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Seren have a stand at the The National Eisteddfod 2012, Wales’ largest cultural festival.
The week-long festival celebrates the rich and varied culture that exists here in Wales; from singing and dancing to art work and sport challenges, the Eisteddfod prides itself on its provision of eclectic stalls, activities and performances which guarantee something to everyone’s taste.
Why not drop by the Seren stand (No: 1011) where you can browse and buy our books at great prices, meet some of our fantastic authors, get books signed and talk to Seren staff about our work, and yours.
Authors appearing throughout the week are as follows:
Friday 10th August, 2pm: Tony Bianchi will be signing copies of Daniel’s Beetles, a translation of his prizewinning novel, Pryfeta.
Saturday 11th August, 11am: Grahame Davies will be signing copies of his first poetry collection in English, Lightning Beneath the Sea.
The Eisteddfod Maes is at The Old Airfield, Llandow, Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan. The Eisteddfod runs from Saturday 4th August until Saturday 11th August 2012 – we hope to see you there!
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Welsh poet Rhian Edwards has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize ‘Best First Collection’ 2012 with her debut poetry book Clueless Dogs.
The ‘Best First Collection’ shortlist includes four other poets, Jacob Sam-La Rose, Sam Riviere, Loretta Collins Klobah and Lucy Hamilton. The winner will be presented with £5,000 at an awards ceremony later this year.

Welsh poet Rhian Edwards has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize ‘Best First Collection’ 2012 with her debut poetry book Clueless Dogs.
The ‘Best First Collection’ shortlist includes four other poets, Jacob Sam-La Rose, Sam Riviere, Loretta Collins Klobah and Lucy Hamilton. The winner will be presented with £5,000 at an awards ceremony later this year.
The shortlists for the 21st year of the Forward Prize for Poetry, some of the most sought after accolades for both established and emerging poets, was announced last week. Demonstrating the rich variety of poetry being written in English, they include some of the most celebrated poets from around the world, as well the most confident and original voices from an abundant crop of emerging talent.
Delighted Rhian said “Being shortlisted for the Forward Prize for First Collection is nothing short of a poetical dream come true, after all it’s the highest accolade for a first collection of poetry”.
 

Patrick McGuinness’s debut novel The Last Hundred Days has won the 2012 Wales Book of the Year award (English-language).
Patrick was shortlisted along side two other writers, Robert Minhinnick (Seren) with his collection of short stories The Keys of Babylon and Joe Dunthorne Wild Abandon (Penguin).
The Last Hundred Days shows a city struggling to survive an intense moment in its history. Set during Ceausescu’s last hundred days in power, Patrick McGuinness’s accomplished debut novel explores a world of danger, repression and corruption.
Welsh-language Book of the Year winner was Jon Gower with his novel Y Storiwr (The Story Teller).
Categories in poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction were introduced for the first time this year.
Three titles were short listed in each category in both Welsh and English.
Best creative non-fiction winner was Richard Gwyn with The Vagabond’s Breakfast, whilst Gwyneth Lewis won the Roland Mathias poetry award.
Philip Cross, a former Book of the Year winner, topped the people’s choice category with his book of poetry Deep Field.
Lleucu Siencyn, the chief executive of Literature Wales, which stages the event, said it had been nice to reward a wider range of authors this year due to the introduction of the different categories.
“I’d like to congratulate all the other authors too,” she said.
“Reaching the shortlist is quite an achievement, and the excellent volumes on the list reflects the high standard in the world of Welsh publishing today.”

The Wales Book of the Year 2012 winner will be announced Thursday, 12th July at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff at 7pm.
Seren have two books on the Best Fiction shortlist, The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness and The Keys of Babylon by Robert Minhinnick, and we wish them well. To buy tickets, contact Literature Wales: 029 2047 2266 / [email protected]
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Seren have two titles on the shortlist for the ‘dlr Strong Award 2012 (in partnership with Shine) at Poetry Now/ Mountains to Sea’. Eoghan Walls The Salt Harvest and Nerys Williams Sound Archive are shortlisted along side two other poets. The Strong Award is part of Poetry Now at Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival serves to recognise the promise and achievement of both English and Irish language poets.
All shortlisted nominees will read at the Strong Reading during the Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival 2012 and the prize-winner will be awarded €1,000
The dlr Strong Award, which is in partnership with Shine, is awarded in memory of Rupert and Eithne Strong.
Meet the Author
Saturday 14th July – Sunday 15th July: Rhian Edwards is reading fromClueless Dogs in the Poetry Tent at The Latitude Festival. 3.40pm(Sat) and 4.40pm (Sun). Check website for more details.
Friday 20th July 6.30pm: Join us at Waterstone’s, Cardiff (The Hayes) for the launch of Lightning Beneath the Sea, Grahame Davies’s first poetry collection in English. ‘Departed’, a poem from this collection will be the Guardian ‘Poem of the Week’ starting from Monday 9th July.

This weekend will be jammed packed full of literature and poetry –  there is something to suit everyone!
The Dinefwr Literature Festival
Friday 29th June
Opening Event with Gillian Clarke, Paul Henry, Phillip Gross and Rhys Iorwerth.
Poet Pascale Petit What the Water Gave Me in conversation with Jasper Rees.
Matt Segnit in conversation with Mike Parker.
Saturday 20th JuneRobert Minhinnick in conversation with Peter Finch.
Jasper Rees and award-winning author Tony Bianchi in conversation on ‘Wales and identity’.
Horatio Clare author of the novella The Prince’s Pen – nature walk with Matt Sewell.
Visit the festival website for further information and to buy tickets.
Beyond the Border Wales International Storytelling Festival
Sunday 1st July 11am: Mabinogion Stories – Niall Grifiths, Horatio Clare, Fflur Dafydd and Russell Celyn Jones in conversation with Erica Wagner ‘Translating Myth’ at St Donats Castle.
Ledbury Poetry Festival
Friday 29th June 6-7pm: Owen Sheers will be reading his poetry at Ledbury Community Hall Tickets £8.
Sunday 1st July 6-7pm: Damian Walford Davies will be reading from his latest poetry collection Witch. These poems are dark spells spoken in voices, from the priest to the accuser to the witch herself. He will be joined by actor Elinor Middleton. Burgage Hall, Ledbury.

