'Writers in their Landscape' -Academi's Literary Bus Tours hit the road / Awduron a'u Cynefin: Dewch ar wibdaith lenyddol trwy Gymru

'Writers in their Landscape' -Academi's Literary Bus Tours hit the road

[This article will be of special interest to Welsh Americans and to other tourists traveling in Wales this Spring.]

Dyddiad Rhyddhau: 23 March 2009

Have you ever wanted to spend a day out in the country in the company of a National Poet and an Archdruid? Or fancied visiting the Brecon Beacons in the footsteps of one of Wales' leading literary critics? This is your chance.



Academi is pleased to present a new series of Literary Bus Tours in Wales, focusing on six different writers in their landscape - Waldo Williams, Gillian Clarke, Dic Jones, Roland Mathias, Lewis Jones and Dafydd ap Gwilym. On each trip, we will visit important sites and locations from the writer's life and work, hear readings and recitals and learn from experts about the life and history of the writer.

R.S.Thomas - Welsh Landscape



This series of tours is supported by an Arts Council of Wales Beacon Company Award 2008 - 2010, which Academi was awarded last year. Alongside these tours, which form part of a programme of literary tourism, the Award will enable Academi to enhance the Young People's Writing Squads and successful National Poet initiative.



Whether you fancy spending a day with National Poet Gillian Clarke and Archdruid Dic Jones in Ceredigion, a visit to the Clydach Vale in the footsteps of left-wing writer and political activist Lewis Jones, a trip to Brecon to discover the area that shaped and influenced poet, editor and critic, Roland Mathias, a day in Pembrokeshire where one of Wales leading Welsh-language poets Waldo Williams lived or a journey back in time to discover old and new secrets about legendary medieval writer Dafydd ap Gwilym, this series of literary bus tours offers something for everyone.

Peter Finch Live at the Merlin



Academi's Chief Executive Peter Finch said: "Touring the places associated with writers, where they walked, where they lived, where they created, can be enormously fulfilling. To visit the place that sparked their great works is a privilege. Academi tours are all accompanied by erudite and accessible leaders. Expect to be entertained, enlivened, informed and enthralled."



[Pictured above: In the Spring wild Bluebells grow everywhere in the high places along country roads in Wales. Photography by Dr. Mark Leslie Woods.]

All tours include lunch and coffee breaks at carefully selected venues and tickets are £37.00 per person per tour. Academi hopes that you will not only learn more about the writers in their landscape, but also have fun on these five day trips:

Waldo Williams in Pembrokeshire, Saturday 9 May 2009

Tour leader: Dr Damian Walford Davies

Departure/Arrival point: Carmarthen

Welsh language tour: No English translation provided

Welsh Folk Dancing at The National Eisteddfod, Swansea 2006



Roland Mathias at Talybont-on-Usk, Saturday 13 June 2009

Tour leader: Dr John Pikoulis

Departure/Arrival point: Cardiff

English language tour

Gillian Clarke and Dic Jones in Ceredigion, Saturday 11 July 2009



Tour leaders: Gillian Clarke and Dic Jones

Departure/Arrival point: Aberystwyth

Bilingual tour: English translation provided



Lewis Jones in Clydach Vale, Saturday 19 September 2009

Tour leader: Dr John Pikoulis

Departure/Arrival point: Cardiff

English language tour

Dafydd ap Gwilym in Ceredigion, Saturday 24 October 2009

Tour leader: Dr Huw Meirion Edwards

Departure/Arrival point: Aberystwyth

Welsh language tour: No English translation provided



For full details and a booking form, please visit www.academi.org or contact Academi on 029 2047 2266, post@academi.org

Ends

Notes to Editors

For full programme details please visit: www.academi.org

Arts Council of Wales Beacon Company Award

Academi is a recipient of an Arts Council of Wales Beacon Company Award 2008-2010. This award supports a programme of literary tourism, including this series of bus tours.

