Wales Feed

Directing The Hunchback in the Park

2014-10-02T08:26:46+00:00

Bram Ttwheam is the director of the Aardman animation ‘The Hunchback in the Park’.

A small boy playing in the park almost 100 years ago had an imagination so strong that even today we can share his dreams. An amazing free-form poem that makes you both the observer and the subject, so many layers in so few lines.

This project was a special proposition to me, it was an opportunity to dig deep into a poem that reveals more with each reading.

The temptation to dwell on the sombre aspects of the piece was there. Feelings of being an outsider, self-loathing and melancholic nostalgia are all present but there is also the wonder in nature and the liberation of creativity.

For me it was a challenge to represent this multi-layered work without allowing any one aspect to dominate. I wanted to make sure that the images were as open to personal interpretation as the poem itself without being too literal. Another joyful aspect of this project was the chance to work with John Hardy and the ��̳ National Orchestra of Wales to create the wonderful score. The team here at Aardman were incredible, they all poured their own creativity into the work.

A scene from a unique short animation of Dylan Thomas's poem 'The Hunchback in the Park'.

We had great fun in the studios building rockeries, underground dens and ponds as well as filming plants and people at high frame rates. Lots of people, from our studio cleaner to dancer friends, donated their time and skills. Every day, for a week and a half, the DOP, camera assistant and I zoomed around Bristol with the company van to film plants, trees, sky and more. We even found ourselves racing against the elements to film at night, both fun and exhausting.

Back in the studio we made environments with computers and the practical elements we had assembled. We then populated them with ethereal figures and even created a hunched stop-frame figure, constructed entirely from twigs gathered in nearby woods.

The result of all this is a kind of living collage that hopefully compliments the amazing reading given by Michael Sheen.

Go behind the scenes with Bram as he talks about the process of animating the Dylan Thomas poem.

When we were approached about the project I was wondering about the possibilities of conveying multiple narratives by the use of double exposures. Double-exposed images have many qualities, not least a sense of half-remembering something.

Amazingly, this project allowed me to try out some of these notions because the source material has such a multi-layered quality. The words and the technique seemed a perfect marriage.

Composer John Hardy and ��̳ NOW Director Michael Garvey talk about composing and performing the music behind the animation of this Dylan Thomas poem.

Watch 'The Hunchback in the Park' exclusively on ��̳ iPlayer until 31 October.

Dark and disturbing poem to be performed in English for very first time

2013-10-21T10:25:38+00:00

This year marked 100 years since the birth of the acclaimed Welsh poet RS Thomas, while 2014 will see hundreds of events taking place worldwide to celebrate the centenary of Dylan Thomas' birth.

But away from the fanfare a lesser known Welsh-language writer, journalist and poet would have also made his century if he was still alive this year.

Harri Gwynn was born in 1913 and brought up in Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd and enjoyed a diverse career which even included a stint at ��̳ Wales.

Although his centenary will not be marked with any large-scale celebrations, a night of his poetry is to be held at the Studio at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 30 October.

A reading of Gwynn's long poem of Y Creadur will be performed by National Eisteddfod chair-winner Twm Morys while an English translation, The Creature, will be read by its translator, the poet and short story writer Robert Minhinnick.

Robert Minhinnick. Photo: Margaret Minhinnick

Robert was asked to translate Y Creadur for the Bloodaxe Book of Modern Welsh Poetry, which appeared in 2003, by the anthology's editors. He found it a fairly onerous assignment.

He said: "This is dark and disturbing poetry in both languages.

"It's certainly the world premiere of The Creature as my translation has never been previously performed. And I would expect very few people indeed are familiar with the original Y Creadur.

"Translating the poem was very hard-going. Much of the darker imagery only unfolds as you are far into it and it was difficult to translate it and try to keep a sense of the poetic language in English, but I hope I managed it.

"I had never heard of Gwynn before then but he was quite celebrated at the time and was on television in the 60s and 70s, so was quite a well known face."

Robert said Gwynn's experience as a journalist and observer of people is very evident in the poem, with long passages of description about the people he meets.

Y Creadur was tipped to win the crown at the National Eisteddfod in 1952 but surprisingly didn't, something Robert feels has something to do with the dark imagery of the poem being a bit near the mark.

He said: "It casts doubt on women and how they use their sexuality and seems very suspicious of the power women have over men.

"The imagery is centred around a black beetle which creates a symbol of darkness and something subterranean. The poem makes for very creepy reading in both Welsh and English.

"Twm told me Harri Gwynn was on his hero list so I'm delighted such a current and exciting young writer is having a chance to take part in the event."

The readings will take place at 7.45pm on 30 October. For more details ring 01970 623232.

Jemma King launches her first collection of poetry at the Dylan Thomas Centre

2013-06-27T08:22:50+00:00

Award-winning Welsh poet Jemma King is currently halfway through the launch tour of her very first collection of poetry.

Audiences at the Dylan Thomas Centre on Thursday will be treated to readings from The Shape of the Forest, described by publishers Parthian as "a powerful survey of life and of human experience that spans centuries and the continents."

Jemma told me that it is inspired by several news stories that gripped her during the writing process, but agrees with an assessment made by Dr Damian Walford Davies that her verse is "poetry of the aftermath".

Jemma King. Photo: A Chittock

"As a collection it is very hard to define as it leaps from topic to topic and all over the place geographically," she said.

"I am really interested in the issue of empathy which is why so many of my poems delve into what happens after a big event, like a nuclear explosion, and attempt to acknowledge it in some way.

"I think that's what ties the personal and the less personal and the historical and the contemporary together."

Historical figures that feature include the 13th century Mongolian warrior Genghis Khan and the American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, while historical events including the trial of The Pendle Witches, the onset of The Renaissance and the discovery of the Belvedere Apollo are revisited through Jemma's verse in intriguing ways.

She said: "With Amelia Earhart I was writing at a time when they thought they had found her remains. I found her so interesting because she is a public figure, and there is such fascination surrounding her disappearance over the Pacific, yet she was really very isolated in what she was doing."

