them to step into the unknown with us.

Sut i Ddofi Corryn – Mari George

Stori Muriel sydd yma, a’i thaith arwrol i geisio cael gwellhad i’w gŵr, Ken. Maen nhw’n bâr priod yn eu pedwardegau pan gaiff Ken wybod ei fod yn marw o ganser. Ond dechrau’r daith yw’r Muriel ifanc, tair ar ddeg oed, pan ddaw hi o hyd i’r llyfr hynafol, Llyfr Corynnod y Mwmbwls…

Bachwch eich copi yma!

Gwreiddio: Straeon byrion am fyw yn y wlad

Casgliad o wyth stori fer sy’n mynd i’r afael â gwahanol agweddau o fyw yng nghefn gwlad Cymru yn yr oes sydd ohoni yw’r gyfrol hon. Lleolir pob stori mewn cymuned wledig, amaethyddol, wrth i’r cymeriadau wynebu pob math o heriau – unigrwydd, colli tir ac etifeddiaeth, y tyndra rhwng yr hen ffordd o fyw a’r angen i symud ymlaen ac arallgyfeirio.

Awduron: Haf Llewelyn, Megan Elenid Davies, Heiddwen Tomos, Bethan Gwanas, Geraint Lewis, Elen Hannah Davies, John Roberts, Llyr Titus.

Prynwch eich copi yma!

Pennod 33 – Cyflwyno’r Ail Gyfres

Introducing our second series 

Here’s looking forward to the second series, which will concentrate on literature of the early modern period, starting with challenging transformations that came in the Tudor period.

ImpactArdawiad – Angharad Pearce Jones

ImpactArdawiad by Angharad Pearce Jones is one of our January Books of the Month.

This book celebrates the work of the artist Angharad Pearce Jones, and is also a companion to her exhibition at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, ImpactArdawiad.

With contributions from Ffion Rhys, Dylan Huw, Beca Brown, Ali Anwar as well as Angharad Pearce Jones in her own words.

More about Angharad Pearce Jones and ImpactArdawiad, in this film by Culture Colony shared with their permission.

Find the book at your local bookshop.

Pennod 32 – Diwedd yr Oesau Canol

Dyma ni’n cloi’r gyfres gyntaf a chlywed bod llênbaras Richard Wyn Jones wedi lleihau erbyn. Hefyd, er ein bod ni wedi gorffen trafod yr Oesau Canol, mae Jerry Hunter yn pwysleisio bod hanes llenyddiaeth Gymraeg yn unigryw ac wedi datblygu mewn modd unigryw. 

Cyflwynwyd gan: Yr Athro Jerry Hunter a’r Athro Richard Wyn Jones
Cynhyrchwyd gan: Richard Martin
Cerddoriaeth: Might Have Done gan The Molenes

Sue Kent – Garden Notes

Garden Notes was written and designed by award-winning designer Sue Kent with the aim of creating a record for all of your gardening needs. This book is the perfect tool to ensure successful gardening, combining note taking for seeds, plants and garden design, together with helpful planting information, plant and soil health pointers, pruning tips, gardener health tips and much more. Garden Notes is a practical combination of useful forms for keeping your garden records and extensive tips and tricks, all helpfully categorised for ease of recording and reference.

Prynwch eich copi yma // Get your copy here

Choose Love (Reading)

Choose Love is a cycle of poems that highlights the experience of those forced to become refugees. The core of the collection was written in 2018 as part of a project with the charity Refugee Trauma Initiative.

With the permission of both individual refugees and aid workers, RTI shared with Nicola a number of true and poignant stories which were then used as the basis for short-form poems. Over the following years Nicola has added to this core of poems to create a coherent collection on the theme of forced migration, its wider causes and consequences.

Get your copy here

Pennod 31 – Yr Eisteddfodau Cynharaf ac Addysg y Beirdd

The Earliest Eisteddfodau and Bardic Education

Here’s a special live episode recorded in the Literature tent of the Llŷn and Eifionydd National Eisteddfod, and what better subject to discuss on the Maes in Boduan than the earliest eisteddfodau?

