Croeso i drafodaeth 'da fi ar y we, gyda newyddion cerddoriaeth, ffilmiau, barddoniaeth, ffuglen, dramau, a storiau byr y Gymru. Welcome to my online symposium, your one source for news and reviews about new and old, Welsh Music, Film, Poetry, Fiction, Dramas, and Short Stories. A (mostly) English language forum of Minority Celtic Language, Culture & Politics in Music and Film.
The Skillset Screen Academy Wales is co-ordinating a new FREE documentary festival in March (13th and 14th) at the Riverfront Arts Centre, Newport.
To book tickets call the Riverfront on (01633) 656757
Stranger than Fiction Wales Programme Thursday - 13/3/2008 The Studio Riverfront Arts Centre
18.30 - 20.00 Jennings Finest Hour (A BFI Presentation)
20.00 - 22.00 Bardsey, Senghennydd, Tiger Bay and Pill (A National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales Presentation)
Friday - 14/3/2008 The Studio Riverfront Arts Centre
13.00 - 15.00 Black Film Festival Wales Docs Q&A with guests to follow screening
15.00 - 16.00 Screening of award-winning graduate and student productions
16.00 - 17.30 FourDocs Screening and discussion
18.00 - 19.15 Jennings and Rotha (A BFI Presentation)
19.30 - 21.00 Anstey, Clarke and Grierson on film (A BFI Presentation)
21.00 - 22.30 Closing Reception sponsored by the Film Agency for Wales RSVP here to request a ticket for the reception which is open to anyone who has attended a screening over the two days.
Staff at Stranger than Fiction Wales:
Festival Manager: Hannah Raybould Festival Coordinator: Matthew Evans Festival Programmers: Humphry Trevelyan & Matthew Evans Guest Liaison: Matthew Evans Design: Sian Crandon, University of Wales, Newport Marketing/PR: Hannah Raybould & Rebecca Froggatt Translations: Owen Martell Volunteers: SSAW students and students of BA Documentary at IFSW
Hill of Dreams -- Best Documentary at the International Film School Awards 2005
Thanks to:
Dan Thomas at the Film Agency for Wales; Clare Harwood at the BFI; Undeg Griffiths and Iestyn Hughes at the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales; Yvonne Connickie at the Black Welsh Film Festival; Rebecca Franckel at FourDocs; Lisa Nesbitt at BAFTA Cymru; Chris Morris at the International Film School Wales.
People in Wales will be able to play a much more interactive role in the work of higher education institutions thanks to a collaborative partnership of leading Welsh organisations.
Cardiff University, University of Glamorgan, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Techniquest and BBC Wales have come together and successfully bid to become Wales’ only Beacon for Public Engagement, and will now lead Welsh universities in working more closely with the public.
The Beacon for Wales will encourage universities to make wider contributions to society by engaging communities more fully in their work and is part of the biggest initiative of its kind ever launched in the UK.
[About this video: Torchwood is a 13-part British sci-fi thriller TV drama series from BBC Wales aimed at a post-watershed audience. Written by Russell T Davies.]
BBC WALES Torchwood Trailer
A total of six beacons are to be set up, including others in Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, London, and Edinburgh.
There will also be a UK-wide co-ordinating centre based in Bristol, which will work across the initiative to promote best practice and provide a single point of contact for the whole higher education sector.
The Beacon for Wales was chosen from 87 bidders from around the UK, and will share in a £9.2M funding pot over four years.
Acting as a catalyst for other higher education institutions across Wales, the Beacon for Wales will open up opportunities for people outside academic communities to better understand, support and challenge research undertaken in universities.
[Pictured above: Welsh National Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan]
First Minister Rhodri Morgan said: “Wales is gaining a reputation as a world-class “research hub” with a wealth of very exciting research being undertaken at Welsh universities, which is relevant to our everyday lives.
I welcome this initiative because I am confident that it will bring the work of Wales’ academic talent to a wider audience.”