The Genghis Khan connection is altogether more strange. A few years ago National Geographic revealed that 17.5m people in the world are direct line descendants of Genghis Khan. Jemma's aunt went to get tested and found she had the gene, which sparked a temporary obsession for Jemma.

Currently in the final stages of completing her PhD, Jemma is juggling the book launch with her post teaching literature and creative writing at Aberystwyth University, and working on a new collection.

She admits scooping the prestigious Terry Hetherington Award for young writers in 2011 has helped her career immensely, and thanks the team behind the award in acknowledgements to The Shape of the Forest.

She said: "I'm immensely grateful to them and it means so much to me as a writer just starting out because it has made me much more visible.

"I'm currently researching a new book based on a collection I have started of antique nude photographs where I am trying to reconstruct the women in the pictures and imagine what they would be saying if they could speak.

"I'm loving the research for the collection, although I started out calling it le dishabille, which means 'the undressed' in French, but I'm finding out lots of the photos actually come from other countries so I may have to rethink that!"

Jo Furber, Swansea Council's Literature Officer, said: "Jemma's new collection has been described as haunting, distinctive and sensual.

"It certainly is a sophisticated debut that offers a powerful survey of life and human experience."

The reading at Swansea's Dylan Thomas Centre takes place at 7.30pm on Thursday 27 June. Jemma will also appear at The Cellar Bards in Cardigan on 26 July.

For more details about Jemma's work read her blog at jemmakingpoet.wordpress.com.

Poet Rhian Edwards to host spoken word event as residency draws to a close

2013-05-24T12:25:50+00:00

It's an exciting time for Bridgend poet Rhian Edwards: her first child is due in three months, her first book of poems has been shortlisted for a Wales Book of the Year award and her second collection is coming along nicely.

Two months ago I caught up with her towards the start of her post as the first ever Aberystwyth Arts Centre writer in residence.

Rhian Edwards. Photo: John Briggs

Back then she said she hoped her legacy to the venue would be a poetry open mic night that would bring together all the different creative voices that congregate there.

And it seems that dream has been realised as Chinwag, an evening of spoken word, where people can read poetry and prose or perform their work, has just enjoyed its first event and has another planned for the eve of Rhian's departure next week.

The first poetry night saw Niall Griffiths and Tiffany Atkinson reading their poems along with appearances from Lampeter students and members of the arts centre's resident writing groups.

The next event on Wednesday 29 May will see Rhian reading along with Matthew Francis and Samantha Wynne Rhydderch, who have both also been shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2013.

Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch. Photo: Keith Morris

Rhian told me: "Chinwag is going to carry on after my departure and become a regular event which is fantastic.

"So far the feedback on it has been really great. I have kept each person to a strict five minute limit, even bossily using a school bell, which I think has made it really high energy."

The residency has provided Rhian with plenty of opportunity to pursue her interest in writing nature poems, as she wants her second collection of poetry to mark a departure from her first, Clueless Dogs, which was published last year.

Clueless Dogs contained character-led portraits, love stories and childhood memories, whereas the working title for the second collection is The Universal Doodle of Birds.

Rhian added: "The surroundings in Aberystwyth have been really inspirational. I've been amused by noisy seagulls, watched 200 red kites congregate at feeding time and seen great swarms of starlings emerge from under the pier."

Rhian Edwards. Photo: Michael Suss

The image of the red kites has led to a new poem called Birds of the Century, while Rhian has also taken inspiration from the myth of Rhiannon in the Mabinogion for her new poem The Birds of Rhiannon.

Although she is still far off from completing the collection, she wants it to be strongly grounded in mythological and natural influences.

Chinwag, An Evening of Spoken Word, welcomes readings of poetry and prose with performances by guest writers as well as open mic at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Wednesday 29 May, 7.45pm.

To book please contact the arts centre on 01970 62 32 32 or visit aber.ac.uk/artscentre.

Academics, poets and musicians unite in evening to mark RS Thomas' centenary

2013-04-17T14:54:05+00:00

This year marks a century since the birth of the celebrated Welsh poet and priest RS Thomas.

Famed for his uncompromising and often stark representations of religion and the Welsh landscape, Thomas was also passionate about the Welsh nationalist cause and a fan of the visual arts.

On Thursday night the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea will play host to an evening of poetry and music and discussion to celebrate his contributions to the Welsh literary canon.

The event has been arranged with the help of the University of Wales Press and will include an appearance by the Swansea University professor M Wynn Thomas who will launch his latest book, RS Thomas: Serial Obsessive.

But Professor Thomas has also invited along friends, colleagues and fans of RS Thomas to share their thoughts and impressions about the distinguished literary figure.

M Wynn Thomas. Photo courtesy of the Welsh Books Council

The evening features Bangor University professor Tony Brown discussing the newly-released edition of RS Thomas' Uncollected Poems, which he has edited with Jason Walford Davies, as well as Christine Kinsey, who will give a brief illustrated discussion of RS Thomas' influence on her art.

There will also be specially commissioned contemporary responses to Thomas' work in poetry and music from Menna Elfyn, Peter Finch, Jeremy Hooker, Grahame Davies, Brian Breeze, Margot Morgan and others.

Professor Thomas, who is also the executor of Thomas' unpublished literary estate, told me that his book of essays attempts to encompass the wide range of the poet's obsessions and how they focused his attentions at different times in his life.

"The philosopher Isaiah Berlin said there are two creative minds, the fox who knows about everything and is very diverse and the hedgehog who knows a great deal about one thing," he said.

"The book is a reflection of my sense that RS was a hedgehog who focused on one thing at a time, profoundly and creatively, for a number of years before moving on to the next, much like Cezanne who in the last years of his life did nothing but paint the same mountain over and over again.

"But taken this way you can look at the range of RS's obsessions and you see him as a fox instead, varied and diverse and knowledgeable about many things.

"He was capable of focusing and bending his whole being to be concerned about something that totally possessed him – that's how he worked."

Themes that preoccupied Thomas' imagination for definitive periods of his life ranged from his struggle to find a place for himself in the Welsh national identity, his spirituality and his relationship to the landscape and humanity, often portrayed through his best-known character Iago Prytherch.

