books

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Recommended Reads this Easter!

There’s no denying that Christmas is a fantastically fun time of year, but a lot of stress, tears and an inordinate amount of planning goes into it – just 1 day out of 365 – meaning we barely get a chance to acknowledge it until the day’s over and done with, and we have to spend January living off what seems like an endless supply of turkey sandwiches.

Easter is a much more mellow holiday; a chance to enjoy a long weekend with a pile of chocolate and celebrate that spring has arrived at last! What better way to spend a weekend like that than with a good book?

judas cover rgbDamian Walford Davies’ latest collection, Judas, is a perfect read for this time of year. No matter your opinion of Judas, we guarantee this collection will both fascinate and horrify you, and by the end of it you may find your perception of the most famous traitor has changed. Check out our interview with Damian here!

If you’d prefer to take a step back from the religious elements of the holiday, perhaps Philip Gross aA Fold in the River_Layout 1nd Valerie Coffin Price’s A Fold in the River would be more to your taste. The arrival of spring brings out the green fingers in everyone, and with their marriage of poetry and paintings dedicated to the landscape around the River Taff this collection is an evocative tribute to our natural world.

Perhaps youseren_-_the_advantages_of_an_older_man‘d prefer to read prose, and if you’re in the mood for something fun and quick to enjoy over the weekend then why not read Gwyneth Lewis’s Advantages of the Older Man? In this light-hearted novella a young Swansea woman finds herself possessed by the restless spirit of Dylan Thomas, who is in the middle of a mid-afterlife crisis himself.

Sugar Hall by Tiffany Murray. £8.99Sugar Hall is the ideal read for you if you’re in the mood for something a little spookier this Easter. Set during the Easter of 1955 on the edge of the English/Welsh border as Britain prepares for its last hanging, Tiffany Murray’s chilling ghost story is inspired by the tales of the slave boy that surround Littledean Hall in Gloucestershire.

You can find all of these books, and many more, on our website. From all of us at Seren, we hope you have a wonderful Easter!

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Join Our Online Book Club

Join our Online Book Club to get 20% off every book you buy from us.

It takes seconds to sign up to the Seren online book club – you will enjoy 20% off every puchase made.

You will be kept up-to-date with forthcoming titles, news and events. Be the first to know when a new title has just been released, see exclusive videos of Seren authors reading from their books and enjoy special offers which are available to our online Book Club Members only.

We want to contact people interested in Seren, its list, authors, events and news. And even the multinational publishers can’t rely on the usual media for this information so we want to open our own channel of communication.

Members help us understand our readers (ensuring we can continue to publish the books you enjoy), and help us make a better website. We know readers of Seren titles will be literate, informed and interested in a variety of styles and subjects. Our ambition is to make this site a prime port of call for all those interested in the goings-on in the (independent) publishing sector and beyond. We need feedback from visitors and recognise the value of their comments as a resource to make the site relevant and attractive.

We hope you’ll enjoy your membership, remember to log in as a member as soon as you enter the site

Click the link below to edit your account and sign up to become a full member of the Seren Book Club.

Sign up to the Book Club now!

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Nicholas Murray

Nicholas Murray is a biographer, poet, novelist and critic. The author of acclaimed biographies of Matthew Arnold, Andrew Marvell, Aldous Huxley and Franz Kafka, he is also the Royal Literary Fund Writer for Queen Mary College University of London. Visit his website at www.nicholasmurray.co.uk

Books by Nicholas Murray
A Short Book About Love
Real Bloomsbury
Remembering Carmen


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Jon Gower

Jon Gower is a producer with Boomerang, one of Wales’ most dynamically creative TV and radio companies. He was BBC Wales’ Arts and Media correspondent from 2000-2006, when he also presented First Hand, BBC Radio Wales’ arts programme. Jon has also worked, variously, as public affairs officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and as a current affairs journalist for HTV. He has written books about travel and local history, including An Island Called Smith (Gomer, 2001), about a disappearing island in Chesapeake Bay, which was a John Morgan Award winner. He has edited a further four volumes, as well as writing a collection of short stories, Big Fish (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2000).

Jon is currently working on a critical biography of the American actor Steve Buscemi and has recently published a book about his home town, Llanelli, for Seren’s ‘Real Wales’ series. He is an English language judge for the 2011 Wales Book of the Year.

Books by Jon Gower
Real Llanelli

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‘Real Newport’

Released 12th December 2006 by Ann Drysdale.

Britain’s youngest city as you’ve never seen it before. Just another Victorian port or an Elizabethan maritime centre? A featureless South Wales town or a growing city on the verge of massive and original redevelopment? The “new Seattle” (Paul Flynn) or a haven for single mothers working the system (John Redwood)?

