Celebration of Writing

A CELEBRATION OF WRITING AT THE DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE

THURSDAY 17 JUNE 2010

The creative writing departments of Swansea University and Trinity University College, Carmarthen, in conjunction with the Dragon Innovation Partnership, are hosting a one day event at the Dylan Thomas Centre to celebrate writing. The free event will include discussions, readings and an opportunity to meet key industry figures. There will be representation from Parthian Books (DominicWilliams) Alcemi Press (Gwen Davies) and a chance to hear top London agent Euan Thorneycroft from AM Heath talk about his role as an agent in the publishing business.

The poet and songwriter Paul Henry will perform his poetry and music and talk about his successful publishing history, and the staff of the creative writing departments of both universities – Professor StevieDavies, Dr JeniWilliams, Dr Fflur Dafydd, and Nigel Jenkins ‐ will talk about their own experiences as teachers and published authors. There will also be an opportunity to buy books and a chance to chat informally to contributors after each session. The programme for the day is available to view at http://www.academi.org/home/i/136772/


Sessions start from 10.15 am

This is a FREE event, and all are welcome, but in order to secure a place, please ring the Dylan Thomas Centreon 01792 463980


DIWRNOD AWDURON YNG NGHANOLFAN DYLAN THOMAS, ABERTAWE DYDD IAU, MEHEFIN 17AIN 2010 – MYNEDIAD AM DDIM

Ar ddydd Iau, Mehefin 17ain, fe fydd adrannau ysgrifennu creadigol Prifysgolion Abertawe a’r Drindod, mewn cydweithrediad gyda Partneriaeth Arloesi’r Ddraig, yn cynnal diwrnod o sgyrsiau llenyddol a darlleniadau. Fe fydd hyn yn gyfle i’r cyhoedd gael blas o’r hyn sy’n digwydd ar gyrsiau ysgrifennu y ddwy brifysgol, yn ogystal â bod yn gyfle gwerthfawr i glywed cyhoeddwyr ac awduron yn sgwrsio am eu profiadau yn y byd cyhoeddi. Fe fydd ‘na hefyd gyfle prin i glywed yr asiant Euan Thorneycroft o asiantaeth AM Heath yn Llundain, un o brif asiantaethau llenyddol Prydain, yn son am rôl yr asiant o fewn y byd cyhoeddi.

Fe fydd y rhaglen yn cynnwys sgwrs rhwng yr awdur Fflur Dafydd a’r golygydd Gwen Davies o wasg Alcemi, darlleniadau a pherfformiadau gan y bardd a’r cyfansoddwr Paul Henry, sgwrs gan Dominic Williams o wasg Parthian, ac ymddangosiadau gan yr awdur Stevie Davies a’r bardd Nigel Jenkins. Fe fydd ‘na gyfle hefyd i brynu llyfrau ac i sgwrsio’n anffurfiol gyda’r cyfranwyr rhwng sesiynau.

Mae’r digwyddiad yn rhad ac am ddim, ac ar agor i unrhyw un sydd â diddordeb mewn llenyddiaeth. Er mwyn sicrhau eich lle, rhowch ganiad i Ganolfan Dylan Thomas ar 01792 463980. Fe fydd y sesiwn gyntaf yn dechrau am 10.15y bore, ac mae’r amserlen lawn i’w gweld ar:
http://www.swan.ac.uk/news_centre/WhatsHappening/Headline,46759,en.php



Timetable / Amserlen
10.15 – 11.30 Fflur Dafydd and Gwen Davies
11.30 – 12.00 Coffee
12.00 – 1.15 Euan Thorneycroft from AM Heath with Stevie Davies
1.15 – 2.15 Lunch
2.15 – 3.30 Dominic Williams, Parthian
3.30 – 4.00 Coffee break
4.00 – 5.15 Paul Henry

The Second Hay Poetry Jamboree

HAY POETRY JAMBOREE

JUNE 3rd - 5th, 2010

Oriel Contemporary Arts Gallery
Salem Chapel, Hay-on-Wye (near Kilvert’s Hotel)


June 3rd
6.30 - 7.30 p.m. Festival Launch Reception
7.30 – 9.15 p.m. CHILDE ROLAND (PETER NOËL MEILLEUR) and ROBERT MINHINNICK
Art Events: Ongoing Exhibition of Prints and Paintings by Penny Hallas and Stewart Macindoe

