books
Walking poets
In 2012 the Huddersfield poet Simon Armitage published a book called Walking home, about a trip he made on foot two years earlier from north to south along the length of the Pennine Way. He started without a penny in his pocket, paying for his accommodation and meals through poetry readings he gave at various […]
A brief note on bedside books
Back in the days when Glyn Tegai Hughes and R. Gerallt Jones were Wardens there was a custom that most overnight visitors to Gregynog appreciated as an unusual but delightful practice. Somewhere in your bedroom – usually on the mantlepiece if you were placed in the old house – you’d find a small collection of […]
Zennor in light
Penwith is as far west as you can go in England. At the toe of Cornwall, it’s a region that looks and feels Atlantic. Its place-names are mostly Celtic. Prehistoric remains lie scattered across its open granite landscape. Three nights we spent recently in Penwith give me the chance to taste the South West Coastal […]
Afallon = Abertawe?
‘Nofel ddarllenadwy a chrefftus’ yw’r ansoddeiriau ar glawr Afallon gan Robat Gruffudd, a enillodd Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen llynedd. Disgrifiad teg iawn, ‘swn i’n dweud: mae’n llyfr sy’n dal ei afael arnoch chi hyd y diwedd. Y cymeriad canolog yw Rhys John, dyn sy wedi gweld llawer o’r byd, ond ychydig iawn o hunan-dwyll sy […]
Peter Lord: iconographer / iconoclast
On 23 May in the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea Peter Lord gave an illustrated talk as part of the launch of his new book Relationships with pictures: an oblique autobiography (Parthian, 2013). It was a remarkable performance. As ever with Peter you couldn’t fail to be aware of the depth of feeling underlying his […]
Ron Lawrence
In Oriel y Bont, Pontypridd there’s a remarkable retrospective of the paintings, sculptures and photographs (and guitars!) of the Pontypridd artist Ron Lawrence. Ron has lived in the town all his life and this year celebrates 60 years of continuous work. The paintings vary enormously in style, from 1950s landscapes and portraits not far in […]
Jim Crace’s ‘Harvest’
A new novel by Jim Crace is always an event, for readers who appreciate his idiosyncratic choice of themes and styles. Harvest (2013) lives up to this reader’s expectations. As always, Crace rapidly establishes his new world – this time, a small and remote English village at the time when capitalism, in the form of […]