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Graham Mort’s collection of short stories ‘Touch’ short-listed for the Edge Hill Prize

Graham Mort’s collection of short stories Touch has been short-listed for the Edge Hill University short story prize 2011.

Touch includes the Bridport prize winning story ‘The Prince’, which was described by novelist Tracy Chevalier as “..the writing is word perfect..”.

From a young child adrift on an ice-filled lake to an ageing farmer facing life alone, the twenty-one stories display a deep sensitivity to both the natural world and to human relationships. In skilfully crafted prose, vivid with detail, Mort examines the strength and fragility of life and the ties that hold us within it.

See the Edge Hill Univeristy Short Story Prize 2011 shortlist – click here

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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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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.

Congratulations Ruth!

Ruth Bidgood with editor Amy Wack at the prize giving event in Brecon.


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‘What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Khalo’

Author: Pascale Petit

SHORTLISTED FOR THE T.S ELIOT PRIZE 2010

LONG LISTED FOR WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2011

“Pascale’s poems are as fresh as paint, and make you look all over again at Frida and her brilliant and tragic life.” Jackie Kay,  The Observer

“Poems about paintings rarely set off fireworks, but this is ekphrasis with a difference: Petit speaks in Kahlo’s voice with eerie believability, animating her paintings with a behind-the-scenes narrative of romantic and reproductive woes, chronic pain after a bus crash, and the occasional moment of joy. ‘Whenever we make love, you say/it’s like fucking a crash –/I bring the bus with me into the bedroom’ (‘Remembrance of an Open Wound’)” Time Out London

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. More than just a verse biography, this collection explores how Kahlo transformed trauma into art after the artist’s near-fatal bus accident. Petit, with her vivid style, her feel for nature and her understanding of pain and redemption, fully inhabits Kahlo’s world. Each poem is an evocation of “how art works on the pain spectrum”, laced with splashes of ferocious colour.

“Their apparent shared sensibility makes the ventriloquism of these poems entirely unforced, and while Kahlo’s voice is subtly distinguished from Petit’s own, both women have a way of taking painful, private experiences and transmuting them, through imagery, into something that has the power of folklore. They capture the unsettling spirit of Frida Kahlo and her work perfectly.”Poetry London

“No other British poet I am aware of can match the powerful mythic imagination of Pascale Petit.” Les Murray, Times Literary Supplement

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). 

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Petit Long Listed 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 long listed titles click here

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‘Understudies: New and Selected Poems’

Anne-Marie Fyfe – as is apparent in her Understudies: New and Selected Poems – is a subtle and engaging poet. She has developed much like a painter, spare themes moving towards a deeper complexity. Her earlier work includes quite a few domestic interiors; rooms recalled from an Irish childhood and stories told by parents and grandparents. Later poems often feature crucial or pitvotal moments in her life and the imagined lives of others: a significant conversation, the look a woman gives herself in the mirror when she’s about to leave her husband, the odour left in the air by a certain perfume. All this eventually evolves into her characteristic poem, a cityscape wrought with careful observation and melded with flashbacks of memory, both her own and including her family, and others, beautifully imagined. Her voice is direct, with a conversational tone that invites you into the narrative. This volume includes selections from her previous books:Late Crossing (1999), Tickets from a Blank Window (2002) – both from Rockingham Press, and The Ghost Twin (Peterloo, 2005).

Published by Seren in September 2010.

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‘Interstate’ Poem of the Week by Guardian Books

Author Anne-Marie Fyfe has had her poem ‘Interstate’ elected as poem of the week by Guardian Books Blog!

‘Interstate’ is taken from Fyfe’s 2010 collection Understudies: New and Selected Poems (available from Seren).

Carol Rumens, from the Guardian, says about Fyfe’s collection, “Set variously in London, the US and her native Northern Ireland, Fyfe’s poems have a certain ease and elasticity, even when their structure is regular, as here. The tone is cool, the language plain and unclassifiable. It’s as if travel between places had made it natural to combine associated poetic styles – lyric compression with a certain freedom of line and movement.”

Seren is delighted to have one of our poet’s recognised and congratulations to Anne-Marie Fyfe!

To read the ‘Poem of the Week’ article posted on Guardian Books Blog follow this link http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/apr/11/anne-marie-fyfe-interstate

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Book Submissions

Thinking of submitting your work to Seren? Read our Updated Submissions Policy first.

