Wales

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‘Daniel’s Beetles’

Seren has a new exciting release!

Seren is proud to announce that the Winner of the Daniel Owen Prize for Pryfeta has adapted his originally Welsh-language novel into English.

Daniel’s Beetles is the upcoming novel from Tony Bianchi, originally from North Shields, who now lives in Cardiff.

Bianchi is the former Director of Literature at the Arts Council of Wales and is now a freelance writer and translator. Pryfeta was shortlisted for Welsh Book of the Year.

Synopsis:
Daniel’s Beetles is an absorbing, unnerving novel about memory and forgetting, stories and lies, language and borders. It describes our attempts to recreate ourselves in ways we can never fully control. And in Dr Bruno, it catches a glimpse of the smiling mendacity, at once pathetic and chilling, which some might recognise as the face of a country at war.

Reviews:
“This is an intricate and multi-layered novel, rich in ideas and eloquent in expression, which will be pored over for years to come.” – Owain Wilkins, Planet

“The writing is muscular and at times utterly overwhelming… I was exhilarated.” – Robert Arwyn

“One of the most exciting writers working in Wales today.” – Lloyd Jones, Talesin

Continue reading ‘Daniel’s Beetles’

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‘A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees’ Reviews

A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees by Clare Dudman.

An intensely moving novel based on stories about the trails and triumphs of nineteenth-century Welsh immigrants attempting to set up a Welsh-speaking colony in Patagonia. The protagonist Silas James is a character you instantly connect with, and the in-depth descriptions make you feel as though you are sitting in the Patagonian desert. A word of caution: this storry is filled with tragedy, so have your tissues at the ready.

Buzz Magazine

Continue reading ‘A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees’ Reviews

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Patagonia Release

Last night at the Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Welsh director Marc Evan’s premiered his new film Patagonia starring the Welsh-born-Hollywood-turned actor Matthew Rhys and Grammy Award winner Duffy.

The film is about the Welsh Colony, Y Wladfam in Patagonia, South America.

Interested in Patagonia?

Check out Clare Dudman’s A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees published in June 2010.

Impoverished and oppressed, they’d been promised paradise on earth: a land flowing with milk and honey. But what the settlers found after a devastating sea journey was a cold South American desert where nothing could survive except tribes of nomadic Tehuelche Indians, possibly intent on massacring them.

Silas James fears he has been tricked into sacrificing everything he loves for another man’s impossible dream. But despite his hatred of the politically adept Edwyn Owen, and under the watchful eye of Indian shaman Yelue, a new culture takes root as an old one passes away.

A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees is a lyrical and insightful evocation of the trials of the first Welsh Patagonian colonists as they battle to survive hunger, loss, and each other.

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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/