In November 2007, the Welsh Assembly Government allocated £4.5m to be used by the Arts Council of Wales to reward companies or individuals who showed innovation and excellence in the arts. It was a privilege for the Academi to receive one of these Beacon Company Awards in October 2008, which secured funding to develop a programme of literary tourism, the Young People's Writing Squads and enhance the successful National Poet initiative.



About Academi

- The Academi works in partnership with Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre in Llanystumdwy. The Academi works with the support of the Arts Council of Wales and Welsh Assembly Government.

- The Academi is responsible for organising the Wales Book of the Year award, literary events (conferences, dinners, poetry tours, lectures), writers' bursaries, Writing Squads and various support schemes.

- Academi is pleased to be the recipient of an Arts Council of Wales Beacon Company Award 2008 - 2010.

For further information contact Academi:

029 2047 2266 / post@academi.org

www.academi.org


Media Contact

Joanna Davies
Senior Press & Media Officer
Tel: 07817 291512 / 02920 376593
Email:  Joanna[dot]Davies[at]celfcymru[dot]org[dot]uk

Climbing Cader Idris (for a Mountaineer) - Gillian Clarke



Awduron a'u Cynefin: Dewch ar wibdaith lenyddol trwy Gymru

Dyddiad Rhyddhau: 23 Mawrth 2009

Hoffech chi dreulio diwrnod yng nghefn gwlad yng nghwmni Bardd Cenedlaethol ac Archdderwydd? Neu ddilyn ôl troed un o feirniaid llenyddol mwyaf Cymru ar hyd Bannau Brycheiniog? Dyma'ch cyfle.


Mae'n bleser gan yr Academi gyflwyno cyfres o Wibdeithau Llenyddol yn seiliedig ar chwe awdur gwahanol yn eu cynefin - Waldo Williams, Gillian Clarke, Dic Jones, Roland Mathias, Lewis Jones a Dafydd ap Gwilym. Bydd y gwibdeithiau'n cynnwys ymweliadau â lleoliadau pwysig ym mywyd a gwaith yr awduron, darlleniadau a chyfle i ddysgu mwy am yr awduron gan arbenigwyr.



[Pictured above: Bright, yellow Gorse grows wild in the high places along country roads in Wales. Photography by Dr. Mark Leslie Woods.]

Boed yn ddiwrnod yng Ngheredigion gyda'r Bardd Cenedlaethol Gillian Clarke a'r Archdderwydd Dic Jones, ymweliad â Chwm Clydach a dilyn ôl troed yr awdur adain-chwith Lewis Jones, ymweld ag ardal Waldo Williams, un o feirdd mwyaf blaenllaw y Gymraeg neu fentro nôl i'r Canol Oesoedd i glywed cyfrinachau hen a newydd am y bardd enwog Dafydd ap Gwilym, mae'r Academi'n gobeithio fod y gyfres hon o wibdeithiau yn cynnig rhywbeth at ddant pawb.

Medley of Welsh Folk Tunes - Improvised



Derbyniodd yr Academi Wobr Cwmni Disglair gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru 2008-2010 a defnyddir y wobr i gefnogi'r gwibdeithiau hyn, fel rhan o'n cynllun twristiaeth lenyddol. Defnyddir y nawdd hefyd i hybu cynllun y Bardd Cenedlaethol a Sgwadiau `Sgwennu'r Ifainc.