Is it possible to see the ‘Special Feast’ held by Lord Rhys in Cardigan in 1176 as the first eisteddfod ever recorded? And while discussing an eisteddfod held about the middle of the 15th century we consider the connection between these early eisteddfodau and the way in which bardic learning was transmitted, safeguarded and controlled. What is the significance of the ‘bardic grammars’ which have survived in manuscripts, and what is the history of that strange term, dwned, used sometimes to describe these kinds of texts?

With an eye to the next series of the podcast – which will examine Welsh literature from the 16th century – we discuss the eisteddfodau held in Caerwys during that century and that interesting document, ‘The Statue of Gruffudd ap Cynan’, which is connected with the Caerwys Eisteddfodau. We note that it’s possible to see all of this regulation in two very different ways – as an indication of strength, confirming the status and importance of the old Welsh bardic order, or as a sign of weakness, as sources of patronage were diminishing during the age of the Tudors. And what would 21st-century Welsh poets think about the way in which the ‘Statute’ prohibits bards from frequenting taverns?!

Pennod 30: ‘Gwledd hyd y gogledd o gig’: Y Cywyddau Brud

‘A Feast of Flesh all the way to the North’: Prophetic Poetry from the War(s) of the Roses

Not counting a special episode recorded in the National Eisteddfod which will be broadcast next, this is the last episode in the first series of Yr Hen Iaith.

We finish discussing literature from the Middle Ages and many themes from the series come together as we consider prophetic poems in the cywyddau form connected with the ‘Wars of the Roses’. The word for prophecy used in this context is brud, and we explain that Welsh in previous times had a special way of seeing connections between the history, the present and the future of the Welsh nation. They were wars between the families of York and Lancaster for the crown of England, and the struggles ended in 1485 with the victory that made Harri Tudur yn Henry VII. But, while they supported real contestants in the struggle, these prophetic poets often depicted the wards in a deeply archaic way as a conflict between the Welsh and their old enemies, the English.

We look at some poetry by Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn, considering a number of cywyddau which show how he used ancient traditions to treat contemporary politics, lingering for a while over a wondrously bloody poem, his dialogue with the Raven.

Here’s an opportunity to examine some big concepts, including ‘pre-modern proto-nationalism’ and the continuation of tradition.

Cyflwynwyd gan: Yr Athro Jerry Hunter a’r Athro Richard Wyn Jones
Cynhyrchwyd gan: Richard Martin
Cerddoriaeth: Might Have Done gan The Molenes

Review of the Year 2023

‘Tis the season for reflection… Time to look back on a busy, exciting and incredibly rewarding year for Inclusive Journalism Cymru

Pennod 29 – Gwin, Arch a Diwedd Oes: Guto’r Glyn

In this episode we discuss one of the most important Welsh poets of the 15th century. Guto’r Glyn had a long life, being born a few years after the end of Owain Glyndŵr’s rebellion and dying some years after Henry Tudor won the crown of England. Guto was a professional soldier at times as well, and aspects of his work show how familiar he was with warfare of the age.
Specializing in praise poetry cast in the cywydd metre, more than one hundred of his poems have survived, and this large body of work is an important source for understanding the bardic tradition in the later Middle Ages. Although he didn’t compose about love and nature as did many of the other cywydd poets, his praise poetry varies greatly and can be extremely inventive. One of his poems describes a battle between the bards and the wine of their patron, as they attempt to empty his cellars. We also discuss his powerful elegy to another poet, Llywelyn ab y Moel, and a cywydd which Guto sung towards the end of his life, a remarkable poem which portrays the bard as an old man troubling the monks caring for him.

Dewch i adnabod Nia Morais, Bardd Plant Cymru 2023-2025.

An interview with Nia Morais, Bardd Plant Cymru 2023-2025.

Bardd Plant Cymru (Welsh-language Children’s Laureate) is a national ambassadorial role which aims to inspire and empower children and young people across Wales through literature.

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