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Writing on Nation.Cymru Jon Gower finds much to admire in Zoë Brigley's new essay collection. 'Throughout this collection Brigley is challengingly open about her own life. Which turns out to have had its challenges especially because, as a young writer she found it hard to write about personal material, which she described as a ‘writerly shyness.’ As a young woman she found herself in an abusive relationship with an older man. So the essays prove she has overcome both and now faces her fears head-on. 'These Notes from a Swing State are written with an openness to ideas redolent of...

Representatives from the Cardiff poetry scene, Literature Wales and the British Council were at St Canna's in Cardiff yesterday to welcome the Turkish poet and writer Haydar Ergülen to Wales and share a cultural exchange with readings from his new selected poems Pomegranate Garden as well as poetry about Cardiff, about Wales, about place and about love. All with a bonus buffet and wine! It was a superb way to spend a Sunday lunchtime. Featuring tanslator, editor and poet Caroline Stockford alongside Cardiff-based poets Topher Mills, J. Brookes, Kate North, Roberto Pastore, Luca Paci, Mab Jones and Susie Wild. Thanks to...

We are so pleased to be launching Haydar Ergülen's Selected Poems, Pomegranate Garden with UK launch events planned in London, Cardiff and Oxford  this month (22 - 25 November). Haydar is one of the most prominent poets writing in Turkey today. Author of more than a dozen books of poetry and another dozen of essays, his work is only beginning to appear in English and this selected works will change his reach significantly. His most recent book is Öyle Küçük Şeyler (Kırmızı Kedi, 2016). He lives in Istanbul. The poetry of Haydar Ergülen unquestionably draws upon and expresses many of the basic...

Read 3 poems from Christina's forthcoming 2020 poetry collection How to Carry Fire including the title poem on Anthropocene.   Conjure every fire you have ever read about— London’s gutting, Brisbane’s breadless   factory, Boston’s burning. Remember your aching home, the leftovers   of your childhood journals flaking in the hot shell of your bedroom.   Christina Thatcher is a Creative Writing Lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Her work has featured in over 40 publications including The London Magazine, Planet Magazine, The Interpreter’s House and more. Her first collection, More than you were, was published by Parthian Books in 2017...

JAMIE GILLINGHAM What do you find are the most enjoyable and most challenging aspects of writing/being a writer? RHYS OWAIN WILLIAMS I think most writers struggle to switch off, and perhaps we never completely do. Everything we encounter in life has the potential to provide that flash of inspiration. Feeling attuned to the world around you in that way is such a positive experience, giving you those moments of absolute creative thought, but it can also be a huge strain on your mental health. The screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan said that “being a writer is like having homework every night for...