Friday 29th June – Sunday 1st July. The Dinefwr Literature Festival features a host of Seren authors and poets – Paul Henry, Pascale Petit, Mike Parker, Peter Finch, Robert Minhinnick, Tony Bianchi, Grahame Davies and Horatio Clare. Visit the festival website for further information and to buy tickets.
Friday 29th June
Opening Event with Gillian Clarke, Paul Henry, Phillip Gross and Rhys Iorwerth
Poet Pascale Petit What the Water Gave Me in conversation with Jasper Rees
Matt Segnit in conversation with Mike Parker
Saturday 30th June
Robert Minhinnick in conversation with Peter Finch
Jasper Rees and award-winning author Tony Bianchi in conversation on ‘Wales and identity’
Horatio Clare author of the novella The Prince’s Pen – nature walk with Matt Sewell.

Seren was delighted to have two out of three nominations on the fiction shortlist for Wales Book of the Year when it was announced last night at a special event at Theatr Brycheiniog, in Brecon. Joe Dunthorne’s Wild Abandon completes the shortlist.
Nomination for prizes is becoming a habit for Minhinnick and McGuinness. Minhinnick’s The Keys of Babylon is a collection of linked stories about people migration, set in countries around the world, the main characters from which are brought together in a final story which looks at their lives on the same day. It’s “a book for our times” as prize judge Spencer Jordan said. A story from the book was shortlisted for the Sunday Times/EFG Bank Short Story Prize earlier this year, and the book is currently longlisted for the Edge Hill Story Prize.
Wales Book of the Year is the fifth prize nomination for McGuinness’s novel, The Last Hundred Days, the story of a young Englishman abroad, caught up in the final days of the Ceausecu regime in Romania. The book has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Prize, longlisted for the Desmond Elliott First Novel Prize and shortlisted for the Authors Club Best First Novel Award. The shortlist of the Desmond Elliott Prize is announced next week and the inner of the Author’s Club Award on 29 May.
And although it wasn’t shortlisted, Seren was pleased that Ellie Evans’ debut, The Ivy Hides the Fig-Ripe Duchess, was the sole poetry collection given an ‘honourable mention’ by the judges in the poetry category. The book was much praised and Ellie deemed “a poet to watch”.
The Wales Book of the Year will be awarded at a special ceremony on July 12th. If you’re a fan of Robert or Patrick’s books (or any of the other shortlisted titles!) you can vote for ‘people’s choice’ on the Media Wales website.

Robert Minhinnick’s short story collection The Keys of Babylon has been long-listed for the Edge Hill Short Story Award 2012. Robert’s collection is on the long-list with 30 other authors including Edna O’Brien, Robert Shearman, Hanan Al-Shaykh and Tessa Hadley. Prize co-ordinator Dr Ailsa Cox, Reader in Creative Writing and English at Edge Hill University, said: “This is the biggest and most eclectic long-list we’ve ever had, with a fantastic mix of voices and styles. Clearly, writers and their publishers are recognising the significance of this prize, unique in the British book world”.
The shortlist will be revealed in May and the winners announced at an awards ceremony on 5th July at the Free Word Centre in London.
Meet the Author
Wednesday 18th April 2012: London Book Fair: Market Focus on China, Earls Court, London 10-11am. Panel discussion with Xi Chuan, Han Dong and Pascale Petit, chaired by Michel Hockx from SOAS.
Friday 20th & Saturday 21st April: 10th John Hewitt/Glens of Antrim Spring Festival at Londonderry Arms, Carnlough, on the Antrim Coast. Featuring Mavis Cheek, Hector McDonnell, Eoghan Walls, C.L. Dallat, Heather Richardson, Martin Mooney, Moya Cannon, Bernie McGill, Anne-Marie Fyfe & Kapka Kassabova

Seren will be celebrating International Women’s Day by offering you some fantastic books by women writers at a discounted rate.
The following titles, some by award winning authors, will be available for only £5 from 8am-8pm on 8th of March 2012. This offer is exclusive to the Seren website.
Mavis Nicholson What Did you do in the War, Mummy? Clare Dudman A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees, Zillah Bethell Seahorses are Real and Le temps des cerises, Nia Williams The Colour of Grass, Ellie Evans The Ivy Hides the Fig Ripe Duchess, Judy Brown Loudness, Candy Neubert Foreign Bodies, Carol Rumens De Chirico’s Threads and Carolyn Jess-Cooke Inroads
Thursday 8th March 2012 8am-8pm

Congratulations to Robert Minhinnick who has made the shortlist for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. Robert Minhinnick’s short story ‘El Aziz: some notes from his notebooks’ is shortlisted along side 5 other short story writers including, Emma Donoghue, Linda Oatman High and Kevin Barry. From 5th March all six shortlisted stories will be available in an anthology, which is being published by Waterstones. The winner will be announced on the 30th March.
To keep up-to-date with all new titles out in 2012, you can sign up for our free email newsletter – click here. When you purchase books via the website you can also save 20% by joining our free online book club, it takes minutes to enter your information.
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