Professor Thomas examines each obsession in turn, questioning them to shed new light on Thomas’ collection of poems.

He told me: "We start with the figure of Iago Prytherch, who he has created because he is compelling and mysterious and who appears and disappears throughout his poems in different shapes and guises.

"He is not a recognisable human figure but an early means by which RS was battling with the puzzling contradictions of human nature and creation.

"Another preoccupation of his was his relationship with his immediate family, his mother, father, son and wife, and by the end of his life he had an extraordinary scattering of love poetry that arose out of a longstanding obsession with these personal relationships."

The book also touches on RS Thomas’ extremist views as a fervent Welsh patriot and his religious poetry, which for Professor Thomas is where his claim to greatness lies, as well as poems he created in response to various artworks, and his thoughts on impressionists and surrealism.

"Writing it is the result of my own obsession with RS Thomas, dating back 25-30 years," admitted Professor Thomas.

"He has been a continuing fascination of mine and the book reflects the cumulative attention I have paid him for several decades."

RS Thomas was seen by many as a Welsh ogre, hard-edged and gloomy but also spiritual to the last, passionate about Wales but distasteful of what that passion entailed.

For Professor Thomas, who interviewed him for various radio programmes and met him several times over the years, he was a different person entirely.

He said: "I often heard a version I didn’t recognise from others who had met him - he has been variously described as monstrous, awkward, a Victor Meldrew character, a grouch and some people even saw his views as bigotry, whereas I saw them as a challenge to Wales to find a better way of being.

"I found him a dryly witty man, a lonely soul, a shy man who didn't find socialising easy but he was kind and very good with women - they liked him and he liked them. We had quite a teasing relationship, which he seemed to appreciate."

When RS Thomas asked the professor to be executor of his unpublished work, he asked that only the poems Professor Thomas had absolute faith in be published.

Since his death in 2000, one posthumous collection has been published, as well as Professor Tony Brown’s latest collection which features poems that were scattered across periodicals RS Thomas contributed to throughout his lifetime.

But Professor Thomas says there are plans for more: "Another volume could be put together without compromising our agreement and perhaps another dedicated to his poetry about painting but there is no rush."

The celebration event takes place on Thursday 18 April at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea from 7pm. Entry is free. Please contact the Dylan Thomas Centre on 01792 463980 or see dylanthomas.com for more information.

A series of events, new books and major projects to honour RS Thomas' legacy and work is planned throughout this centenary year. Up to date information can be found at rsthomas2013.org.

Related links

Performance poet is next Young People's Laureate

2013-04-11T14:40:19+00:00

When Martin Daws was a schoolboy he, like so many other young people, had little interest in the poetry he was taught in school.

But, as a lover of musical lyrics and inspired early on by artists like Bowie and Dylan, as well as by hip hop and rap, he soon learned that the scope of poetic verse reached far beyond the dry stanzas of his school curriculum.

After a decade DJing he found himself inspired to explore his love of music and lyrics through performance poetry and spoken word.

And now he wants to use his recent appointment as Young People's Laureate for Wales to recreate that moment it all clicked into place for him and inspire a new generation of young people.

Martin Daws during a performance. Photo: Spurious Nonsense Art Photography

Speaking just after his appointment by Literature Wales, he told me: "The poetry I learned at school didn't mean anything to me but I loved books and music. It took me a while to realise that it's all poetry.

"When I suddenly felt inspired to write and sing as a performance poet, I realised it's about making it relevant to you.

"I saw performance poetry and it was a musical literature, it had meaning, the depth and lyricalism of poetry and the emotivity of music."

As Young People's Laureate, over the next two years Martin will use his position to reach young people, engage them with literature and give them a platform for their own creative voices.

Projects he has in the pipeline include working with young people to create their own poetic manifestos, a summer day school for writers and youth leaders on delivering accessible literature activities, and a pop-up poetry tour of Wales' more rural communities.

A generational shift

Martin feels that because of music like rap and hip hop, young people today aren't as closed to the notion of poetry as they might have been in his schooldays.

"I think there has been a generational shift and young people are being exposed to music much more which I think has led to a wider appreciation of poetry."

The two year appointment recognises his many years of experience in delivering issue-based education in a creative way. So far, more than 17,000 people have participated in his workshops in all kinds of environments including classrooms, theatres, woodlands, festivals, universities, museums and even bus stops.

Martin hopes helping young people to love literature will also act as a springboard for their professional development.

"Some of these young people may have grown up loving poetry but some of them won't. I want to use it as a way to give them some key transferable skills, so they know how to communicate in a group, it builds their self esteem and lets them know why their voice matters.

"I love reading and writing but that's a private, inner experience. What I really love about the spoken word and performance poetry is that it provides a social context for the individual's journey.

"It makes people confident about expressing themselves and thinking about what they say, but the beauty is, it's happening in a natural, organic culture.

"Hopefully we can inspire people along the way to reflect on themselves and improve their life skills and build their confidence so they feel what they say is valued."

Martin Daws. Photo: Emyr Young

The Wales-wide poetic manifesto is the first project he will be working on. It will see him working with schools and youth groups and online to get people writing poetry about who they are and where they're from.

Martin will then use their work as an inspiration to write a poem of his own. The final piece will be presented at the Senedd on 19 June.

Pop-up poetry

His pop-up poetry tour will see him venturing out on to high streets around Wales to set up a poetry take-away.

He said: "Young people will have the opportunity to come and work with me in this pop-up space.

"Members of the public can stop by and we'll interview them and then write a poem for them so they can pop off and do their shopping and then pop back and we'll have a poem waiting for them which they can take-away.

"I have been doing this in libraries already and it works well alongside the build up to things like Valentine's Day and Mothers' Day, places where poetry is traditionally in the mainstream.

"I think people use poetry to speak to a deeper part of life, so in cards where it's OK to show truth and vulnerability through verse they embrace it. Pop-up poetry is an opportunity for people to have that connection."

Twitter poetry

From this week the public can also engage with Martin through a Twitter epic poem which he hopes will represent his first year in post. Each day he will post a few lines or a stanza from the poem on the Twitter account @YPLWales, which will be woven together in one piece at the end of the year. People on Twitter are welcome to contribute so that it acts as an open conversation.

