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The New Poetry Showcase at Cardiff Poetry Festival
by Sydney Whiteside
The second day of the 2020 Seren Cardiff Poetry Festival opened on Saturday morning with the New Poetry Showcase, a spectacle of new poetry from authors with recently published or forthcoming collections. Featuring five writers, both debut poets and those on their second or third collection, the showcase was a brilliant start to a dazzling Saturday of poetry in Cardiff’s Temple of Peace.
Cardiff poet Roberto Pastore was the first to read, sharing poems from his new collection Hey Bert, out now with Parthian. Pastore’s poems burst with energy and humour, highlighting the beauty in the everyday and reminding us of our ‘all too humanness’. Among the poems read was ‘Heart Poem’, a beautiful look into memory and the often impossible expectations we place on ourselves.
Kittie Belltree, who was born in south London and now lives in Wales, followed with readings from her debut collection Sliced Tongue and Pearl Cufflinks, also out now with Parthian. Her poems explore domestic trauma, history, and mother-daughter relationships with paralyzing detail and wit. Belltree closed her reading with ‘Magician’s Daughter’, a beautifully haunting piece about sexual abuse that makes whimsical diction dangerous and twists words into unexpected and wonderful combinations.
iambapoet.com: Natalie Ann Holborow and Mari Ellis Dunning
Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize Announces Longlist in Jaipur in Celebration of 15th Year.
To celebrate 15 years of the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, the Prize is announcing this year's longlist live from the Jaipur Literature Festival. The event, supported by British Council Wales, will take place on Friday 24 January and will feature an incredible panel discussion featuring the first ever winner, Rachel Trezise and latest winner, Guy Gunaratne, along with Festival Director and jury member Namita Gokhale and the Prize’s Executive Officer Elaine Canning. On returning to the judging panel Jaipur Literature Festival Director Namita Gokhale said: “I am delighted to return to the jury of the inspirational Swansea University Dylan Thomas...
WRITERS CHAT: Sarah Broughton
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