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This week we're talking all things poetry in the lead up to #NationalPoetryDay this Thursday on the 6th of October. We are delighted that Pearl & Bone by the wonderful Mari Ellis Dunning has been met with some great reviews since its launch last Saturday. 'This is a brave, complex, powerful, angry, and loving book, full of poems that argue, discuss, share, and reject the abuse of power that women and children are constant victims of' - Tears in the Fence Dunning's second full poetry collection explores themes of motherhood and femininity using her own intimate moments of becoming a mother during a global pandemic...

After a short break we are returning with another #authorinsight from 2021 Rhys Davies Short Story Award author, Craig Hawes, who was shortlisted for his story, 'Coat of Arms'. Born and raised in Briton Ferry, Craig spent many years working in London and Dubai as a journalist before returning to his native South Wales. Now a copywriter, he has previously been shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story prize in 2009 and was a runner-up in the Rhys Davies Prize 2010. His short story collection The Witch Doctor of Umm Suqeim was published by Parthian in 2013. His stories and plays...

For our daily #authorinsight, we were joined by Brennig Davies who discussed his short story, ‘Dogs in a Storm’, shortlisted for the 2021 Rhys Davies Short Story Award!  Brennig is a writer from the Vale of Glamorgan, who recently completed a BA in English at Mansfield College. In the past his work has been published in magazines and anthologies, and he has previously won the inaugural BBC Young Writers Award (2015), as well as the Crown at the Urdd National Eisteddfod (2019). In Brennig’s shortlisted entry, Dogs in a Storm, a mother is desperately hoping for change, verging on transformation as she realises...

Up next for our Rhys Davies Short Story Award #authorinsights, we present an interview with author Jupiter Jones, who was shortlisted for her short story, ‘Bird’. Jupiter grew up on the north-west coasts of Cumberland and Lancashire, the former a wild and secretive landscape, whilst the latter trashy and jaded. She loved both of these locations; they inspire and haunt her writing. Having completed a PhD in Spectatorial Embarrassment at Goldsmiths, Jupiter now lives in Wales writing short stories and flash fiction which has led her to win the Colm Tóibín International Prize. In Jupiter’s shortlisted entry, ‘Bird’, two strangers meet within the...

Continuing with our lead up to Christmas, our #authorinsight of the day is from Susmita Bhattacharya, who shared her experience writing the short story, ‘The Truth is a Dangerous Landscape', shortlisted for the 2021 Rhys Davies Short Story Award. Susmita Bhattacharya has graduated Cardiff University with an MA in creative writing and is now lecturing at Winchester University. She has previously published a debut novel The Normal State of Mind with Parthian in 2015, which was longlisted for the Word2Screen Prize at the Mumbai Festival in 2018 and her short story collection Table Manners won the Saboteur Award for Best Short Story Collection in 2019. Sumita also facilitates...