"I am absolutely thrilled at Martin's appointment as Young People's Laureate," said Lleucu Siencyn, chief executive of Literature Wales.

"His energy both as a performer and workshop facilitator will make literature a vibrant, appealing and relevant art form for young people in Wales today.

"Creative writing is a vital expressive tool – and through Martin's encouragement, many more young people will gain the confidence to make themselves heard."

Tracey Thompson, youth worker at Gwersyllt Night Project in Wrexham said: “Working with Martin on the Eat My Words project was a positive experience for both the staff and the young people from the Gwersyllt Project group.

"It introduced the group to new things, took them out of their comfort zone, gave them new skills and increased their confidence... this project has altered their perception of poetry and inspired them to write more."

Martin will also be offering a number of workshops in May, both in person and online, as part of the Young People's Manifesto project.

These workshops are aimed at youth groups, young writers' groups and secondary schools and are available by application through Literature Wales, with a deadline of Wednesday 1 May 2013.

Visit youngpeopleslaureate.org for more information and to take part, or contact Literature Wales.

Idris Davies, poet of the Depression

2013-04-06T07:00:22+00:00

When we think of the Depression years in Wales, it is sometimes hard to conjure up the individual suffering of families. The event has become an historical episode and people have tended to get lost amongst the facts and figures, the verbiage of historians' opinions.

We know there was unemployment and precious little money around. The image of out of work miners and steel men standing on the street corners is one that sticks. We all remember the words of the man who, for a few brief months, was to become King Edward VIII: "Something has to be done."

But what about the individual men and women who were caught up in the tragedy, what about their feelings and emotions, their worries and fears?

One man who tried to chart or capture that time - and, in particular, the suffering that the people of the Welsh valleys endured - was the poet Idris Davies.

Davies, the son of a Welsh speaking colliery worker, was born on 6 January 1905. He left school at 14 and spent seven years working underground.

The experience of losing part of a finger in an accident and his involvement in the General Strike of 1926, followed by several years of unemployment, confirmed him in his socialist views.

These views were clearly apparent in his early poems, published in Left Wing journals such as Comment and The Left Review. His first book came out in 1938, the second in 1945. The selection for this second book (published by Faber) was made by TS Eliot who considered it the finest poetical document yet made about any specific time and place.

Eliot knew that the primary concern of Idris Davies was the people of his country, a people who were increasingly feeling abandoned and isolated. He wrote about them in poetry because that was what he did, that was his art form, but his true interest was in their feelings and in their almost unimaginable sufferings.

As Davies wrote in his unpublished diary (now held in the National Library at Aberystwyth): "Any subject which has not man at its core is anathema to me. The meanest tramp on the road is ten times more interesting than the loveliest garden in the world."

He educated himself during his long period of unemployment and then moved on to train as a teacher at Loughborough and at Nottingham University before taking up teaching posts in London. Evacuated with his pupils during World War Two, Idris Davies returned to the Sirhowy Valley to teach in 1945.

Idris Davies died of abdominal cancer on 6 April 1953. He was just 48 years old but he left an outstanding legacy in a series of poems that, at first sight, seem gentle and unassuming but which, on closer inspection, are full of bitterness and anger:

"There's a concert in the village to buy us boots and bread,
There's a service in the chapel to make us meek and mild,
And in the valley town the draper's shop is shut."

In books like The Angry Summer and Gwalia Deserta, Idris Davies did more than just write poetry, he captured the essential dignity of the working man and woman.

No other writer has ever come close to expressing the sadness and the depression of those valleys at that particular moment in time. And yet he did it in what can be seen as an almost lighthearted style. He was a master of the stunning opening line that made readers stop in their tracks and then read on with more intensity and concentration than they might otherwise have shown.

There are dozens of fine examples. "Send out your homing pigeons, Dai" as he once wrote. Or again "Let's go to Barry Island, Maggie fach." As poems these are colloquial and conversational pieces of work - as pieces of social commentary they are powerful and stunning.

Anybody interested in the Depression period and the effects of those dreadful times on working men and women would be well advised to study Idris Davies in some depth.

There is an interesting footnote. In the 1960s, American folk singer Pete Seeger put Davies' poem The Bells Of Rhymney to music. It was a poem, incidentally, that Dylan Thomas thought far too gentle, even though he used it in his readings.

American musicians including The Byrds recorded the song but failed to manoeuver their way around some of the Welsh words - Rhymney was one they simply could not manage at all. Listen to the song - it makes a fascinating addendum to the story of Idris Davies.

Life at arts centre to inspire poet's verse

2013-03-25T09:01:05+00:00

The award winning poet Rhian Edwards has just taken up her post at the first-ever writer in residence at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

The three month residency will see her immersed in the daily hustle and bustle of the venue, looking in on many creative workshops, as well as acting as spectator to some of the varied exhibitions and shows they have on offer.

Her appointment is part of a project supported by Literature Wales, HAUL and Aberystwyth University’s School of English and Creative Writing.

Rhian Edwards

Rhian told me: "It's very exciting as they have never had a writer in residence before and I get to work in this incredible work pod designed by Thomas Heatherwick, who designed the Olympic Cauldron.

"I am living here for the duration with the two visual artists in residence, which has already thrown up some ideas for collaboration.

"The space I work in is so wonderful and quiet and then it’s just a short walk from the arts centre where so much is going on.

"I feel really privileged to have been chosen and to get such a close perspective on all the groups and different artistic disciplines at the centre."

Rhian, who is three months pregnant, has moved to the town from her native Bridgend for the duration and is enjoying life in Aberystwyth.

During her stay she will be developing ideas for new poems which are inspired by what she sees on a daily basis and the artists and visitors at the centre.

"So far I've been to a bilingual pre-school group, the centre's own poetry workshop and I am planning on attending a belly dancing session, so it's a pretty varied palette."

Rhian Edwards

Rhian will also be leading poetry workshops with various groups at the centre, in schools and out in the community and has already worked with a group from the mental health charity MIND. She is also planning some performance workshops with students at the university.

