poetry

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Pascale Petit

Pascale Petit was born in Paris, grew up in France and Wales and lives in London. Her latest collection What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo(Seren, 2010) was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and was a Book of the year in the Observer. Black Lawrence Press published a US edition in 2011. She has published five poetry books, three of which were shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and which were also Books of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement, Observer and the Independent. Her second collection The Zoo Father was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was published in Mexico in a bilingual edition. A poem from it was shortlisted for a Forward Prize. In 2004 the Poetry Book Society selected Petit as one of the Next Generation Poets.

Petit has won numerous awards, including three from Arts Council England. She trained as a sculptor at the Royal College of Art and was a visual artist for the first part of her life. She is widely travelled, including in the Venezuelan Amazon, China and Nepal. She co-edited Tying the Song (Enitharmon, 2000), the first anthology from The Poetry School, has worked as Poetry Editor for Poetry London and was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Middlesex University 2007 – 2009. She currently tutors poetry courses for Tate Modern, the Arvon Foundation and Ty Newydd.

Visit Pascale’s website and blog

www.pascalepetit.co.uk and www.pascalepetit.blogspot.com

View videos of Pascale Petit on our website.

For more information on Pascale Petit’s appearances and poetry readings check out our ‘Events’ category on our blog or search on our website.

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Ruth Bidgood, Reading at Oriel Davies Gallery

Friday 1st April, 7 pm. Ruth Bidgood will be reading at Oriel Davies Gallery, Newtown with Jan Fortune-Wood.-Ruth’s most recent collection Time Being is shortlisted for the Roland Mathias Prize.

Find out more about Ruth Bidgood the poet and her published works with Seren on our website www.serenbooks.com or under our ‘Seren Authors’ category on our blog.

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Nerys Williams debut poetry collection ‘Sound Archive’

Sound Archive by Nerys Williams has arrived into the Seren office this morning.
A striking 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, andpoems full of atmosphere that query identity, gender, and the dream of art as a vehicle for emotion and meaning. There is a playful lightness of touch and tone and for every serious inquisition like ‘An Anatomy of Arguments’ or‘Conversations with Cocteau’, there is a poem that will muse on ‘Canter’s Starstruck Diner, L.A.’ or on the ‘artifacts’ left by Marilyn Monroe, in ‘Marilyn’s Auction House’.

Available now at www.serenbooks.com – Join our online book club and get 20% off every purchase, including Sound Archive.

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The Roland Mathias Prize 2011

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROLAND MATHIAS PRIZE

Seren author Ruth Bidgood has been shortlisted for the Roland Mathias Prize 2011.

The event which will take place 7.oopm Friday 8th April, The Guildhall Brecon, recognises works published in the fields of poetry, short stories, literary criticism and Welsh history.

The event hosted by BBC Cymru/Wales will include readings by the shortlisted authors.

A Poetry Book Society Recommendation.
Time Being is Ruth Bidgood’s  10th collection in a career that spans almost 40 years. It has been said, rightly, that Bidgood’s work is ‘emphatically a poetry of location’ and it is the history and nature of her particular region of mid-Wales that most inspire the author. Her narratives are often literally exploratory and discursive as in ‘Viewpoint’ where a walk in the countryside revives both personal memories and knowledge of the stories associated with a place. Her distinctive voice has a quiet authority but also a subtle, conspiratory edge, as if she is letting one in on a secret, unveiling a hidden fact, or making a discovery. She avoids sentimentality, but – unfashionably – not sentiment; an observation can engender joy or sorrow or fear uncluttered by irony.  Her descriptions are sharp and memorable, tending to a cool accuracy. Nature is not always a benign presence but also often inescapably dark and mysterious as in’ Illusion’ where “A goshawk climbs a tower of air and is gone”. Also notable here are several substantial sequences: ‘Gaps’, ‘Time Being’, ‘Reading a Landscape’. These are ambitious attempts to transcend the lyric and move towards a more epic, multi-faceted form equal to the many experiences of her long life.


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Welcome

Welcome to Seren Books’s WordPress!

Seren

Seren is an independent publisher driven by quality writing across a wide-ranging list which includes poetry, fiction, translation, biography, art and history. Many of our books and authors are shortlisted for – and win! – major literary prizes across Britain and America.

At the heart of our list is a good story told well or an idea or history presented interestingly or provocatively, what used to be called literary publishing before accountants and managers gained ascendancy. We’re international in authorship and readership though our roots remain here in Wales (seren = star in Welsh) where we prove that writers from a small country with an intricate culture have a worldwide relevance.

Mission statement:

Seren is a literary publisher specialising mainly in English writing from Wales. Our aim is to publish work of the highest literary and artistic merit, while maintaining a level of profitability which enables us to function effectively as a sustainable and expanding business in a commercial environment.

Seren works with the financial support of the Welsh Books Council.

What we hope to achieve:

Our WordPress is our chance to report on Seren’s new releases, poetry events, book launches and share pictures and videos from our events.

To find out more go to http://www.serenbooks.com/