From the splendour of Tredegar House to the towering presence of the Celtic Manor Resort, from the bland sixties shopping centre to the bizarre centenarian Transporter Bridge, from the decline of the football team to the continuing proud tradition at Rodney Parade, it’s a place full of contradictions and characters. Join Ann Drysdale in her offbeat exploration of Newport – old and new – and its people.

“The prose is often laugh-out –loud, the poetry is always excellently crafted. Versatile in traditional forms, Drysdale has some great pastiche and some wryly moving pieces; it’s a successful contrast with the experimental poetry in Peter Finch’s Real Cardiff books … Drysdale’s book is so essential for anyone wanting to know anything at all about Newport, and such an enjoyable read, that some may hesitate to go there, lest their sojourn prove less amusing and instructive. To Newportians it must be a revelation.”

Tom Cheesman, New Welsh Review, December 07

‘Real’ Series Editor: Peter Finch

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The Real Series

“Well-written and passionate, they’re all intriguing and full of offbeat observations… if you’re looking to get inside the character of any of these places, you’ll find the series perfect.” — Time Out

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The Captain’s Tower Blog

Editors of The Captain’s Tower: Seventy Poets Celebrate Bob  Dylan at Seventy, Phil Bowen, Damian Furniss and David Woolley, have launched a blog dedicated to the Collection – http://thecaptainstowerdylanbook.blogspot.com

All information and events regarding the Collection and the seventy poems and poets that are featured can be found on the blog.

Please help Seren in supporting it!

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Seren Authors at the Hay Festival

A whole host of Seren authors will be appearing at this year’s Telegraph Hay Festival from 30th May to 4th June – Gwyneth Lewis, Niall Griffiths, Ken Elias, Ceri Thomas, Paul Henry, Mavis Nicholson, Peter J. Conradi and Grahame Davies. Book your tickets now on the Hay Festival website: www.hayfestival.com

Gwyneth Lewis and Niall Griffiths
New Stories from the Mabinogion
Event 146 • Monday 30 May 2011, 2.30pm • Venue: Summer House
Two more new versions of the Welsh mythologies. Lewis spins the tale of Blodeuwedd, the woman made of flowers, into a sci-fi setting in The Meat Tree. Griffiths conjures an Iraq-bound squaddie and a Cardiff gangsta in The Dreams of Max and Ronnie.
Price: £6.00

Ken Elias talks to Ceri Thomas
Thin Partitions
Event 178 • Tuesday 31 May 2011, 11:30am • Venue: Elmley Foundation Theatre
An illustrated conversation surveying forty years of the esteemed Glynneath artist’s work in painting, collage and photomontage.
Price: £5.00

Paul Henry & Patrick Jones
The Brittle Sea, Hafan Cymru
Event 257 • Thursday 2 June 2011, 1pm • Venue: The Moot
Paul Henry reads and discusses his New and Selected Poems. The individual human voice, the ragged vagaries of the heart and soul, the joys and sorrows of family life feature here but this poetry is personal without being confessional, preferring tender observation to sensationalism or didacticism. Jones reads writing arising from his work with victims of domestic abuse. Chaired by Benna Waites.
Price: £4.00

Mavis Nicholson talks to Sarah Crompton
What Did You Do in the War, Mummy?
Event 275 • Thursday 2 June 2011, 6.45pm • Venue: Sky Arts Studio
The broadcaster has interviewed women from lumber-jills and landgirls to undercover spies and entertainers about the new freedoms, the make-do and mend, the hopes and the fears, as well as the post-war adjustments they had to make.
Price: £6.00

Brenda Maddox, Peter J Conradi, Tom Bullough
At the Bright Hem of God: Radnorshire Pastoral
Event 291 • Friday 3 June 2011, 10am • Venue: Elmley Foundation Theatre
The authors discuss how the wild, rural landscape of Radnorshire inspires their work and that of others before them, from Gerald of Wales to Vaughan and Traherne, Francis Kilvert, Eric Gill, David Jones and Bruce Chatwin.
Price: £5.00

Grahame Davies talks to Merryl Wyn Davies
The Dragon and the Crescent
Event 340 • Saturday 4 June 2011, 10am • Venue: Elmley Foundation Theatre
Nine centuries of contact between Wales and Islam. Chaired by the Director of the Muslim Institute.
Price: £5.00

Seren hopes to see as many of you there as possible!

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Pascale Petit Published in the US

Pascale Petit’s latest collection of poetry What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo has now been published by Black Lawrence Press in the US (April, 2011). Pascale Petit is currently touring the US, she is reading at the Bowery Poetry Club, New York City – Saturday 16th April 6pm. Pascale’s collection is still available to buy in the UK.

For more information about Petit’s poetry collection and Petit the author, read ‘Seren Authors’ on our blog or  check out the Seren website.