June 4th
11.00 – noon Word Cloud, with Susie Wild
2.00 - 4.00 p.m. Keri Finlayson, John Goodby, Anthony Mellors,
Claudia Azzola, Samantha Wynne Rhydderch, Scott Thurston
5.00 - 6.00 p.m. John Goodby, lecture: ‘Undispellable lost dream’:
reading Welsh alternative poetry.
7.30 - 9.15 p.m. GERALDINE MONK and ALAN HALSEY
Art Events: Noon onwards - Elysium Gallery Film Festival

June 5th
11.00 – noon Phil Maillard, Ric Hool, Richard Gwyn
2.00 - 6.00 p.m. Randolph Healy, Ian Davidson, Zoe Skoulding with
Poetry Wales, Jean Portante, Carol Watts.
7.30 - 9.15 p.m. ELISABETH BLETSOE and CAROLINE BERGVALL
9.30 - 10.30 p.m. Grande Finale - Chicken of the Woods
Art Events: Noon onwards - Films by The Quantum Brothers;
4.00 - 7.30 Performance by Kathryn Ashill

Entrance to 7.30 events £5 (Concessions £3).
All other events FREE

Three New Reviews

Three new reviews have recently appeared on the 'Reviews' section of the CREW website:
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/CREW/CREWReviews/

Eminent historian Prys Morgan reviews
Gower, by Nigel Jenkins

It isn’t easy to capture the essence of a region between the covers of a book, even one as compact as Gower, a kind of micro-Cornwall stretching west of Swansea, a peninsula about fifteen miles long and about five miles across. There have been several ‘Gower books’ over the years and the annual volumes of the journal Gower have been, for over fifty years, combining essays with photographs. This handsomely-produced volume consists of ten essays (one of them introductory) and ten poems by Nigel Jenkins, and about eighty seven colour photographs by David Pearl. This is not a topographical or antiquarian travelogue, and the pictures entirely avoid picture-postcard or calendar views. This is simply (or not so simply) two artistic reactions to Gower....
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/CREW/CREWReviews/Gower/#d.en.46003


Sarah Coles, PhD studnet in Creative Writing at Swansea University reviews
Self-Portrait as Ruth, by Jasmine Donahaye

Jasmine Donahaye’s second poetry collection is a confrontation that leaves the reader bruised, exhausted and yet subtly seduced by the strong, female voice that sings here of the poet’s relationship with the Israel-Palestine conflict. It has been described as ‘erotic’ and yet the Eros that haunts each meticulously constructed poem is not one of pleasure, but of the cold mechanics of the genital... http://www.swansea.ac.uk/CREW/CREWReviews/SelfPortraitasRuth/#d.en.45983


CREW's M. Wynn Thomas reviews
Dannie Abse: A Sourcebook, ed. Cary Archard

Not all writers, it seems to me, lend themselves to the ‘Sourcebook,’ or ‘Reader’ format. Dannie Abse, on the other hand, is a natural candidate for this kind of treatment. Over his long and distinguished career he has excelled in a variety of different forms (including plays), in most of which his writing has tended to be episodic in nature. Indeed it might even be argued that he is particularly well served by the ‘Sourcebook’ approach, because otherwise he would be liable to pay a high price for his fluent, subtle, quietly insinuating diversity: few would otherwise be sufficiently inward with his work as a whole to be able to appreciate the distinctively inflected yet faithfully integrated character of his multifaceted and variegated vision...
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/CREW/CREWReviews/AbseSourcebook/#d.en.46453

Nicholas Royle Seminar

While not directly related to Welsh Writing in English, this seminar may be of ineterest top many of our readers:

English Literature and Language Seminar Series Arts and Humanities Conference Room
Wednesday May 12
4pm


Professor Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex

‘Veerer: Reading Melville's "Bartleby"’

This paper forms part of Professor Royle’s forthcoming book Veering: A Theory of Literature (Edinburgh U.P.), and is focused in some detail on Herman Melville's extraordinary short story ‘Bartleby the Scrivener’. Nicholas Royle is Professor of English at the University of Sussex. He was formerly Reader in English Studies at the University of Stirling, Scotland (1992-9), and Associate Professor of English and American Literature at the University of Tampere, Finland (1989-92). He has published many essays and is author of numerous books, including: How to Read Shakespeare. London: Granta, 2005, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory. Third edition. London and New York: Pearson, 2004. Co-author (with Andrew Bennett), Jacques Derrida. London and New York: Routledge, 2003, The Uncanny. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press/Routledge, 2003.

