We're taking a break ...

After a year of fortnightly programmes on NHSound - twelve months that have introduced me to some great Monmouthshire writers - The Writer's Room is taking a break over the summer. I've so enjoyed meeting and interviewing local poets, novelists and biographers, to say nothing of booksellers and librarians; as a relative newcomer to the area (or, more accurately, a returner after several decades), they've eased me in to the local scene and have been so welcoming. When we resume broadcasting in the autumn, I hope to see lots of them again - and plenty of new faces and voices too of course.

My final guest for the series was Sue Hatt, a member of the Caldicot Writers Group, who - like me - came rather later to creative writing after a career in academia. It was so interesting to hear about her current project, which had its origins in the war-long correspondence between her mother and her prisoner of war father; the remaining members of his battalion were captured after facilitating the evacuation at Dunkirk. Sue's meticulous research into events, combined with the intensely personal story of a young couple separated for years by war and hardship, is producing a fascinating story that should appeal to a wide readership - certainly one to watch out for.