Mavis Nicholson will be opening an exhibition of new work by portrait artist Lorraine Bewsey in the Cynon Valley Museum and Gallery in Aberdare at 7.00pm on Friday 6th May.
Entitled ‘Olympians and Others’, the exhibition features the first set in a series of portraits of Welsh Olympic athletes which Lorraine is working on in the run-up to 2012. The exhibition runs until 25th June.
For more information contact Lorraine Bewsey: 01639 730108 / 0787 985 7975 Email:[email protected]
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First Thursday poetry reading tonight with Nerys Williams
Join Seren at Chapter Arts Centre tonight with guest poet Nerys Williams, who will be reading from her debut collection of poetry Sound Archive. Sound Archive is the strikingly original first collection of poems from Nerys Williams. Using formal strategies similar to modernist painting: abstraction, dislocation, surrealist juxtaposition, the poet conjures a complex music, intriguing narratives, and poems full of atmosphere that query identity, gender, and the dream of art as a vehicle for emotion and meaning.
Followed by Open Mic – Thursday 5th May, 7.30pm £2 Media Point Room, Chapter Arts Centre.
Ronnie Wood writes a foreword for ‘The Captain’s Tower: Seventy Poets Celebrate Bob Dylan at Seventy’
Ronnie Wood has added a touch of rock ‘n’ roll to a future Seren publication, by writing a foreword for the eagerly awaited book The Captain’s Tower: Seventy Poets Celebrate Bob Dylan at Seventy.
Unbelievably, Bob Dylan is 70 in May. The Captain’s Tower is a birthday present anthology of poems concerned with Dylan’s life, his work, and his cultural impact. One of the most distinguished lyricists of the post-war period, Dylan has entertained and inspired poets, writers generally and millions of ordinary fans with the imagery, wit and technique of his writing, be it in songs of love, protest, faith or pure Dylan-ness.
In this book the poets answer back in a response to Dylan’s creativity, capacity to inspire and his enormous influence on culture and writing. Here are poems by Allen Ginsberg, Lachlan Mackinnon, Glyn Maxwell, Matthew Sweeney, Jeremy Reed, Linda Chase, Linda France, Mark Ford, Roger McGough, Roddy Lumsden, Paul Muldoon, Simon Armitage, Caroline Bird. Peter Finch, Luke Wright.
There is bound to be a huge media response to Dylan’s birthday and this will be part of it – a must for Dylan fans and poetry readers alike.
Pascale Petit longlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2011
Pascale Petit’s collection of poetry What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo has been long listed for the Wales Book of the Year 2011.
What the Water Gave Me contains fifty-two poems in the voice of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Some of the poems are close interpretations of Kahlo’s work, while others are parallels or version homages where Petit draws on her experience as a visual artist to create alternative ‘paintings’ with words.
To view all log listed titles click here
Ruth Bidgood wins the Roland Mathias Prize 2011
Ruth Bidgood wins the Roland Mathias Prize 2011 with her collection of poetry Time Being, published by Seren (2009).
The £3,000 prize was awarded to Ruth Bidgood at ceremony in Roland Mathias’ home town of Brecon, supported by BBC Wales and hosted by Nicola Heywood Thomas, presenter of Radio Wales’ Arts Show.
In future years, it is to be incorporated into the Wales Book of the Year.
David Hurn and John Fuller – Cardiff
David Hurn and John Fuller present Writing the Picture at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.
Writing the Picture is a rare collaboration between a leading photographer and an eminent poet. Even more rare, it is a collaboration in which the poet responds to images, rather than a photographer or artists ‘illustrating’ a poem. The book evolved from a previous assignment for The Independent in which Fuller agreed to write about Hurn’s pictures “as long as the ‘captions’ could be poetry”.
Join us for a special evening at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff Thursday 7th April 2011 7.30pm £2
Nia Williams ‘The Colour of Grass’ Book Launch
Join Nia Williams for the launch of her latest novel The Colour of Grass.
Who did she think she was? Helen’s family is falling apart. There will be no answers from her husband anymore and she can’t communicate with her grown-up daughter. She’s not sure of anything anymore. So she turns to the relatives: the ones who are dead and gone.
George & Delila Café, 104 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JE 5.30pm Tuesday April 5th 2011. Refreshments
Make Mother’s Day extra special with a Seren title
Make Mothering Sunday special with some of Seren’s favourite titles
Fiction
Mavis Nicholson – What Did you Do in the War, Mummy? or Martha Jane & Me
Zillah Bethell – Le temps des cerises & Seahorses are Real
Poetry
Carolyn Jess-Cooke – Inroads (Shortlisted for the London Festival Fringe Prize for the Best First Collection of Poetry 2010)
Hilary Menos – Berg (winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection)
Anne-Marie Fyfe – Understudies: New & Selected Poems
Get Women’s Work by Eva Salzman & Amy Wack (Hardback) Half Price NOW £12.50 (Limited time offer)
Join Seren’s free online book club and get 20% off every book you order.
Graham Mort ‘Touch’ longlisted for Edge Hill Short Story Prize
Graham Mort’s book of Short Stories Touch, has been longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Touch which was published by Seren in 2010, is on this year’s long-list with an impressive range of award-winning writers.
Touch includes a Bridport prize-winning story “The Prince” and was described by Novelist and Bridport judge Tracy Chevalier as “the writing is word-perfect.. with the story quietly remarking on how something out of the ordinary both does and doesn’t affect daily life. In particular, I was enchanted by deft descriptions of nature”.
Also on the longlist is Roshi Fernando, who features in Sing Sorrow Sorrow, an anthology also published by Seren.
Short-list to be announced in May and the winner will be announced at an award ceremony at Blackwell Bookshop, Charing Cross Road in July.
Pascale Petit at Cheltenham Poetry Festival
Pascale Petit will be reading from What the Water Gave Me, at the Cheltenham Poetry Festival. A poetry collection containing fifty-two poems in the voice of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Some of the poems are close interpretations of Kahlo’s work, others are parallels or version homages where Petit draws on her experience as a visual artist to create alternative ‘paintings’ with words.
Saturday 2nd April 1.30-2.30pm YMCA, Swindon Road, Cheltenham GL50 4AZ. Please visit Cheltenham Poetry Festival for more information.
Also Pascale Petit will read at Bath Spa University Stand Up Poetry Series Reading Monday 11th April 8pm. Want to know more? Click here