Dywed Peter Finch, Prif Weithredwr yr Academi: "Mae ymweld â llefydd sy'n gysylltiedig ag awduron - y llefydd ble buont yn cerdded, yn byw, yn creu - yn gallu bod yn hynod foddhaus. Mae'n fraint ymweld â'r llefydd a daniodd eu gweithiau mawr. Arweinir gwibdeithiau'r Academi gan dywyswyr gwybodus. Paratowch am deithiau bywiog, cynhwysfawr a difyr. "



Mae pob gwibdaith yn cynnwys cinio a seibiannau coffi mewn lleoliadau arbennig a chost tocyn ar gyfer un wibdaith fydd £37. Mae'r Academi'n gobeithio y byddwch yn dysgu mwy am yr awduron ac yn cael diwrnod i'r brenin:

Waldo Williams yn Sir Benfro, Sadwrn 9 Mai 2009

Arweinydd y daith: Dr Damian Walford Davies
Man Cychwyn/Gorffen: Caerfyrddin

Gwibdaith trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg: Ni ddarperir cyfieithiad Saesneg

Roland Mathias yn Nhal-y-bont ar Wysg, Sadwrn 13 Mehefin 2009

Arweinydd y daith: Dr John Pikoulis
Man Cychwyn/Gorffen: Caerdydd

Gwibdaith trwy gyfrwng y Saesneg



Gillian Clarke a Dic Jones yng Ngheredigion, Sadwrn 11 Gorffennaf 2009

Arweinydd y daith: Gillian Clarke a Dic Jones

Man Cychwyn/Gorffen: Aberystwyth

Gwibdaith ddwyieithog: Darperir cyfieithiad Saesneg

Lewis Jones yng Nghwm Clydach, Sadwrn 19 Medi 2009
Arweinydd y daith: Dr John Pikoulis

Man Cychwyn/Gorffen: Caerdydd

Gwibdaith trwy gyfrwng y Saesneg

Dafydd ap Gwilym yng Ngheredigion, Sadwrn 24 Hydref 2009
Arweinydd y daith: Dr Huw Meirion Edwards

Man Cychwyn/Gorffen: Aberystwyth

Gwibdaith trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg: Ni ddarperir cyfieithiad Saesneg

Am ragor o wybodaeth a ffurflen archebu, ewch i www.academi.org neu cysylltwch â ni ar 029 2047 2266 / post@academi.org

Diwedd

Nodiadau i'r Golygydd

Am raglen lawn ewch ar: www.academi.org

Wales: The National Eisteddfod (1) The Gorsedd Prayer



Dyfarniad Cwmni Disglair Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru

Derbyniodd yr Academi Wobr Cwmni Disglair gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru 2008-2010 a defnyddir y wobr i gefnogi'r gwibdeithiau hyn, fel rhan o'n cynllun twristiaeth lenyddol.

Cyhoeddodd Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru ym mis Tachwedd 2007 y byddai cronfa o £4.5m yn cael ei chreu i'w ddefnyddio gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru i wobrwyo cwmnïau neu unigolion a ddangosai flaengarwch a rhagoriaeth ym myd y celfyddydau. Braint felly i'r Academi oedd derbyn Dyfarniad Cwmni Disglair fis Hydref 2008, a sicrhaodd nawdd i ddatblygu'r cynllun Twristiaeth Lenyddol, Sgwadiau `Sgwennu'r Ifainc a chynllun llwyddianus y Bardd Cenedlaethol.

Yr Academi

Derbyniodd yr Academi Wobr Cwmni Disglair gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru 2008-2010.

Am ragor o wybodaeth, cysylltwch â'r Academi:

029 2047 2266 / post@academi.org

www.academi.org



Mae'r Academi yn gweithio mewn partneriaeth â Thŷ Newydd


Cyswllt a'r Cyfryngau

Joanna Davies
Uwch Swyddog y Wasg a'r Cyfryngau
Ffôn: 07817 291512 / 02920 376593
Ebost: Joanna[dot]Davies[at]celfcymru[dot]org[dot]uk

AIM: ATRiuM Intelligent Media

Study Abroad in Britain, Europe and the U.S.A. / Canada Website.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Adoration of Beauty and the Grotesque, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called William Blake Spirituality: Toward a Theory of Horoscopes, Tarot and Tomorrow's Tea Leaves, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Courage 2 Create, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Grace-filled Empty Spaces, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2009 Dr. Mark Leslie Woods