"I really want to set up a poetry open mic night which will carry on after I leave and bring together all the different people I have been meeting and teaching creative writing to," she added.

"At the moment there is so much on offer but no central forum for these people to come together so it would be great if we could achieve that."

The hope is that some extracts from her new work will be on permanent display at the centre after the residency ends.

Gill Ogden, performing arts officer for the arts centre, said: “We’re very pleased to welcome Rhian to Aberystwyth and look forward to working with her and all the project partners to develop creative projects over the next couple of months. We’re sure she’ll find plenty to inspire her in Aberystwyth.

Rhian is a poet and musician and has delivered more than 300 stage, radio and festival performances world-wide, including ��̳ Radio 3, Hay-on-Wye, Ledbury, Latitude, the Green Man, the Cheltenham Literary Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Her first collection of poems Clueless Dogs (Seren) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2012, while her pamphlet of poems Parade the Fib, (Tall -Lighthouse), was awarded the Poetry Book Society Choice for autumn 2008.

She also won the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry 2011-2012, winning both the Judges and Audience Award, which is the highest accolade for a performance poet in Wales.

The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck

2013-03-19T10:53:55+00:00

One of the most popular poems in the Victorian Age - for recitation and for private reading - was undoubtedly Casabianca or, as it is invariably known, "The boy stood on the burning deck." It is a poem that was learned by heart in hundreds of schools across the country and was taken to portray the ideals of English courage.

And that's strange because the boy in question was French and the woman who wrote it spent large parts of her life in Wales, calling herself "Welsh by adoption."

Felicia Dorothea Hemans was born Felicia Browne in Liverpool on 25 September 1793. Her paternal grandparents were Irish and the maternal ones from Lancashire but Felicia moved with her parents to Abergele while she was still young.

Felicia Hemans

A further move to St Asaph only convinced her that Wales was her natural home. She spent the whole of her childhood and adolescence surrounded by the Welsh mountains and hills. In later life her descriptions of those hills and countryside were regarded by many as the best work she ever produced.

Felicia's first poem was published in 1808 - a praise poem to the Prince of Wales - when she was just 14 years old. It so impressed the poet Shelley that he sent her a letter of congratulations and continued to correspond with her on a regular basis.

Marriage to Captain Alfred Hemans meant a move away from Wales and Felicia settled in Daventry until 1814. It was not a happy marriage although five children were born to the couple before they separated in 1819. During the years of her marriage she continued to write and publish, slowly establishing her name on the literary scene.

She produced several volumes of verse, some of them, like Records Of Women and Songs Of Affection, addressing women's issues - in an age long before Women's Lib or even the advent of suffragettes. Her book Welsh Melodies appeared in 1821 and was an instant success.

Hemans died of dropsy on 16 May 1835. She was buried in St Ann's Church on Dawson Street in Dublin, where she had lived since 1831.

She was held in such high regard that both Wordsworth and Walter Savage Landor both wrote memorial verses in her honour.

These days Hemans's rather florid style has gone out of fashion but there can be few who have not heard at least some of the lines of her most famous poem:

"The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled."

It is the story of Louis de Casabianca at the Battle of the Nile, a boy sailor who remains at his post until finally explodes in a deluge of smoke and flame. He will not jump over the side because the captain of his ship Orient - who also happens to be his father - is already dead and cannot give him permission to save himself. It is 19th century sentimentality at its height - small wonder that the people and the critics loved the poem.

Casabianca has been parodied many times, usually involving copious amounts of food:

"The boy stood in the waiting room
Whence all but he had fled.
His waistcoat was unbuttoned,
His mouth was gorged with bread."

Of course, the inevitable happens - the boy explodes leaving the maids to mop up the remains of "breadcrumbs and the tea."

Felicia Hemans was a poet of her time, a woman who wrote about issues others shunned or were afraid to address. Above all, she was a woman who was proud to be - in her words - adopted Welsh.

The people's poets of Wales

2013-03-15T10:17:52+00:00

It might be something of a generalization but, from the early days of the princes, the Welsh have always enjoyed poetry and revered their bards. To be a poet at the court of the king or prince was a position that held honour, prestige and more than a little degree of glamour.

In the halls of the kings of Deheubarth, Powys and the rest there was a clear order of precedence for these poets and ballad singers.

At the top of the tree sat the Pencerdd, the chief poet or singer, who occupied an honoured and much-coveted position at the top table. He sang of the glory of the king and his prowess as a ruler – an oral tradition, of course, as little or nothing was ever written down.

Below the Pencerdd came the Bardd Teulu who, as well as having the duty of entertaining the queen in her private quarters, was also the poet of the ruler's war band. His role was clearly mapped out in the Laws of Hywel Dda.

However, it was not just the lords and ladies of the court who enjoyed poetry and verse. They may not have been so well educated or sophisticated as their social betters but ordinary men and women also enjoyed listening to heroic tales, and perhaps something a little less erudite. The Cerddorian were poets whose verse was less refined than that of men such as the Pencerdd and the Bardd Teulu. In fact, it was usually humorous and often quite ribald.

Each of the Cerddorian enjoyed their own localised reputations and long after the rule of the princes had come to an end, these 'people's poets' of Wales continued to recite and offer entertainment to the ordinary folk of the villages and towns. Throughout the Victorian Age, in particular, such men flourished in Wales.

The term Bardd Cocos now applies to any writer of doggerel, men similar in ability and reputation to the famous William McGonagall. The difference was, of course, the Scottish rhymster wrote in English, the Bardd Cocos in Welsh – and therefore their fame and influence were limited just to Wales.

The name Bardd Cocos (poet of the cockles) originally referred to John Evans who lived at Menai Bridge between 1826 and 1888. He was a cockle seller and the term Bardd Cocos simply described his job and his vocation. His verse was pretty bad but it appealed to the ordinary man and woman in the street who had little idea about metre and rhythm.

By now, these people's poets were actually writing down their efforts and the Encyclopedia of Wales quotes one of Evans's poems, translated from Welsh, about the new stone lions at the end of the Britannia Bridge:

"Four fat lions
Without any hair,
Two over here
And four over there."

