March 2025 - Seren

Posted on March 28, 2025March 28, 2025 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘On Mother’s Day’ by Vanessa Lampert

Close up photo of flowering yellow primroses

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘On Mother’s Day’ by Vanessa Lampert from her collection Say It With Me.

On Mother’s Day
He invites his mother for lunch. The house hums with quiet hope. It’s in the food he’s bought, and in the words of songs on the radio. He polishes the windows until his arm throbs. Expectation sparks at the tip of the match. He lights the candle and its flame carries the scent of oranges. He takes the rugs into the garden and shakes them. Hope is there too, tired old thing refreshed. He hasn’t seen his mother since she died when he was eleven. Her absence has hovered low over his life. But as he watches her walk slowly up the path, he feels spent sorrow peel away like dry skin. Later he will expect to find flakes inside his clothes, but there will be nothing. At first his mother doesn’t speak but holds his grown man face in her hands. His beard is between the spread of her fingers and she looks up at him with her eyes an ancient wet blue. My boy. She straightens his glasses. All morning they chat with her in the chair by the window where the light falls as he moves about preparing food; meat with rich gravy, dumplings, runner beans, cabbage, roast potatoes, the kind of food they last ate together. At the table they sit opposite one another. Both eat everything set before them. Then there is treacle tart and custard. Afterwards he drives to the river and they walk along the towpath where primroses stagger yellow up the bank. She says look at them in their spring frocks and points, her arm inside her dark green wool coat. There are rowers on the water and they watch them for a while, before he takes her arm and they walk back to the bridge where the car is parked. At home he makes tea and they agree that she should leave quietly like last time. But this time he will know it is going to happen. He tells her that the sign will be when he goes to the sink to wash the cups. He rinses for a long time with the tap running. Though he is listening for it, he doesn’t hear the click of the front door. As he turns to walk to the window, he sees the day step back from him with his mother inside it.

Posted on March 14, 2025March 13, 2025 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Buried Treasure’ by Paul Henry

Close up photo of a silver shell.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Buried Treasure’ by Paul Henry from his collected poems, The Brittle Sea.

Buried Treasure
Three silver shells, two feathers,
twisted into a black net,
placed in a young sailor’s palm,
small interpreters of love.
He falls backwards into sand.
Nothing so profound as this
has happened so easily, so far.
‘You keep me safe,’ she says.
Continents later discover him
an older man, a dull cabin.
He has been at sea too long.
On turning the key of a small box
he is faintly surprised
to find the contents still shining.

Posted on March 13, 2025March 13, 2025 by Seren Books

We have won Small Press of the Year Wales

British Book Awards Small Press of the Year Regional and Country Winner Wales. Seren Books.

We are delighted to be named Small Press of the Year Wales in this year’s British Book Awards.

This is testament to the hard work of the Seren Team who have pulled together during a challenging year for the company and delivered strong sellers, as well as titles which speak up for the disadvantaged, for Wales and the Welsh experience.

We are looking ahead to the future with a carefully curated 2025/26 programme of engaging, innovative, era-defining and fun titles. We love what we do, are striving for growth and can’t wait to share our ambitions for the next few years.

Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller and chair of The British Book Awards, said: “These 10 Small Press winners, ranging from new players Bedford Square and VERVE Books to established publishers Seren Books and Bluemoose Books, are at the heart of today’s re-shaped publishing business. Regional but with a national focus, commercial yet value-led, intentional but flexible, these businesses do the hard-yards on behalf of their writers, while building brands and recruiting readers for the future.”

Congratulations to our fellow Regional and Country Winners who we look forward to seeing at the British Book Awards ceremony in May where the overall Small Press of the Year will be announced.

Find out more The Bookseller website here.

Posted on March 7, 2025March 6, 2025 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Poem in which I’m a transnational drug smuggler’ by Bethany Handley

Photo of a plane coming into land against a golden sky.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Poem in which I’m a transnational drug smuggler’ by Bethany Handley from her pamphlet Cling Film.

