A new edition of Dat’s Love has been published by Parthian’s Library of Wales series. Leonora Brito’s influential and award-winning collection of short stories was originally published in 1999. Yalan Bao reinvigorates Leonora’s stories and characters, reviving them for a new generation of readers.
Leonora Brito was raised in and influenced by the multicultural community of Tiger Bay, she recreates the society’s values through a diverse collection of voices. Afro- Caribbean, Leonora writes about the diaspora felt by the Black-Welsh community. She has a vibrant writing style, inflected by humorous observations that highlight the oppression, persecution and daily life of a black individual in a Wales that defines these figures through the abrasive attitudes of colonial Britain.
Leonora depicts her characters and their stories with empathy and compassion from Dooley Wilson, a 59-year-old who takes up nude modeling, to the poignant final breaths of a dying elderly individual in a hospice. The new edition emphasises the need to keep her characters and their values alive into modernity, especially as these principles are being challenged by recent events.
New Welsh Review's multimedia programme is sponsored by Aberystwyth University.
