Cheval 10

'A fitting tribute to the memory of radical Welsh poet Terry Hetherington... gives young writers in Wales a wonderful opportunity for recognition'
- Mike Jenkins

At the age of 65, a retired demolition worker fulfills his lifetime ambition of conducting an orchestra. The artist Cezanne completes a portrait of a friend, in a story which is a moving meditation on the nature of companionship and creativity. A poet constructs a powerful elegy and a reflection on his craft by making his subject nothing more than a simple pen and pencil.

Cheval 10 contains a selection of the best work submitted this year to the Terry Hetherington Award, which has become known as one of the most significant awards for young writers in Wales. What these pages add up to is a thrilling representation of where new Welsh writing is now.

About the winners of the Terry Hetherington Award:

Christopher Hyatt
He was born and raised in Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taf. He attended Ysgol Gymraeg Llantrisant and Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari, before studying for a degree in English Literature and Philosophy.  His winning entry is a story entitled ‘The Unreasonable Ambition of Steelman, Raymond’.

Katya Johnson
She is a Ph.D. candidate and postgraduate tutor in Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University. Her critical work has been regularly featured in The New Welsh Review and her writing published by Poetry Wales and the Tate Modern, among others. In 2015 she wrote her first collection of short stories based on art-historical themes, and this year she is finishing her first novel, Wolf’s Leap, which is set in a rural Welsh community. Her winning entry is a story entitled ‘Monsieur Vallier’.

Thomas Tyrrell
He has lived in Cardiff since 2014 where he is finishing a Ph.D. thesis called Remapping Milton: Place, Space and Influence 1700-1800. His current creative project is a novella called Catsitting for the Witch set around Wenvoe and Dyffryn in the Vale of Glamorgan. His winning entry is a poem entitled ‘Pen and Pencil’.