Cyfres Seminar yr Adran Saesneg

4:00

Ystafell Gynhadledd y Celfyddydau a'r Dyniaethau
Dydd Mercher 12 Mai

Yr Athro Nicholas Royle, Prifysgol Sussex

'Veerer: Melville Reading "Bartleby"'

Mae'r papur hwn yn deillio o lyfr arfaethedig yr Athro Royle, Veering: A Theory of Literature (Edinburgh UP), ac yn canolbwyntio yn fanwl ar stori fer ryfeddol Herman Melville 'Bartleby the Scrivener'. Mae Nicholas Royle yn Athro Saesneg ym Mhrifysgol Sussex. Yr oedd gynt Ddarllennydd mewn Astudiaethau Saesneg ym Mhrifysgol Stirling, yr Alban (1992-9), ac yn yr Adran Llenyddiaeth Saesneg ac Americanaidd ym Mhrifysgol Tampere, y Ffindir (1989-1992).

CREW at the AWWE Conference: Report

The intrepid foursome set out from Swansea University on the awfully big adventure of their first taste of the annual Association of Welsh Writing in English conference at Gregynog. MA students Kieron Smith and Ed Spence, together with first year PhD researchers Charlotte Jackson and Liza Penn-Thomas, were heavily reliant upon satnav and a copious supply of Haribo to keep them on course. Braving the winding lanes and suicidal pheasants was well worth it as we drove up the lane to the impressive facade that our venue provided. Yet all of us took very little time to settle in to what could have been an intimidating experience. As Kieron says of the whole atmosphere at the conference, it was “friendly, welcoming and not too forbidding.”
Commencing the official itinerary with the long awaited launch of Slanderous Tongues in many ways set the tone for the days that would follow. Editor Daniel Williams explained that part of the projects initial objectives had been to include the work of the fresh young academics that were coming through into the field of Welsh Writing in English, at the time that the collection of essays was commissioned. As Daniel did point out, most of the contributors (and the editor himself) were by now slowly creeping into middle-age! The encouragement that established academics have so freely given to the newer and younger academics over the years could be seen in the thriving research community present in that room. And all of us CREW first timers were struck by how easy it was to find ourselves in conversation with the leaders in the field.

One such leading figure addressed us on Friday night as Dai Smith delivered the first keynote of the conference. His assertion, as series editor, that the Library of Wales was not a canon formation exercise was not a view with which we necessarily agreed. Though his explanation of the method used in choosing the texts for publication was enlightening and interesting. The following day’s speaker Jane Aaron directly equated the anthologising of writers and their works with a process of canon formation. This was a fascinating and entertaining paper tracking the erratic presence of female writers in the anthologies and compendiums of the last 10 decades. The downturn recorded in the ratio of women represented in the collections, since the 1970’s, was a surprising trend. Jane’s paper proved perhaps that the need for a female only press, as Honno is, still very much exists and, furthermore, that critical studies recognizing the valuable contributions of women to the field of Welsh Writing in English continue to be an essential area for research. This felt very much to me as if the speaker was passing on a baton to the younger generation of academics.

One of the most stimulating speakers came on Saturday. For Kieron the “Aftermath of Bertolt Schoene's paper on cosmopolitanism” was definitely the highlight of the conference. Schoene’s controversial ideas on the globalised future of cultural identity proved a unifying force in itself, as Ed explains “he seemed to unify the room into a canon of not agreeing with him”. Being the last speaker on Saturday evening ensured that the debate continued over dinner and beyond. Although Shoene’s ideas were hotly debated for their extremity, other speakers too challenged the definitions of what should constitute a canon of Welsh Writing in English and the way in which we relate to other canons. I was particularly struck by Kirsti Bohata’s paper which highlighted how texts vigorously engage with other writing genres, her example looking at representations of lesbian desire in Anglo-Welsh literature. On Sunday morning Geraint Evans proposed a whole new field of critical enquiry, under the working title of Cambrian writing, which could take under its wing writing about Wales by non-Welsh writers and in other languages apart from English and Welsh.
Both Charlotte and I found that one of the most useful aspects of the weekend were the discussions that followed our first papers at an AWWE conference. Both in terms of the skills we were given opportunity to exercise and the exchange of ideas and suggestions that help to inform our further research, our session was an uplifting end to an inspiring weekend. We look forward to continuing in Welsh Writing in English with excitement, as there are still so many excellent texts to study and new ways of looking at them to be explored. Most of all, there is a sense of community and co-operation within this field that was fully evident to us at this year’s annual conference. It is not a community in which we all necessarily agree with one another but rather where ideas can be expressed, debated and developed.