Professor Ken Woodhouse, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Engagement at Cardiff University, the lead partner in the Beacon for Wales, said:
[Pictured above: Cardiff University Pro Vice-Chancellor for External Affairs Professor Ken Woodhouse MD FRCP ILTM]
“This initiative will ensure that the public has a greater understanding of the work of higher education institutions, as well as making sure our universities understand how the public feels about issues ranging from science, business and the arts, to language, the environment, history and health.
“We are excited at the prospect of working with our partners to spread ambition and best practice that will inspire academic and research staff across the whole of Wales.
"We are keen to see public engagement activities such as debates, dialogues or exhibitions, media appearances or outreach work become as much of a priority for university staff as the more the traditional roles.
"This is why one of our earliest tasks is to put in place the right structure to support academia in planning and delivering innovative and rewarding activities that run side by side with research and teaching.”
Beacons for Public Engagement is funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Higher Education Funding Council for England, and UK Research Councils UK in association with the Wellcome Trust.
It brings together a number of different funders with the common goal of achieving a more joined up and embedded approach to public engagement and was created in response to a survey that identified barriers to participation in public engagement by higher education institutions.
The Welsh Beacon will address these issues by taking practical steps to encourage and reward innovative, exciting engagement activities that reach all groups throughout Wales.
It will pilot four new public engagement programmes and develop best practice guidance on how to reach audiences with activities that encourage social, ethical and scientific debate.
The four pilot projects will explore subjects as varied as our place in the future; health and well being; climate and sustainability and the Welsh identity in the 21st century.
[Pictured above: Professor Rod Dubrow-Marshall, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Glamorgan]
Professor Rod Dubrow-Marshall, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Glamorgan said:
“Our Beacon is about engaging with, listening to and learning from the communities with whom we live and work and we are ready to put our plans into action.
"By combining the expertise, experience and geographical reach of these leading Welsh institutions, the Beacon for Wales will give public engagement a renewed sense of status, a renewed sense of purpose and a renewed energy, not only within our institutions but throughout Wales.”
[Pictured above: Professor Philip Gummett, Chief Executive of HEFCW]
Professor Philip Gummett, Chief Executive of HEFCW, said:
“Backing this initiative with other UK partners has given us a wonderful opportunity to support institutions in Wales to build on their existing excellent work to make what they do more understandable to the public in Wales, as well as get a real dialogue going.
"The diversity of the partners within the Beacon for Wales means they will be able to collectively work with and learn from communities all across our nation.”
[Pictured above: Professor Alan Thorpe, RCUK Champion for Science in Society and Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council]
Speaking on behalf of Research Councils UK, Professor Alan Thorpe, RCUK Champion for Science in Society and Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council, said,
‘Much of the work carried out by higher education institutions has a direct effect on people’s lives, so it is important that they are able to access them and have their say.'
'The Beacons will do this by giving people the chance to get involved directly.'
'They will also help redefine what it means to be a university in the 21st century, making public interactions and social considerations a core part of the role of any member of staff or student in any discipline.’
tagged: hesas
Issued by: University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, CF37 1DL Contact: Press Office on 01443 483362 E-mail: press@glam.ac.uk
For additional info please contact Dr. Mark Leslie Woods at mwoods[at]glam.ac.uk
S4C: The first 25 years International conference to mark the first 25 years of broadcasting by S4C (Welsh language television)
Date: 2-3 November 2007
Location: The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
The Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies in association with the Wales Institute for Cultural and Communication Industries and the Mercator Centre for Minority Languages is hosting a two day international conference at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth to mark the 25th anniversary of the first broadcast by S4C, the Welsh language television channel, on 1st November 1982.
The Conference aims to analyse significant events and scrutinise major decisions taken in the trajectory of S4C from the legendary broadcasting campaign right through to the channel’s vision of its future role and position in the market-led, post-analogue, multi-platform world.
In addition to academic papers and presentations, keynote speeches and panel discussion, the Conference will hold a number of unique witness sessions during which key figures will be interviewed in depth on the subject of their role in the creation / development of S4C.