Poem in which I’m a transnational drug smuggler
The guy in front of me is told to remove his leg. He unscrews it and places it in the tub with his luggage.We watch
his leg disappear through the rubber curtain
as he hops through the airport scanner. His stump
is swabbed alongside another guy’s empty boot,
a tube of toothpaste and a wallet. I’m asked to wheel
past the metal detector and to park myself
where the other travellers await their bags.
A female guard cups my arms, my waist, my breasts.
She asks me to raise myself above the cushion, squeezing her hand into the gap between my skin and chair. Below, my five-hundred-pound pressure cushion
protects my skin, bags of coke stashed where the gel
should hold my form. Each bum cheek is perfectly imprinted in bleached powder. Later, when the taxi driver asks
whether my wheelchair is to support my benefits claim, I’ll smirk and nod.

This September, you’re invited to explore the unseen and the unsettling. From dark and menacing landscapes to the everyday terrors of domestic settings disturbingly close to home, these stories will horrify and delight in equal measure. Be prepared, for ‘this is a land of ancient power, and even more ancient beings...’ Pre-order the latest addition to our Welsh Gothic series, ‘Giving the Darkness Life’ on our website now.
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Stories by @markblayney1, Mary-Ann Constantine, @damianwalforddavies, Caradoc Evans, Dorothy K. Haynes, @lucie_mckhardy Arthur Machen, Elinor Mordaunt, John Llewellyn Probert, L.T.C. Rolt, @priyasharma1000, Edward Thomas, Elizabeth Walter and D.P. Watt
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@inpressbooks @books.wales #WelshGothic #SerenBooks #NationalYearOfReading2026 #SpookySeason #AutumnBooks

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This September, you’re invited to explore the unseen and the unsettling. From dark and menacing landscapes to the everyday terrors of domestic settings disturbingly close to home, these stories will horrify and delight in equal measure. Be prepared, for ‘this is a land of ancient power, and even more ancient beings...’ Pre-order the latest addition to our Welsh Gothic series, ‘Giving the Darkness Life’ on our website now.
.
Stories by @markblayney1, Mary-Ann Constantine, @damianwalforddavies, Caradoc Evans, Dorothy K. Haynes, @lucie_mckhardy Arthur Machen, Elinor Mordaunt, John Llewellyn Probert, L.T.C. Rolt, @priyasharma1000, Edward Thomas, Elizabeth Walter and D.P. Watt
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@inpressbooks @books.wales #WelshGothic #SerenBooks #NationalYearOfReading2026 #SpookySeason #AutumnBooks

We had a wonderful time listening to @megan.c.hayes talking about her memoir ‘Glimmering’ with Kath Little from @bardic_books at St Illtud’s church in Llantwit Major on Saturday. Diolch yn fawr to everyone who joined us and to Kath for hosting! Copies of ‘Glimmering’ are available now in your local bookshop.
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#Glimmering #Memoir #SerenBooks #IndependentBookshop #NationalYearOfReading2026

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We had a wonderful time listening to @megan.c.hayes talking about her memoir ‘Glimmering’ with Kath Little from @bardic_books at St Illtud’s church in Llantwit Major on Saturday. Diolch yn fawr to everyone who joined us and to Kath for hosting! Copies of ‘Glimmering’ are available now in your local bookshop.
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#Glimmering #Memoir #SerenBooks #IndependentBookshop #NationalYearOfReading2026

Ebooks available now! ‘In Search of Sea Dragons’, ‘Muslim Wales’ and ‘The Waters That Raised Us’ are now available from all major ebook retailers meaning you can take them with you on the go 🎉 Do you prefer reading ebooks, print books or both?
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@severn.sea.fossils @azimwales @tayloredmonds #Ebooks #Kindle #SerenBooks #BooksFromWales #LoveReading

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Ebooks available now! ‘In Search of Sea Dragons’, ‘Muslim Wales’ and ‘The Waters That Raised Us’ are now available from all major ebook retailers meaning you can take them with you on the go 🎉 Do you prefer reading ebooks, print books or both?
.
@severn.sea.fossils @azimwales @tayloredmonds #Ebooks #Kindle #SerenBooks #BooksFromWales #LoveReading

🏆@maggiepoet continues her winning streak having won the Guyana Prize for Literature Poetry Award with her collection ‘I Sing to the Greenhearts’! Available now in bookshops nationwide and on our website!
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#AwardWinning #GuyanaPrize #Poetry #PoetryBooks #SerenBooks

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🏆@maggiepoet continues her winning streak having won the Guyana Prize for Literature Poetry Award with her collection ‘I Sing to the Greenhearts’! Available now in bookshops nationwide and on our website!
.
#AwardWinning #GuyanaPrize #Poetry #PoetryBooks #SerenBooks

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