Evans's reputaion grew steadily – sadly the quality of his verse did not. Later in life he was dubbed Archfardd Cocysaidd Tywysgel – the Royal High Cockle Poet – by wags who might have had a way with words but no inclination to go into verse themselves.

There were many other writers of similar quality, aiming their product at the ordinary people of Wales – and some who were considerably better.

The term Bardd Gwlad refers to a poet who celebrates his local environment and local events. Many of these poets commemorated births, deaths and marriages in the villages, writing englynion that were often inscribed on gravestones. At the top end of this strata were people like Dic Jones, a writer of real quality, and, arguably, men such as Cyril Gwynn and Harri Webb – who wrote in English rather than the traditional Welsh.

Y Bardd Cloff was the name given to Thomas Jones who wrote mainly at the end of the 18th century. The term means "the lame poet," Jones having been seriously injured as a child. A more enigmatic name was given to Hugh Hughes - Y Bardd Coch o Fon, the red poet of the bottom!

Abel Jones, 1829 to 1901, was known as Y Bardd Crwst which means, simply, "the crust poet." He was a ballad writer and singer of note and the name reflected the way in which he chose to earn his living. The king of the ballad singers in the 19th century was Richard Williams, Bardd Gwagedd, the writing poet.

In the days before television and radio it is easy to see how such men brought light entertainment and variety to the villages of Wales. Life in the rural hamlets was both spartan and remorseless.

The arrival of a balladeer, singing his songs and reciting his poems – invariably bawdy, although always remaining on the right side of propriety - relieved the almost terminal boredom of such places. Small wonder their reputations endured.

There are still people who compose "odes to order." No wedding would be complete without somebody offering a humorous story, in poetry form, of the bride or groom. And it can be argued that modern performance poetry, so beloved of poetry slams and the like, is nothing more than an extension of this ancient art form.

It is a noble art, poetry for the people, not one to be disparaged. To do it well is difficult, to hit the emotions and imaginations of the listeners, is something every poet aims for.

Eco-poet leads others in verse workshops to honour the planet

2013-02-15T11:37:20+00:00

In a time when many of us share grave ecological concerns, eco-poetry has proved itself to be a burgeoning art form, with poets as prominent as Gillian Clarke and Carol Ann Duffy penning verse about climate change.

Now the broadcaster and writer Susan Richardson is hoping to inspire others to act in the best interests of the planet by committing their thoughts on the subject to paper via two poetry workshops.

The workshops are taking place this Saturday at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff and is part of WWF Cymru's wider Earth Hour celebrations.

Earth Hour will take place later in the year, on Saturday 23 March at 8.30pm, and will see millions of people across the planet turning their lights off for one hour. Landmark buildings, homes and businesses in Wales will be among those plunged into darkness to mark a pause for thought in honour of the planet.

A selection of the poems written at the workshops this weekend will be displayed or performed to those who gather at Chapter Arts centre for Earth Hour in March.

Poet Susan Richardson, photo by Rhys Jones (rhysjonesimages.carbonmade.com)

This Saturday's workshops are aimed at writers of all ages and all levels of experience and will see them taken through their paces by Susan in a series of exercises.

Participants will be encouraged to write about the theme of renewable energy and will receive feedback from Susan, who is herself a big believer in the power of poetry to make a difference.

There is a morning session for children and young people and an afternoon session for adults.

Poetry for the planet

Susan originally hails from Newport and regularly performs her eco-poetry at environmental events and conferences, with much of her work featuring in print and online eco-poetry journals.

She describes her work as "poetry for the planet" and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the International League of Conservation Writers.

She has also been one of the resident poets on ��̳ Radio 4's Saturday Live and has made several visits to the Arctic, returning with a wealth of inspiration for her work.

She said: "My love for nature and the environment is always at the heart of my work, but this is an opportunity to be part of something much bigger – the worldwide phenomenon of WWF's Earth Hour – so it's an exciting prospect.

"Poetry has the power to make a difference, inspire shifts in perception and create new patterns of thought and experience.

"I hope this workshop will harness creative energy on the theme of renewable energy and a better future for our world."

Abi Lawrence from Chapter Arts Centre said: "We're looking forward to hosting Susan's poetry workshops and to some really engaging poems to entertain and inspire everyone who gathers in Chapter for WWF's Earth Hour."

Anne Meikle, Head of WWF Cymru, said they were delighted at Susan's involvement.

"Earth Hour is a great opportunity to use your creative talents to show your support for the planet.

"This year, for the first time, we have a focus on the need to shift from dirty fossil fuels to renewable energy, which works with the power of nature, not against it.

"We hope it'll inspire more people in Wales to take part and, vitally, show their support by signing up for Earth Hour on the WWF website."

For more information on the workshops and to book a place, visit the website wales.wwf.org.uk.

National poet Gillian Clarke on the inspiration behind her latest collection

2012-12-06T13:37:55+00:00

This Friday comrades in verse Gillian Clarke and poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy return to the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea for an evening of poetry.

National Poet of Wales Clarke will read from her latest collection Ice, which was published by Carcanet in October, and the event will also celebrate the awarding of the Pen/Pinter prize for outstanding literary merit to Duffy.

I caught up with Clarke ahead of the event to hear a little about the inspiration behind it and get an insight into what her public role means to her.

Poet Gillian Clarke. Photo: Poetry Live

Ice was penned after the bitter record-setting winters of 2009 and 2010 which saw widespread travel chaos and ruined many a Christmas homeward journey.

Clarke herself was stranded by the snow and felt as if the force of nature was asserting itself in the landscape all around her.

She told me: "The trigger was a polar bear skin rug my father bought in a house sale when I was a young child.

"I began Ice in the long winter of 2010-11, snowbound in a 12th floor flat over the river Ely in Cardiff, then snowbound again in the beauty of frozen Ceredigion.

"The snow was resonant with memory and myth, silent as my late mother's mother tongue, Welsh.

"Thaw loosens the water and the words, and the bear lives briefly once more before we drive him from the earth."

