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Author of critically-acclaimed novel Pigeon, Alys Conran, will be appearing on Heno on Welsh-language channel S4C this evening, 8 May. Alys has recently been shortlisted for the prestigious International Dylan Thomas prize, the winner of which will be announced on 10 May. An event will be held at the British Library in London on 9 May to celebrate the shortlisted authors’ achievements. Alys will be reading excerpts from Pigeon at the event, so be sure to purchase a ticket! Alys will also be attending several more events in the near future including the Hay Literary Festival on 30 May. Visit...

I’m feeling something deeper too. A fizz in my stomach, a slight edge of fear. It suddenly doesn’t feel that long since my Dad died. I wonder —in the off way people who do not believe in the afterlife might wonder—if my Dad will hear me reading about him. If he’d be happy to fill the room with me, if our voice will carry.

I hope so. Because at the very least, I want him to be proud. The same way he was proud to see my first poem published in a school anthology. I remember him saying that he didn’t understand it but that it looked nice on the page, neat and important.

And, for those of us still alive, I hope this collection will help to start a conversation too. One about loss or addiction or fathers. I hope the poems will offer a small, collective invitation to peer into the dark things in life and talk about them.

For those interested, please do come along to one of my national launches, readings or events and say ‘hello’. Let’s get this conversation going.

'Moonlight washes across the entire, exposed landscape of this poetry collection. The ‘white eye’ orbits from the first page to the last, with a quiet, ancient glint amid the frail unfolding of melancholy lives. Swansea-born writer Natalie Ann Holborow levels the lunar gaze onto a sudden first kiss, violence at a party, memories of past love, wretchedly drunken taxi rides, and a bundle of other tender, inflamed moments. Each is conjured in imagery that aches.'

'And Suddenly You Find Yourself is somehow both meticulous and raw, as if Holborow has mulled infinitely on how best to describe the act of stripping us to our simplest selves.

[...]

'Shoot for the moon? Holborow has landed, roamed its face, dipped into the craters, and gathered an armful of stars while up there.'

Sophie Baggott reviews Natalie Ann Holborow's debut poetry collection And Suddenly You Find Yourself for Wales Arts Review.

Alys Conran is based in North Wales, where she writes fiction and poetry. Her debut novel Pigeon is one of 6 books by writers aged 39 and under shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize 2017. 'An exquisite novel by a great new writer' – M.J Hyland   Last year a Welsh language adaptation of Pigeon (Pijin by Sian Northey) was published at the same time as the English original. This year Pigeon will be released in India by Bee Books. Alys Conran's short fiction has been placed in the Bristol Short Story Prize and the Manchester Fiction Prize. She completed her MA in Creative Writing at Manchester, graduating with distinction,...

Dai Smith, born in Rhondda in 1945, is a Welsh writer and historian who was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to culture and the arts in Wales. He has been a professor in History at Lancaster University, Cardiff University and Swansea University from 1969 until 1993, being awarded with a personal chair by the University of Wales in 1986. 

In 1993 he took up a position as editor for the BBC, working on Radio Wales and later on in 1994 became the Head of Broadcast (English Language) at BBC Wales, for which he commissioned various award-winning programmes, especially in the Arts and Drama until 2000. He became the Raymond Williams chairman in the Cultural History of Wales at Swansea University in 2005 and in 2007 he was appointed Arts Council of Wales chairman.

Series Editor of the Library of Wales for classic works written in English from or about Wales, Smith is also chair of the judging panel for the International Dylan Thomas Prize.