By Liza Penn-Thomas
Ably supported by Ed Spence, Kieron Smith and Charlotte Jackson.

Wales Book of the Year 2010 / Llyfr y Flwyddyn 2010

Academi has announced its Longlist for this year’s Welsh Book of the Year and CREW (The Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales) is delighted to see its members and associates represented.

Peter Lord’s The Meaning of Pictures (University of Wales Press). Peter Lord is Research Fellow at CREW, and his The Meaning of Pictures has also been long listed for the prestigious Berger Prize for British Art History 2010.

Jamine Donahaye’s collection of poetry Self-Portrait as Ruth (Salt). Jasmine Donahaye completed her PhD with us, and is a CREW Research Associate.

Emyr Humphreys’s collection of short stories The Woman at the Window (Seren) is the third CREW presence on the list. Emyr Humphreys is one of three honorary patrons of CREW. This volume was assembled by Professor M. Wynn Thomas, Emyr Humphreys Research Chair at CREW.

The CREW presence on this year’s longlist builds on past successes. Profesor Dai Smith’s Raymond Williams: A Warrior’s Tale (Parthian) was Longlisted in 2009, and Daniel Williams’s Ethnicity and Cultural Authority (Edinburgh University Press) was Longlisted in 2007.

Mae sawl cyfrol gan aelodau CREW (Y Ganolfan Ymchwil i Lên ac Iaith Saesneg Cymru) wedi eu cynnwys ar restr hir llyfr y flwyddyn (iaith Saesneg) eleni. Mae cyfrol Peter Lord, The Meaning of Pictures (Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru) ar y rhestr, yn ogystol a chyfrol a farddoniaeth Jasmine Donahaye, Self-Portrait as Ruth (Salt). Mae Peter yn Gymrawd Ymchwil yn CREW, ac fe gwblhaodd Jasmine ei doethuraieth ar berthynas y Cymry a’r Iddewon gyda ni. Hefyd ar y rhestr mae cyfrol o storiau byrion gan Emyr Humphreys, The Woman at the Window (Seren). Casglwyd y straeon yma at ei gilydd ar gais Emyr Humphreys gan yr Athro M. Wynn Thomas, deiliad Cadair Emyr Humphreys yn CREW.

http://www.academi.org/the-long-list/

Gay Pride and Prejudice Since Devolution

The next seminar in the Richard Burton Centre’s series on ‘The State of the Nation: Ten Years Since Devolution’ will be delivered by author and gay rights activist John Sam Jones.

‘A Welcome in the Hillside? Gay Pride and Prejudice Since Devolution’.

Monday 26 April 4pm
Arts and Humanities Conference Room, James Callaghan Building.

John Sam Jones writes about the lives of gay men in Wales - how they interact with their families, their culture and religious institutions, and how they explore sexuality in situations where prejudice is often all pervasive. He has been politically active with Stonewall for more than a decade and is currently a board member of Stonewall Cymru. He has worked as a hospital and prison chaplain, a public health specialist in sexual health and is currently the Schools Adviser for Personal and Social Education in Denbighshire. He lives with his Civil Partner, two dogs and a cat in a magnificent Victorian villa overlooking the Mawddach estuary.

Parthian Books have published two collections of John’s short stories: Welsh Boys Too (2000), which won an Honour Book Award from the American Library Association in 2002, and Fishboys of Vernazza (2003), which was long listed for Welsh book of the year. The Gay Men’s Press published John’s first novel, With Angels and Furies, in 2005. His semi-autobiographical Crawling Through Thorns was published by Parthian in 2008.

Yr awdur ac ymgyrchydd dros hawliau hoyw, John Sam Jones, fydd yn cyflwyno’r semiar nesaf yng nghyfres ‘Cyflwr y Genedl’. Traddodir y ddarlith yn Saesneg.
Dydd Llun, 26 Ebrill, 4pm
Ystafell Gynadledda, Adeilad James Callagahan
Croeso i bawb!