"Initially I was interested in quite abstract questions about what comprised a river. I was approaching ‘my obsession’ (for this is what it quickly became) from the philosopher’s perspective. Before long a shift occurred: the question of semantically defining a river became less important; after all, there was no denying the Teifi’s existence, as it rolled seamlessly seaward, in front of me. This freed me from focusing solely on the ‘flowing water of the Teifi’, and from this point on the project broadened its scope. I began to write about the lives of the river: its banks, its secret places and its tributaries; its creatures, its catchment and its characters – and also about my own life, which, I soon realised, was bound to the river in ways I had overlooked."
To coincide with the official release of Riverwise, Parthian author Jack Smylie Wild is Welsh Libraries Author of the Month for September! They caught up with him for an interview about his influences, and the journey Riverwise took from initial idea to fully-realised book.
You can read the full interview here.
And Riverwise, which is formally published as of today, and will be launched via Zoom on 24th September, is available to buy directly from Parthian here.