While the focus of this Conference is firmly on S4C as a Welsh language broadcaster, its position as the first dedicated minority language channel will be addressed through the comparative international context.
Topics to be discussed include, but are not limited to:
The emergence of S4C as a cultural, economic and linguistic force in Wales The relationship between S4C and other broadcasters in Wales and the UK S4C as pioneer of minority language broadcasting S4C as multi-platform content disseminator S4C and cultural vitality in Wales Commissioning and programming Content Audiences, citizens and consumers
Contact: For further information regarding the conference please contact us on mercator@aber.ac.uk or call us on +44 (0)1970 62 1982
Minority Language Media In The European Union
Mercator's main goal is to gather, store, analyse and distribute information through a documentation and information network for regional and minority languages in the European Union.
Mercator Media is one of the three research and documentation centres in the Mercator network. Mercator was founded as an initiative of the European Commission in 1987 to meet the growing interest in various aspects of minority and regional languages and the increasing need of the language communities to exchange experiences and cooperate in a European context. Through Mercator it has become possible to improve the accessibility and exchange of information of minority and regional languages in a more systematic way.
Conference Notice "S4C: The First 25 Years"
Deuddydd llawn o ddadansoddi datblygiad S4C drwy sesiynau tyst a chyfweliadau gyda ffigurau blaenllaw yn y diwydiant darlledu o’r cychwyn cyntaf hyd heddiw.
Cinio’r Gynhadledd yng nghwmni Prif Weithredwr S4C, Iona Jones.
Ymysg y siaradwyr bydd: Euryn Ogwen Williams, Geraint Stanley Jones, Huw Jones, Gwilym Owen, Geraint Talfan Davies, Rhodri Glyn Thomas...
I weld y rhaglen ac i gofrestru ewch i http://www.aber.ac.uk/mercator/cy/s4c25
Sesiynau yn cynnwys:
- Darlledu yn y Gymraeg cyn creu S4C - Sefydlu Sianel - Archifo’r Sianel - Agweddau ar S4C - Y Gymhariaeth Ryngwladol - Mater yr Iaith - Hunaniaeth y Sianel - O bedair sianel i bedwar cant: S4C rhwng 1994 a 2005 - Yr Annibynnwyr - Newyddion a Materion Cyfoes - Gweledigaeth Ddramatig - Y Berthynas Newydd - BBC ac S4C
[Pictured above: Simone Weil in Marseilles, France, 1942]
"God could only create by hiding himself. Otherwise there would be nothing but himself."
-- Simone Weil in her book, 'Gravity and Grace'
After affording the local literati a smashing May glimpse at the new novel 'Everything Must Change' by Grahame Davies, held among that funky modern art eclecticism which blends with tidy Victorian stone spires at Cardiff's Roath auditorium, The Gate, the celebrated Welsh poet will trade the sophisticated Cathays crowd for the even more up-market pastiche afforded by a posh reception to be held at the end of this month in the Chrysler Building on Lexington Avenue in New York City.
The brass and steel Art Deco splendor and post-war glitz of the Chrysler Building seems a fitting venue to launch Davies's new novel, which blends tales of Welsh nationalism with the epic story of 'The Red Virgin' a.k.a., French Neo-Platonic philospher and Résistance Heroine Simone Weil.
For more about Simone Weil please read Susan Sontag's essay in the New York Review of Books:
"August 23, 2002, will be the fifty-ninth anniversary of the death of Simone Weil, a French Jew revered by many Christians as an uncanonized saint."
"Exegetes of diverse faiths (and none) have written at length about her mystical meditations. André Gide declared her “the most spiritual writer of this [twentieth] century.” Albert Camus called her “the only great spirit of our time.”"
And here's what some important voices are saying about the new Grahame Davies novel, 'Everything Must Change':
Nofel feddylgar a theimladwy am ddyfodol daliadau radical tanbaid yn y byd modern. Mae'r llyfr yn cyfosod stori'r athronydd a'r ymgyrchydd Ffrengig Simone Weil, gyda hanes yr ymgyrchydd dychmygol, Meinwen Jones, sydd ar goll yn y Gymru ol-ddatganoledig.