While many of us were praying the boiler man would come soon and wondering if our feet would ever feel warm again, Clarke said the bleakness of the seasons reinvigorated her, giving her a sense of "beauty, adventure, a charge of energy".

She said: "Our house is 200 years old, with no central heating, 900 feet high, among 18 acres of woodland, gorse and grazing.

"We have a small flock of sheep to care for. Food, warmth, water, all had to be managed. It was real!"

The compilation also presents commissioned pieces written during Clarke's time as National Poet of Wales, including poems for Haiti and Guardian features for Christmas and Valentine's Day.

I asked her if she ever finds the job onerous and overwhelming, when so much import is placed on what she says when she writes about public events or is commissioned to write a specific piece.

She replied: "Not at all onerous. I enjoy the challenge. It is in the Welsh tradition for a poet to be 'the voice of the tribe'. Sometimes poems are commissioned; sometimes a public event is enough to set me going.

"In the case of Running Away To The Sea, Carol Ann Duffy gave me the year 1955, no argument, for her anthology for the Queen's Jubilee year, Jubilee Lines.

“She wanted personal poems, and it was a charged year for me - my last year as a schoolgirl at a convent boarding school - so the poem wrote itself."

More recently she was inspired to pen a poem, Daughter, in response to the harrowing disappearance of five-year-old April Jones from Machynlleth, Powys, a story that had every parent or grandparent in the country holding their offspring a little closer and tighter.

Clarke said: "The poem wrote itself in 10 minutes. The child was in all our minds, and still is.

"I tried not to write about it in case of putting a foot wrong, or seeming to exploit the situation.

"I showed it to two poets, Carol Ann Duffy and Imtiaz Dharker. Carol Ann suggested changing one word, which I did. I did not send it anywhere for a while."

Ice also includes the poem Six Bells, written 50 years after the mining accident at Six Bells Colliery in Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent. The explosion killed 45 miners and rocked the Welsh mining community.

I asked Gillian how she goes about writing a response to events that have such public resonance and are so well documented and familiar to so many people.

She said: "I have to care - and who does not care about such human tragedy? We all do. I just find words for it.

"I am still enjoying the role of national poet. I have learnt that if I enter the world of poetry wholeheartedly, there is great energy to be found there. The title helps.

"Poetry has enabled me to cross boundaries, linguistic, national, international, racial, tribal. The walls fall down and a poet can go anywhere."

And while the role brings a great deal of work and responsibility, it is Clarke's husband David that keeps her going.

She said: "Without his support I could not have accepted every invitation, every commission."

I asked her if she has ever struggled with a commission. "They are all just poems, which come or they don't. No struggle - struggle shows.

"Language should sound at ease with subject. I have refused to write a poem or a cause in which I didn’t believe."

Clarke and Duffy run the website Sheer Poetry together, a resource of information about poets by poets for scholars, teachers and poetry lovers everywhere.

The pair have been known to turn to one another for inspiration and Clarke says she has the utmost respect for Duffy's "acute poetic intelligence".

"She spots a false word or a fraudulent poet at the speed of a hawk after prey!

"We are completely different kinds of poet, so it is more a question of a shared commitment to poetry's great variety, and pleasure and fun in sharing a stage.

"We do sometimes ask each other's opinion on a poem, or even a whole manuscript."

Friday's event takes place at two different times - 5pm and 7.30pm - at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea.

Poet's seven-year vision is realised in print at last

2012-12-03T14:24:15+00:00

Seven years is a long time in anyone's book, but for poet Emily Hinshelwood it was the gestation period needed for her first collection.

The idea for On Becoming A Fish was born in 2005 as she walked the breathtaking coastline at Amroth in Pembrokeshire with her family and found herself wanting to write a longer sequence of poems for the very first time.

Searching for a theme, Emily decided she would pen the poems as she walked the 180 mile coastal path in various stages and searched for inspiration in the landscape and the people she met.

The collection of 70 poems, which has just been published by Seren books, features many sights and sounds those familiar with the area will recognise, but it also explores the idea of boundaries from social to geological, fact to fiction, while teetering on the edge between land and sea.

Emily, who has won many awards for her poetry, including the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry, told me she had never intended for it to be so long in the making, but what started as a flash of inspiration on a family stroll soon became a labour of love that has taken her on an incredible journey.

Emily Hinshelwood. Photo courtesy of the poet

She said: "At the time I thought it wouldn’t take that long but I did find it really hard to write the sequence at first and then it took me a long time to be happy with the final collection.

"I realised a lot about myself as a writer during the process and that nature writing doesn't come naturally to me.

"It took about a year to find something I could hang the poems on that I was happy with. That something was the idea of boundaries and walking a thin line between the two masses of land and sea.

"Most of the poems take nature as a starting point and explore the issues I had in my mind at the time, either the news or history and its relevance to Pembrokeshire as I was reading about the area the whole time.

"There were many times I wanted to give up because it was taking so long, but I'm really glad I stuck with it."

The poems feature everything from skinny dippers to sandpipers, from cavemen to quarry boys, from glow-worms to Las Vegas.

One of the factors that did inspire Emily to keep going with the task was the people she met on her many solitary walks.

She said: "I met a woman who was brought up in one of the lighthouses at St Anne's who remembered when a shipwreck I had taken lots of photos of during my walks had happened.

"She was only a little girl but could remember taking out soup and blankets for the crew. It was so fascinating to talk to her."

Emily also spent a day on the waves with the lifeboat crew in Fishguard, hearing their tales of rescues and getting to experience first-hand their passion for their vital work.

But for much of the distance, she met nobody and had only her camera and notebook for company.

"Over the course of time I really developed my own kind of style - something I had never quite found when I was writing single poems in the past. I do feel much more confident as a writer now."

Despite the low points and the time it took to write the collection, Emily is not to be put off and is forging ahead with a second book that will accompany her walks along the old Heart of Wales train line from Shrewsbury to Swansea. The 193 mile route travels through many unspoiled and remote parts of south and mid Wales.

As she lives on a smallholding with her partner in Tair'gwaith, Neath Port Talbot, the walks will again involve much travelling by public transport.

