#BookishThoughts-A Tolkien Welsh post for St David’s Day !

Bore da pawb!

What better way to celebrate Saint David’s Day than to revel in the language, myth and legends of a little country with so much character to it that you cannot throw a stone without hitting a castle or ancient monument!

This is a quite literal truth…we live in South Wales which stretches, to this geographically challenged book dragon’s eyes, from Barrybados, to the valleys and back down again to Gowerfornia.(Token conversation-‘We had breakfast at the beach this morning!”Which one?’ ‘I don’t know!’)

Castles, beaches, the basis of Arthurian legend, the ancient language and traditions that are annually celebrated in local and national Eisteddfod ,wherein poetry prose and music come together in a world wide festival of the arts, all of this and more is what makes our country proud!

So I would like to take some time to celebrate the stories, writers and folklore that make Wales such a fabulous big little country!

The Welsh Dragon myth is deeply entrenched in the culture , from the flag to our legendery rugby teams, everything about us is fire breathing passion,and extends back as far as the Arthurian legends. The story of the fight between the red and white dragons which was supposedly why Vortigern could never build his castle without it falling down, until Merlin points out the small matter of them living underneath the foundations, can be found here.

The most famous book of Welsh myth and legend , from which many of the folklore tales springs is called The Mabinogion and can be purchased here. It collects the most well known tales , of which my personal favourite is that of Blodeuwedd, a woman created from flowers magically made in order to circumvent the curse placed on heroic figure Lleu Llaw Gyffres who was fated never to marry a human woman.

Did you know we even have our own Robin Hood, Twm Sion Cati, as well? Check out his legend here. And who can forget that Merlin (known as Myrddin) has his roots in Wales and it is suspected that his final resting place, as well as King Arthur’s are somewhere local!

And now, to the rich writing history of Wales, home of poets and artists , bards and bawdy rebels.

Gillian Clarke is one of the most recognisable figures in Welsh poetry as well as writing plays for both radio and theatre production. Her books can be found here. She held the position of Poet Of Wales from 2008-2016 and was only the second Welsh person to receive the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry !

Owen Sheers –novelist, playwright and poet, Owen   Sheers was chosen to create the film To Provide All The  People in 2018 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the  NHS. To find out more about Owen and upcoming  events click here http://www.owensheers.co.uk/

Rhian Edwards– Bridgend born poet, a spoken word performer par excellence. If you get the chance to attend a workshop with her or listen to her read her poetry I would highly recommend it as she is breathtaking. ‘Parade the Fib’, a pamphlet of Edwards’ poems, was published by Tall Lighthouse and was listed as a Poetry Book Society Choice in 2008. Her first book ofpoetry,‘Clueless Dogs’, was published in 2012 by Seren Books. At the 2013 Wales Book of the Year Awards, it  won the overall prize for Wales Book of the Year, as well as the People’s Choice Award and the Roland Mathias Prize for Poetry.It was also shortlisted for the 2012 Forward Prize for Best First Collection.

Alis Hawkins-Writer of historical crime dramas set in the Teifi valley. Alis Hawkins grew up on a dairy farm in Cardiganshire. Her inner introvert thought it would be a good idea to become a shepherd and, frankly, if she had, she might have been published sooner. As it was, three years reading English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford revealed an extrovert streak and a social conscience which saw her train as a Speech and Language Therapist. For more information visit her website here-https://alishawkins.co.uk/

Laura Kemp–author Laura Kemp started writing to get out of doing a real job. A journalist for 15 years, she turned freelance after having a baby because she couldn’t get out of the house, washed and dressed, until lunchtime at the earliest. A columnist and contributor, she regularly writes for national newspapers and magazines, such as the Daily Mail, and spends too much time on Twitter (@laurajanekemp).‘Mums Like Us’ is her first novel, which she hopes will strike a chord with exhausted mums who don’t iron either. Married with a son and a neurotic cat, Laura lives in the provinces, where she goes about her business ignorant of what’s on-trend until it reaches her town, by which time it’s out of fashion. More of her books can be found here.

Rhidian Brook is a Welsh born novelist, screenwriter and broadcaster, most famously known for ‘‘The Aftermath’‘, a book based on a script he wrote exploring his grandfather’s experiences in post war Germany. It was turned into a movie starring Keira Knightley and Alexander Skarsgard, and more information about how this fascinating topic became a script, then a book and a film can be found here. His latest novel, ‘The Killing Of Butterfly Joe’ is out now !

Neil Spring works in my favourite genre, horror, and is the author of 3 books so far, the first being ‘The Ghost Hunters’ which was turned into an ITV series ‘Harry Price-Ghost Hunter’ in 2015. He has a new book ‘The Burning House’ due out this year and is visiting Waterstones Swansea to promote it ! I cannot wait!

Added to this whistle stop tour of Welsh authors, which I could easily stretch to another ten posts, Wales has a great number of independent presses which publish and highlight Welsh authors writing in both English and Welsh.

They include, Seren Books, Parthian Books and Honno (https://www.honno.co.uk/) so if you like indie presses, and want to read more locally sourced books, like I do, then please drop by, say hello and give them a wave on social media!

And if you want more, any branch of Waterstones in Wales has a Welsh display which is proud to feature a Welsh book of the month, every month. And they also have events happening all the time so please check out your local store for more details!

It would be remiss of me to talk about Welsh writing without highlighting Crime Cymru, a grassroots movement to recognise , highlight and provide opportunities for regional crime writers. Writers Alis Hawkins, Matt Johnson and Rosie Claverton conceived this idea at the innauagral Cardiff Book Festival in 2016. They want to promote the books which are set in Wales or are written by Welsh writers in the crime genre and publicise them on a national level the same as Bloody Scotland.

Please follow the links below to get better acquainted with Crime Cymru writers,their works and events!

http://crime.cymru/

https://mattjohnsonauthor.com/

https://rosieclaverton.com/

AND as if that was not enough, Welsh publisher Panther Publishing, a BRAND NEW independent publisher are releasing their first book TODAY!
‘Murder On The Rocks’ by J.S Strange is a genre bendding crime novel which is out now, with accompanying blog tour on social media-give them a wave and tell them Rachel sent you! They are @PantherPubs on Twitter

Link to buy-https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Rocks-Mystery-Jordan-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07L2FRDB8/ref=sr_1_1?&ie=UTF8

That’s all for me this St Davids Day… but I would like to finish with a traditional welsh song and picture that for me, really sums up Wales…

But Wait…..there’s more….

Just a bit longer….

And finally…CYMRU AM BYTH!