‘Yn athronyddol sylweddol… mae'n fy atgoffa o drioleg Jean-Paul Sartre o'r 1940au, Les Chemins de la Liberté [Llwybrau Rhyddid]. Yma, fe welir dewis y Gymru ol-ddatganoledig. Dyma'r nofel ol-genedlaetholaidd gyntaf. - Yr Arglwydd Dafydd Elis-Thomas.
A moving and thoughtful first novel about passionately held, radical beliefs and their place in the modern world. It intercuts the story of 20th century French philosopher and activist, Simone Weil, with that of 21st century campaigner Meinwen Jones, adrift in post-devolution Wales.
‘Philosophically weighty… it reminds me of Jean-Paul Sartre's 1940s trilogy, Les Chemins de la Liberté [Paths of Liberty]. Here… is set out the Welsh post-nationalistic choice. This is the first post-national novel. - Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas.
‘… a compelling glimpse of a compelling personality [Simone Weil]. The book is pertinent, provocative and thoroughly entertaining. Anybody with an interest in the way culture and identity inform the lives we make could read the book - and find in it rich nourishment. - Owen Martell.
In October 2007, Grahame Davies will be spending three weeks in the United States on a literary tour. On October 13, he will be paying a return visit to perform a reading at the Festival of Welsh Heritage at Delta.
Then on October 16, he will be lecturing on antisemitism at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
There's a story on the visit here.
On the afternoon of October 28, he will be doing a reading at the Chi Dance Centre in Westport, Connecticut, and at 6.30pm on October 30, he will be reading at the North American launch of Everything Must Change at the Wales International Centre in the Chrysler Building, New York City.
Air Travel for the Grahame Davies North American Book tour is provided for by Wales Arts International.
Oct 30; 18:00 Eastern Standard Time, Launch of the new novel 'Everything Must Change' at Wales International Centre, Chrysler Building, 21st Floor 405 Lexington Avenue New York, NY10174 Tel: (00) 1 646 792 8920
A New Wales Dawning: Mae Cory Band & Cantorion yn Canu Hyfryd Cerddoriaeth Newydd gan Karl Jenkins gyda Grahame Davies! Here's the video of Cantilena by Karl Jenkins performed by Cory Band & Cantorion, lyrics by Grahame Davies
This Land of Ours Karl Jenkins with Cantorion and the Cory Band Series: EMI Classics Released: 22/10/2007 Cat. No: 509 0932 Format: CD Number Of Discs: 1 Barcode: 5099950909322
[Pictured above: Welsh Author Grahame Davies; Photography of Grahame Davies by Mauro Philip Conti, Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.A.]
Coming Soon: REAL WREXHAM by Grahame Davies & Peter Finch
'The best thing to come out of Wrexham is the bus to Chester' - so goes the old saw about this workaday town. Yet is it true or fair? Wrexham, the major centre in north east Wales gets the Real treatment from novelist and poet Grahame Davies, once of Coedpoeth on the outskirts of the town.
Mixing personal experience and memory with history, topography, journalism, and an unflagging interest, Grahame Davies lifts the stone and finds something rather special.
It voted a resounding no in the devolution referendum and you're just likely to hear a Liverpool or Manchester accent on the street but Wrexham straddles several lines: the border between Wales and England, the fault line of Welsh and English languages, the shift from heavy industry to post industrial society, Anglicanism and dissent.
It rests in two shadows, upmarket Chester and metropolitan Liverpool yet to the west lies farming and heritage in the rural vale of Clwyd. Wrexham lager, a giant killing football club (humbled by a property speculator), St Giles' church (one of the Seven Wonders of Wales) and Elihu Yale are among the things for which Wrexham is famous and Davies finds the town itself is just as diverse.
The history, civic and personal, which he uncovers is a revelation.
Grahame Davies's Book Tour Itinerary:
Oct 12: Depart Bristol, 1030 Continental for Newark. Arrive Newark 1325 local time. Travel to Delta PA.