Acclaimed Authors George Szirtes, Grahame Davies, Niall Griffiths Headline Glamorgan Writers' Lectures for the Coming Welsh Literary Season

Professor Tony Curtis at the University of Glamorgan English & Creative Writing courses has announced the guests lecturers for the coming term:

Here are the guest writers for this year: all are at 6.30 in Glamorgan Business Centre, located on the main University of Glamorgan campus in Treforest, Pontypridd on Fridays and are FREE -

Dec 7th, 2007 George Szirtes - poet and translator


[Pictured above: George Szirtes - Hungarian poet and translator]

George Szirtes was born in Budapest in 1948 and came to England as a refugee in 1956. He was brought up in London and studied Fine Art in London and Leeds.



His poems began appearing in national magazines in 1973 and his first book, The Slant Door, was published in 1979. It won the Faber Memorial prize the following year.



After the publication of his second book, November and May, 1982, he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.



Since then he has published several books and won various other prizes including the T S Eliot Prize for Reel in 2005.

Having returned to his birthplace, Budapest, for the first time in 1984, he has also worked extensively as a translator of poems, novels, plays and essays and has won various prizes and awards in this sphere.



His own work has been translated into numerous languages.

Beside his work in poetry and translation he has written Exercise of Power, a study of the artist Ana Maria Pacheco, and, together with Penelope Lively, edited New Writing 10 published by Picador in 2001.

George Szirtes - Hungarian poet and translator

Feb 29th, 2008 Grahame Davies - poet, novelist and BBC executive


[Pictured above: Dr Grahame Davies - poet, novelist and BBC executive; photograph courtesy Mauro Philip Conti Photography London-Miami-NYC.]

"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.

After gaining a degree in English Literature at CCAT (now Anglia Ruskin University) Cambridge, he qualified as a journalist with the Thomson Organisation at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and worked on newspapers in south Wales from 1985 until 1991, since when he has worked for BBC Wales.



His career as a journalist and producer has brought him a number of Welsh and UK industry awards. He is currently Editor Broadcast development for BBC Wales.

In 1997, he was awarded a doctorate by the University of Wales for his study, written in Welsh, of the work of R.S.Thomas, Saunders Lewis, T.S. Eliot and Simone Weil, whom he identified as part of an anti-modern trend in Western culture in the 20th Century.



In 1997, his first volume of poetry, Adennill Tir, (Barddas,) a book arising from the 10 years he spent in Merthyr Tydfil in the south Wales Valleys, won the Harri Webb Memorial Prize.

In 1998, he was second to Emyr Lewis in the competition for the National Eisteddfod Crown.



In 1999, his study of Wales and the anti-modern movement, Sefyll yn y Bwlch, (University of Wales Press, 1999), the product of his doctoral research, was published. It went "straight to the front rank of criticism of our day," according to the critic Dr Dafydd Glyn Jones (Barn), and was described as “a signal book” by the critic Dr Angharad Price (New Welsh Review).



In 2000, he co-edited Oxygen, (Seren) a bilingual anthology of Welsh poets aged under 45.

In 2001, his second volume of poetry, Cadwyni Rhyddid, (Barddas) appeared . It went to a second edition within a few months of publication, won the Wales Arts Council's 2002 Book of the Year award at the Hay on Wye Festival of Literature, together with a prize of £3,000.



In 2002, Seren press published his literary anthology, The Chosen People, which details the relationship of the Welsh and the Jewish people as reflected in literature.

Also in 2002, he edited a 160-page edition of the Bulgarian literary magazine Plamak (“Flame”) dedicated to Welsh literature, the first such anthology of Welsh writing in the Balkans.



In 2002 Ffiniau/Borders appeared from Gomer press, a bilingual volume of poetry jointly with Elin ap Hywel.

In 2003, he chaired the panel of judges for the Welsh Book of the Year Awards. The first prize of £5,000 went to Jerry Hunter's Llwch Cenhedloedd.