Submissions Policy 2011

Seren publishes between twenty and twenty-five new titles a year across its list. Fiction currently accounts for five or six titles and poetry six or seven.

As a successful and prize-winning publisher Seren receives hundreds of typescripts. We do our best to respond as quickly as we can, and like all publishers we’re eager to read remarkable new writing.

Please be aware though that in many areas we are considering titles for publication two or more years ahead, and that the ratio of submissions to editors means that proper consideration of your typescript may take some time. We hope that our continued success will mean an increase in titles, but for the moment please bear with us.

You are welcome to make non-fiction submissions by email, to the addresses below (please note we are not currently accepting poetry or fiction submissions via email). If sending a submission by post, please include a stamped addressed envelope for return of manuscript, and for acknowledgment of receipt if required. (Unfortunately we are unable to acknowledge receipt or return MSS without these.)

Fiction

Seren publishes  a small number of quality literary fiction titles. We do receive a large number of submissions, but are always keen to read innovative, exciting manuscripts. We do not usually publish genre fiction, such as historical, saga, sci-fi, etc, and are not currently publishing children’s fiction. Writers wishing to submit fiction should first familiarise themselves with the Seren website to ascertain whether their book would contribute to the Seren list.

To submit a manuscript please send a synopsis, covering letter, two or three representative chapters (around fifty pages) and a stamped addressed envelope to Penny Thomas, Fiction Editor, Seren, 57 Nolton Street, Bridgend, CF31 3AE. Email submissions are not accepted.

Our list has now reopened to submissions, but please bear with us as it may take some time to get back to you.

Penny Thomas, Fiction Editor: [email protected]

Poetry

Poets who wish to submit should have track record of publication in literary Journals like Poetry Wales, New Welsh Review, Planet, Poetry Review, etc. Poets should send hard copy manuscript of approximately 50 pages, along with a one-page cover letter with details of previous publications and brief biographical details. It will also be helpful to show some knowledge of the Seren list. Simultaneous submissions are discouraged.

Amy Wack, Poetry Editor. Hard copy submissions only

Non-Fiction

For us to consider a book for publication, you should send a clear proposal in the first instance. We may subsequently request a sample of the work. 3-4 pages of A4 should be sufficient, covering the following areas:

Author/Editor: brief biographical details of the author, editor(s) or collaborators. Where the book is several edited chapters or essays, brief biographical and professional details of all contributors are useful.

Title of Book: This need only be a working title, but it should give a clear sense of the book’s scope and range.
Synopsis: One page or less outlining the book, its subject, approach and method.

Chapter Outline: A chapter by chapter outline of the contents, showing how the argument or subject is developed.
Illustrations, Figures, Tables: please give an estimate of the number and kind of illustration needed (colour/black and white etc.)

The Market and Competition: What is the envisaged readership? Might the book be used on courses? Is there likely to be overseas interest? Are there any possible tie-ins or media interest likely? Do any similar books exist? If so, what are they and how does yours differ?

Date of Delivery: When can you complete the book?
Please also include the author/editor’s CV.

Mick Felton, Non-Fiction Editor: [email protected]

We wish you every success in your submission and look forward to reading your work soon!

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Nerys Williams

Originally from Pen-Y-Bont, Carmarthen in West Wales, Nerys Williams has published her original first collection of poetry Sound Archive (2011) with Seren. Nerys is a native Welsh speaker and had worked as a Sound Librarian at BBC Wales and is a recipient of a Fulbright Scholar’s Award at UC Berkeley.

A recent winner of the Ted McNulty Poetry Prize, she lectures in American Literature at University College, Dublin. She has published poems, critical essays widely and is the author of A Guide to Contemporary Poetry as well as study of contemporary American poetry, Reading Error.

Books by Nerys Williams
Sound Archive

 

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WIN a proof copy of Tony Bianchi’s ‘Daniel’s Beetles’

We are giving away 5 proof copies of Tony Bianchi’s latest novel Daniel’s Beetles, 10 weeks before official publication. Daniel’s Beetles is the author’s translation of his prizewinning Welsh novel, Pryfeta. Daniel’s Beetles is an absorbing, unnerving novel about memory and forgetting, stories and lies. It describes our attempts to recreate ourselves in ways we can never fully control.

All you have to do is write Daniel’s Beetles in the subject line of an email and send to [email protected]

Closing date is 4th April 2011. See Terms & Conditions

To learn more about the novel and the author check our blog under ‘Seren Authors’ and ‘New Releases’.
All information is also on our website.