Blog
Welcome to our blog where you can catch up with the latest news and read guest posts by our writers.
November 26, 2016
Forget Black Friday – enjoy a Civilised Saturday
Forget the madness and stress of Black Friday and let’s all have a lovely Civilised Saturday. Launched last year by booksellers, Civilised Saturday is a day for cosiness and comfort, an antidote to the deep discounts and high stress levels of Black F…
November 25, 2016
Friday Poem – ‘Bluetit Feeding’, Ruth Bidgood
Our Friday Poem this week is a careful portrayal of the fragility and beauty of nature. So take some time away from the Black Friday madness, and enjoy Ruth Bidgood’s ‘Bluetit Feeding’. ‘Bluetit Feeding’ is taken from New and Selected Poems. This gen…
November 24, 2016
Win a signed copy of Wild Places by Iolo Williams
Show us your favourite nature place in Wales win a copy of Iolo Williams’ new guide book, Wild Places: Wales’ Top 40 Nature Sites. We’re giving away a signed copy of Wild Places, Iolo Williams’ stunning new guide to Wales’ best wildlife and nature si…
November 18, 2016
Friday Poem – ‘On the Sudden Passing of a Crow’, Eoghan Walls
Happy Friday, everyone. This week our Friday Poem is taken from Eoghan Walls’ debut collection, The Salt Harvest. Eoghan has just been shortlisted for the prestigious Manchester Poetry Prize – so do send all your good luck his way. Dark and evocative…
November 15, 2016
Eoghan Walls shortlisted for Manchester Poetry Prize
Eoghan Walls has been shortlisted for the 2016 Manchester Poetry Prize. This year the poetry prize will be judged by Adam O’Riordan, Sarah Howe and Helen Mort. Other shortlisted poets include Dante Di Stefano and Rebecca Tamás. Click to view the full…
November 15, 2016
Paul Deaton wins SaveAs Writers International Poetry Competition
Paul Deaton has won the SaveAs Writers International Poetry Competition with his poem ‘Raskolnikov’, which features in his forthcoming debut collection, A Watchful Astronomy (October 2017, Seren). See the full listings on the SaveAs Writers website,…
November 11, 2016
Friday Poem – ‘Armistice Day ’77, Honiton’, John Tripp
Today, to mark Armistice Day, our Friday Poem is one of remembrance and silence from John Tripp’s Selected Poems. A well known and popular figure on the poetry scene, John Tripp’s untimely death in 1986 meant the loss of a ’devoted and passionate poe…
November 7, 2016
NaNoWriMo: How to write a novel – advice from Seren novelists
It’s November and that means NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has begun. If you’re not familiar with it, NaNoWriMo is a worldwide writing challenge, where participants have one month (1st–30th November) to write a 50,000 word novel. Are you t…
November 7, 2016
Enter the Seren Christmas Poetry Competition
Submit your Christmas-themed poem for entry to the Seren Christmas Poetry Competition! Entries are now open for our Christmas Poetry Competition, judged by poetry editor Amy Wack. You are invited to submit one poem with a Christmas theme for consider…
November 4, 2016
Friday Poem – ‘Seamus on the Tube’, Tony Curtis
Last night saw us at Chapter, Cardiff, with Tony Curtis and Cynan Jones for November’s First Thursday event, and today we are featuring one of the new poems Tony read on the night – for all of you who missed his entertaining performance. From left: T…
October 31, 2016
Free extracts from our favourite Halloween books: read them if you dare…
Get yourself in the Halloween spirit – read these chilling extracts from our favourite spine-tingling stories. Ritual 1969 by Jo Mazelis From ‘The Twice Pricked Heart’: When Margaret returned to the cottage she saw that her father and stepmoth…
October 28, 2016
Friday Poem – ‘Reasons for his absence’, Darío Jaramillo Agudelo (translated by Richard Gwyn)
This week our Friday Poem is ‘Reasons for his absence’ by Darío Jaramillo Agudelo, from Richard Gwyn’s hot-off-the-press anthology, The Other Tiger: Recent Poetry from Latin America. The Other Tiger (the title is a nod to Borges – “the one not in thi…