In 2004 his first novel Rhaid i Bopeth Newid, was published by Gomer. It was longlisted for the £10,000 Book of the Year prize, 2005, and was described by Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas in Taliesin as 'the first post-national novel.'

Also in 2004, his selection of Welsh poetry in Asturian translation appeared in Spain from Kêr ar Mor press under the title Nel país del borrina (The Country of the Clouds).



In 2005, his selection of Welsh poetry in Galician translation appeared under the title of No país de la brétema from VTP Editorial.

In 2005, Seren published The Big Book of Cardiff, an anthology of contemporary writing about Cardiff, co-edited by Peter Finch and Grahame Davies.

Also in 2005, his third volume of original Welsh-language poetry appeared from Barddas, under the title Achos (Cause).

In 2006, his anthology of work by and about refugees and asylum seekers in Wales, Gwyl y Blaidd / Festival of the Wolf, appeared from Parthian/Hafan, edited jointly with Tom Cheesman and Sylvie Hoffman.

In 2007, Seren published Everything Must Change, an English-language novel based on the successful Rhaid i Bopeth Newid.



Also in 2007, Seren will be publishing Real Wrexham, a work of psychogeography in the Real series edited by Peter Finch.

He is a full member of the Welsh Academi and was the Welsh-language editor of Poetry Wales magazine for several years until 2002. He won the vers libre prize in the National Eisteddfod in 1994, the sonnet prize in 2004 and the Welsh Academi’s Stomp competition in 2001.

His work has been translated into several languages, including English, German, Latvian, Maltese, Bulgarian, Polish, Asturian and Galician, and is widely anthologised, appearing in publications as diverse as The Times, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry London, the Literary Review in America, Orbis (#136 Spring 2006) and the Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English.

He is a frequent contributor of articles and reviews to journals such as Poetry Wales, Barn, Taliesin, Planet and New Welsh Review, and his poetry is on the syllabus for school pupils in Wales.

Dr Grahame Davies - poet, novelist and BBC executive

May 9th, 2008 Niall Griffiths - novelist.


[Pictured above: Niall Griffiths - novelist]



The BBC Wales Profile on Niall Griffiths writes that:

"Niall Griffiths was born in Liverpool and has since moved to Aberystwyth. Both towns have a strong hold on his imagination. His first two novels were set on the west coast of Wales, his third re-visited his native city."



"His novel Stump traces a trajectory of violent retribution between Liverpool and Aberystwyth, following two shell-suited gangsters on their journey from Merseyside to the seaside town to settle a score."



"There has always been a strong Welsh influence in Griffiths' life. He was born to a Toxteth family with Welsh roots, in 1966."

Niall Griffiths Official Website

Academi -- Welsh Academy of Writers

Many prestigious published and award-winning authors and poets
teach on our the University of Glamorgan English & Creative Writing , so students and colleagues can be confident they’re getting the best teaching and support.



We also use our experience to help students forge working relationships with industry professionals.



The university has an outstanding reputation for creative writing. The subject was one of 12 areas rated “Excellent” by the Government’s Teaching Quality Assessment body.



In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), English was awarded a grade 4 rating, equivalent to national excellence in all areas.



For additional info please contact Dr. Mark Leslie Woods at mwoods[at]glam.ac.uk

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AIM -- ATRiuM Intelligent Media, Cardiff, Wales, U.K. on Face Book

Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries

mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!

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© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Welsh Poet & Novelist Grahame Davies Celebrated with Glamorous Manhattan Fête

[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:

Simone Weil By Susan Sontag

In the essay

'Simone Weil: A saint for our time?' by Jillian Becker, Becker says,

"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

Karl Jenkins with Cantorion and the Cory Band

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:

The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism

Oct 21-23: Visit to Vermont.

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.

Chi Art Centre

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.

GrahameDavies.com

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 is the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Authors.

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

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mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

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