Voices

It was a weekend of voices - from home and away, the past and the present. We learn so much from other people's stories - and I'm so often enormously inspired by them. 

That was certainly the case on Saturday evening in Abergavenny, at the first ever Festival of Us, a gathering of creatives held to celebrate a member of the local community. The special guest was Maryna Korolova, a young woman who fled from the bombing of Kiev, eight months pregnant with her third child, who gave birth in an earth-floored bomb shelter, who made her way to Wales via Poland to settle with her family and found a thriving, much loved cafe. Last year she returned briefly to Ukraine to deliver parcels filled with donations from the people of Wales. Her testimony was incredibly moving. She reminded us that 200 years ago a Welshman named John Hughes, an engineer, had moved to the Ukraine to set up iron works there and to found the town that grew to become the city of Donetsk. He took with him many Welsh workers who were warmly received by local people. How fitting that some of that hospitality is being repaid to Ukrainian families all these years later at a time when they most need it.

Maryna sharing photos of
her homeland

After her talk - and a beautiful rendition of a Ukrainian folk song - we were invited to spend the evening drawing, writing, painting or making, and it was obvious from what was produced how inspired people felt. A lovely evening.

Sunday's voices were from the Usk Valley with poetry and harp music in the church of St. Bridget at Llansantffraed. I was born a stone's throw from the Afon Wysg, the River Usk, and in more recent years have walked almost every inch of its banks on the Usk Valley Walk.. The history and the local landscape came so vividly alive in the readings from the two poets, Paul Henry and Christopher Meredith. One of Paul's poems I particularly fell in love with resurrected local workhouse inhabitants, giving voice to the voiceless, which was very poignant. And, in good Welsh fashion, the afternoon included a superb tea! 

Farewell to a faithful friend

                                                           

Sometimes people say that writing is a lonely occupation. I've never found it so as I've always had one or other of my dogs by my side or at my feet. But last month I lost my beloved Beagle Carys, who had lain in her basket here in the garden room as I wrote, who had listened patiently to me reading and trying out ideas, who had lately come with me on nearly all the pilgrimages for my present project. An ex-breeding bitch on a ghastly puppy farm, we rescued her six and a half years ago and she was the loyalest of companions. I'm missing her enormously.

We're fortunate enough to live quite close to Ledbury and one of the highlights of my year is always going to the Poetry Festival that runs over ten days in June and July. This year I was unfortunately away for some of the time but still managed to make it to a couple of workshops, two fascinating films (on the very different, but both superb, poets Emily Dickinson and Ruth Fainlight) and a very interesting talk about the long serving Poet Laureate John Masefield and the Great War. Funding for festivals such as this is getting harder and harder - as with all arts ventures these days - but they offer so much enrichment to so many people, they are very much worth fighting for and supporting.

Yesterday evening I was at another interesting venue - and getting delusions of grandeur! The Cwtsh gallery in Newport was hosting the launch of a brilliant photographic exhibition "Write In The Eye" by John Briggs, with images of writers in Wales from 2002 to 2026. And there amongst the great and the good - Gillian Clarke, Dannie Absie, Menna Elfyn and so many well known others - were photos of some of us lesser mortals who also write and read at events here on this side of the border, myself included! John has been photographing writers from his earliest days in his native America and he gave a very entertaining talk on his experiences over the years. The exhibition runs until the end of July, with readings by some of the writers photographed on Sunday July 26th. Well worth a visit if you're in the area.

     

Poems and poets

I always find it exciting when proofs arrive for checking and I know that a project is nearing completion. But last night some very special proofs arrived - of a poetry collection to be published by Carreg Gwalch in the summer, a collection written by Welsh language learners. My poem Olion (Remains) features in it, my first Welsh language publication! I was doubly careful in checking it this morning. I'm so thrilled to be part of this project, the brainchild of Myrddin ap Dafydd, the writer and publisher who was elected as Archdruid of Wales in 2018.

When I first moved back to Wales I was delighted to find a nearby poetry hub in Abergavenny - Poetry Upstairs, which had been run by the poet Ric Hool for almost thirty years in the Hen and Chickens pub and showcased local and national poets on a monthly basis. Ric's death earlier this year has been mourned by many in the area and further afield but he was so pleased to know before he died that Poetry Upstairs (although now downstairs at the Melville Arts Centre!) would continue in the safe hands of Helen Northfield and Sharif Gemie. Last night saw the first evening since Ric's funeral and a couple of his poems were read in tribute before readings by the two featured poets, Mark Blayney from Cardiff and Zoe Skoulding from Bangor. They were very different poets exhibiting the breadth of poetry that had been Ric's lifelong passion - an interesting evening. 