Oct 13, 1300. Reading at Rehoboth Welsh Chapel, Delta, PA, as part of Festival of Welsh Heritage. http://home.comcast.net/~rbaskwil/chapel.html Festival of Welsh Heritage
Oct 15. Travel to Somerset, MA.
Oct 16: 1300 Lunchtime seminar at Yale University, New Haven CT for:
Oct 24. Fly Boston – Columbus OH via JFK, depart Boston 1340, arrive Columbus 1823. Staying in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Oct 26: Fly Columbus- JFK, dep 1440, arrive 1632. Staying for next five nights at Seafarers & International House, 123 East 15th Street, New York, NY 10003
Oct 28: 1600. Poetry reading at Chi Art Centre, 44 Main St, Westport, Connecticut.
Oct 30; 1800 for 1830, Launch of Everything Must Change at Wales International Centre, Chrysler Building, 21st Floor 405 Lexington Avenue New York, NY10174 Tel: (00) 1 646 792 8920
Oct 31. Fly Newark-Bristol. Depart 2055. Arr Bristol, Nov 1, 0740.
Grahame was Winner of Wales Arts Council's Book of the Year Award, 2002
Grahame was nominated for Book of the Year prize 2005.
"One of the most independent, and as such, most interesting voices of contemporary Welsh-language poetry." Gerwyn Wiliams
"This is the first post-nationalist novel," Dafydd Elis-Thomas on Rhaid i Bopeth Newid.
"One of the clearest public poetic voices of his generation," Emyr Lewis
"An unequalled satirist,” John Gruffydd Jones.
“He sees through the deception and falseness of urban media life better than anyone, and he’s scathing in his vision of the emptiness of city existence...this poet has sufficient mastery of language to disturb and reach the roots of the soul.” Alan Llwyd.
"Poems which brilliantly describe Welsh life in the capital." Peter Finch.
“There’s a new world-view on our everyday lives here, overloaded with memorable images and phrases,” Menna Elfyn.
“He has an incredible gift of expression. There’s scarcely a poem in the volume that doesn’t contain truly original and clever phrases.” Meirion MacIntyre Huws.
Poet, editor and literary critic, born in 1964 and brought up in the former coal mining village of Coedpoeth near Wrexham in north east Wales.
The Big Book of Cardiff, edited by Peter Finch and Grahame Davies, is a new anthology of writing about the city of Cardiff which is celebrating 100 years as a city, and 50 years as the Welsh capital.
It contains revealing and entertaining contributions by Niall Griffiths, Dannie Abse, John Williams, James Hawes, Trezza Azzopardi, Sean Burke, Duncan Bush, Gillian Clarke, Anna Davis, Nia Williams, Lloyd Robson, and Emyr Humphreys as well as translated extracts from many Welsh-language writers such as Ifor ap Glyn, Elinor Wyn Reynolds and Owen Martell.
Other books by Grahame Davies:
Gwyl y Blaidd / The Festival of the Wolf (Parthian/Hafan, 2006), £6.99. Eds. Tom Cheesman, Grahame Davies, Sylvie Hoffman.
Poetry, prose, drama and testimony by refugees and asylum seekers, side by side with other writers in Wales, past and present, including: Mahmood Ahmadifard, Alexander Cordell, Kate Bosse-Griffiths, Michael Mokako, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Josef Herman and Soleiman Adel Guemar. The volume is presented in parallel Welsh and English text. All proceeds go to refugee charities.
Rhaid I Bopeth Newid -- This is the first novel by the satirical poet who came to prominence with his volume Cadwyni Rhyddid, which won the Book of the Year Prize in 2002, and which challenged the comfortable life of metropolitan media people with a combination of the satirical and the scathing.
In his first novel, Rhaid i Bopeth Newid, (Everything Must Change) published by Gomer, the canvas has broadened as he examines the fate of the radical conscience in post-devolution Wales.
This time, there are hard questions not just for the enemies of the Welsh language, but for its friends, and not just for politicians, but for campaigners too.
The novel intercuts the story of language campaigner Meinwen Jones with that of the French philosopher and radical activist, Simone Weil.
According to the prizewinning novelist Owen Martell, Rhaid i Bopeth Newid is "essential reading material for anyone who wants to get under the skin of the Welsh language debate – from both sides."
Cadwyni Rhyddid: (“Chains of Freedom”) (Barddas, 2001), £5.50.
Winner of Wales Arts Council Book of the Year Prize, 2002
In his first volume, Adennill Tir (1997), which won the Harri Webb Memorial Prize, Grahame Davies gave his hard-hitting view of the Valleys during the tough years of the nineties.
Here, in this biting new volume, he has turned his attention to the city of Cardiff, which is now enjoying the advantages of devolution. It exposes the experience of Welsh-speaking Cardiff from within.
Here are the “leather-trousered tribes” who spend more on a haircut than some of their fellow Welsh people earn in a week; here are the “class of the sunglasses” who think Klein is the only Calvin and that oppression is having a cleaning lady who can’t speak Welsh.
In this provocative and scathing volume, which includes the sequence “Rhyddid” (“Freedom”) which came second for the National Eisteddfod Crown in 1998, the tensions and irony of life in New Wales are exposed, showing that even freedom has its chains.
Aspiring writers are encouraged to contact the Welsh Academy of Writers / Academi for information about writing courses in your area.
The Academi runs events, courses, competitions, including the Cardiff International Poetry Competition, with the support of Cardiff Council and offering a First Prize of £5000, conferences, tours by authors, lectures, international exchanges, events for schools, readings, literary performances and festivals.
Academi is also responsible for the National Poet of Wales project and the Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales.
For additional info please contact Dr. Mark Leslie Woods at mwoods[at]glam.ac.uk
'Iris Prize' comes to Cardiff, with £25,000 up for grabs for the winner of the best short film.
Pictured above: K & Nelson kiss in the short film 'K': Director: Juan Martin Simons Country of Origin: Spain Category: Shorts Cast: Miguel Ángel Jiménez & Álex Quiroga Date of Film: 2005
You can cast your vote at the viewings. Plus from Thursday to Sunday, Chapter Cinema and Cineworld will be packed with a feast of feature films, specially brought in by the Iris Prize:
14.30 - Writer's forum @ Chapter - with Cath Treganna (writer of Torchwood), David Llewellyn and Brent Gorski. FREE
Friday 5th October 2007 12.30 Shorts Programme 3 -Chapter -£4.00 (£3.50) 18.00 The Bubble -Cineworld - £5.00 (£4.00) 19.00 Shorts Programme 4 -Chapter-£4.00 (£3.50) 20.30 Holding Trevor -Chapter- £5.00 (£4.00) 22.15 The Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror-Cineworld£5.00 (£4.00)
11.00 Producer’s Forum - Chapter - FREE discussion
Saturday 6th October 2007 19.00 Fel Arall -Cineworld- £5.00 (£4.00) 18.00 One Two Another -Chapter- £5.00 (£4.00) 17.00 Tick Tock Lullaby -Cineworld- £5.00 (£4.00) 14.30 The Picture of Dorian Gray -Chapter- £5.00 (£4.00)
21.00 Iris Prize Awards Evening -Cineworld
Plus also on this week: Bobby Conn plays Clwb Ifor Bach on Thursday 4th October 8pm - £7
Anthony Shapland's 'Suddenly After A Long Silence' excellent 'staged' CCTV and documentary film installations are showing in Chapter's Gallery - FREE
IRIS PRIZE 'SPECIAL OFFER' PRICES:
Special Offers - Unfortunately, the below offers are not available online. Please go to Chapter or call the box office. 029 2030 4400
5 tickets for the price of 2! See all 30 of the short films competing for the 2007 Iris Prize for £8.00 (£7.00). All you need to do is buy two tickets for separate programmes and you’ll receive tickets for the other programmes for free!
3 films for the price of 2 Pay for 2 separate features films in one transaction and you’ll receive a free ticket to any other feature film of your choice.