Sharif Gemie reads from
Ric's final collection

Awards and AwayDays

I'm no night owl and, when it comes to writing, the early morning slot is definitely my most productive. But in the present heatwave dog walking has to take precedence! Much after 07.30 over the last few days and it's already been too warm. But being out first thing along the Valley paths offers a great chance to spot the local wildlife (a muntjac deer only a few yards from us on Thursday, a fox trotting past yesterday) and the bird song is fantastic. When we were first out this morning a long finger of mist hung low over the river but it very quickly burned off and the reflections in the water were beautiful.

Sadly the weather was not so kind last week for the Cheltenham Poetry Society's annual AwayDay, held this year at the Corse Lawn Hotel in Worcestershire, where their lovely garden was begging to be used but saw very little of us. An interesting day though, entitled "Away and Beyond" with some useful sessions led by Sharon Larkin, Roger Turner and David Ashbee. It was great to see many old colleagues from the Gloucestershire poetry scene and to hear some excellent poetry. Many thanks to the Society for their invitation to join them.

I was delighted to hear the news this week about one of my favourite bookshops - Griffin Books in Penarth. To add to its other awards (The UK Independent Bookshop of the Year in 2023, Wales Bookshop of the Year in March) it's been named as The Children's Bookseller of the Year in the British Book Awards. Should you be in the Penarth area the shop is definitely well worth a visit. It's owned by Mel Griffin, an amazingly energetic and enthusiastic colleague of mine at my Friday Welsh class. In addition to a host of author events and launches, she organises the Penarth Literary Festival each June, this year taking place in Belle Vue Park Pavilion. At a time when so much anxiety is expressed about children's reading, the work the shop does in encouraging young readers and supporting schools (they have their own Schools Manager and an ex-primary teacher on the staff) is tremendous. Congratulations, Mel - or I should say Llongyfarchiadau!

The year moves on

 I've just come in from my first real spring evening walk of the year. The birdsong was almost deafening, the light on the fields so atmospheric, the sun slipping down behind the hills under pink and grey clouds  just stunning. I don't doubt that by the weekend we'll be seeing more rain and probably more chill winds, but to have some respite after the dreary winter months - with the promise of more to come - seems to have put a smile on people's faces and a spring in their step.

March proved a much busier month than planned but a very interesting one nonetheless. Three workshops, an author's event, a talk to a local women's group on Digging Up The Family - and my first presentation to a group in Welsh! I lost a bit of sleep over that one I must say, but actually enjoyed it when it came to it. And staying with the Welsh - I've just had a poem in Welsh accepted for publication in a book by Carreg Gwalch, a very prestigious publisher here in Wales - a definite first there!!

April looks to be a more home based month, which I'm looking forward to. My pilgrimage project has been retrieved from the back burner where it had sat for several months over the winter. The research for that and the actual mini-pilgrimages are largely completed, so now there are mounds of notes, photographs, maps etc. waiting for transformation into a readable narrative. Of course the nice thing about writing memoir is the reliving of experiences as you relate them - the "savouring of them twice", to paraphrase Laurie Lee. And, challenging though some of those experiences on this project have been, they've all been enjoyable - so hopefully the writing up will be too.

Launched at last!

                                       

They say that all things come to those who wait - well occasionally we have to wait a little longer than we'd planned! But after a lengthy gestation and a long delivery, Writing A Life was eventually launched into the world on Valentine's Day. The staff at Monmouth library were as welcoming as ever and the sun deigned to come out to celebrate the occasion with us. My thanks go especially to Lydia Dowding, library manager, and to my five contributors, Marie Griffiths, Jennifer Harland, Tony O'Hare, Coleen Sadler and Grace Walsh, attendees at workshops I'd run who allowed me to share some of their writing in the text. It was lovely to have them taking part in the launch, which closed with Tony's rendition of his song Chips on the Mountain (Sglodion ar y Mynydd). So many folk songs over the centuries have evolved from life stories  - just one of the many and varied ways in which we can document lives and times, our own, our family's and other people's.

Thanks for the welcome - and the welcome back

A busy start to the New Year. I was delighted to be invited to speak to the First Friday group at Cwtsh Community and Arts Centre in Newport the week before last about Digging up the Family - especially as much of the action in that book took place within a stone's throw of the Centre, albeit a very long time ago! The group extended a warm welcome on a very cold night, and I really enjoyed meeting so many interesting people in such a pleasant venue. It was my first visit to Cwtsh (previously a small branch library) but it won't be my last. I'm hoping to run some workshops there later in the year.

Talking about an
aunt's Cub Mistress 
warrant signed by
Baden Powell himself

And I had another lovely welcome - or rather welcome back - at Women Aloud in Cheltenham yesterday. Over the past couple of years I've really missed the women's group that nurtured my poetry when I first set out on that path; it was wonderful to be back yesterday with old friends - and supportive critics! Some writers, I know, find writing groups unhelpful, but to me they're an integral part of a writing life and I've valued the ones to which I've belonged enormously. So, despite the geographical challenges now, I'm very happy indeed to return to the fold!