Emily, who also works as community arts facilitator for the charity Awel Aman Tawe, based in Cwmllynfell, has a deep interest in environmental issues.

She said: "I have already begun the next walk and am asking everybody I meet three questions about climate change.

"The rule is I have to ask everybody, even if they are drunk by a railway line or a farmer screaming at me to get off my land or they'll shoot me even when I'm on a public highway! This last one has already happened and I did manage to get an answer to my three questions!"

On Becoming A Fish was launched earlier this month at the Pontardawe Arts Centre with some accompanying animations by Emily and music from harpist Delyth Jenkins. The book is available from Seren and below is the title poem from the collection, courtesy of Emily.

On Becoming A Fish
Emily Hinshelwood

Tales of the sea didn’t prepare me for this.
It all seemed so Jack Sparrow, so Barti Du,
perhaps a mermaid flung on a rock,
whales. Jonah.
You know what I mean.
Even the fish stall with its ice trays
and neat lines of flat eyes, even he spins yarns
as he slices heads into a bucket.

When you stop coming up for air,
when your lungs implode to a stillness
all that talking ceases.
All that endless talking.
And you half-remember poking
at a lobster with rubberbanded claws
noting how prehistoric it was
and someone said something about the future.

Sounds now are just noise
against my body
This is my story.
I keep telling it over and over.
For it’s just me
defying gravity.
The swish of my tail
darting.

It’s starting to feel like I’m dancing.

Women's writing celebrated at the xx minifest

2012-10-26T10:04:03+00:00

Writing by and for women will be celebrated this weekend as the xx minifest of women’s writing 2012 takes place in Cardiff.

This inaugural festival will take residence at Chapter Arts Centre this Saturday, 27 October. It aims to publicise the range and diversity of writing by women from Wales in the English language, and encourages both men and women to attend and take part.

This one day minifest will act as a "taster session", as a more extensive literary programme is already being planned for 2013.

I put a few questions about the festival to Susie Wild, one of the co-organisers of the xx minifest. Wild is a writer, an editor at Parthian Books and she also organises the Cardiff Literary Salon, and will be holding a special edition of the literary gathering for the festival.

How did the festival come about?

"The festival is organised by Penny Thomas, publisher at Honno and fiction editor at Seren; Amy Wack, poetry editor at Seren; Carole Burns, senior lecturer in creative writing at Cardiff Metropolitan University and me.

"It was Penny's idea. She was working for Honno, the independent Welsh women's press, at the time and planning celebrations for this, their 25th birthday year. Penny wanted an event that celebrated all the wonderful women they had published over the years, and that would showcase writing by and for women from Wales and the world. We got talking, and then enlisted the very capable and enthusiastic help of Amy and Carole."

Why the name xx?

"xx refers to the female sex chromosomes, men are xy. When looking for a name we wanted something that wasn't too girlie, we wanted our festival to appeal to men and women across all writing modes and genres, because we are trying to close the divide, not widen it. xx was a working title that stuck; I did science at A-level and uni, so that's probably why it cropped up!"

What events do you think are likely to be the highlights of the day?

"Every event is a highlight for me. I am looking forward to hearing professor Katie Gramich introduce the festival in our first session as we will be discussing The State of the Art and what it means to be a female writer today, the pros and the cons.

"The xx line-up includes some great new local voices as well as the Booker-longlisted novelist Nikita Lalwani, award-winning poet Rhian Edwards, Dylan Thomas prize-winner Rachel Trezise and Sunday Times shortlisted short-story writer Roshi Fernando."

Author Nikita Lalwani. Photo courtesy of Nishant Lalwani

How do you respond to people who may question an all-female event?

"Unfortunately, while Hilary Mantel wins her second Booker and women certainly do have a voice in the literary scene, there are still figures that show that women are under-represented in magazines and newspapers that review and cover writing and impact on readership.

"An American organisation called Vida, Women in Literary Arts, does frequent surveys of magazines in both the UK and US. Men are often three to four times as likely to be writing reviews; and the books reviewed are often three or four times more likely to be written by men.

"One way to address this is not by just complaining, but by doing something about it - by bringing more attention to the excellent writing that is out there by women and encouraging men and women to come and hear these writers at xx, and expand their reading choices."

Can you tell us about plans for next year’s more extensive festival?

"We hope that it will be like this year's, but bigger! The inaugural year of any festival is really a taster session, to see if audience interest is there and to prove to funders and sponsors that you have what it takes to continue year on year.

"Next year we are hoping to run for more than one day, and have an exciting big name or two to draw people in, more involved discussions on different aspects of women's writing and a programme of workshops.

"There is so much we've been unable to include this year, so we would be considering sessions on different genres, non fiction, theatre, radio and screen writing among others.

"Perhaps we'll set a couple of male critics a reading challenge. We certainly aim to have a couple of male guests talking on women's books, but mostly we want to highlight great writing that often gets overlooked, and to have a good literary time."

The xx minifest begins at 2.30pm in the afternoon with the introductory session by Cardiff University's Katie Gramich. Author Nikita Lalwani, who was born in Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff, will read from her new novel The Village from 3pm.

Up and coming poets Rhian Edwards, Emily Hinshelwood and Anna Lewis will each perform their works in an afternoon poetry event.

Honno celebrate their 25th anniversary year with a reception at the minifest - another of Wild's highlights - plus there will be a book fair featuring works by Welsh publishers and all those writers taking part in the festival.

Wild's all-female edition of the Cardiff Literary Salon will include readings and discussion from Roshi Fernando and Rachel Trezise, plus new literary talents Sarah Coles, Alexandra Claire and Hail! The Planes front woman Holly Müller.

Tickets to individual events cost £4, or a day ticket is available for £15. For further information visit xxwales.wordpress.com and the Chapter Arts Centre website.

Hashtag Dylan Thomas: Under Milk Wood in 28 tweets

2012-10-03T10:42:22+00:00

This Thursday, 4 October, marks National Poetry Day in the UK. To celebrate the annual event, one of the most well-known works by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas will be performed in a new, very abridged version - thanks to the medium of Twitter.

Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood will reach a new audience on Thursday as the story will be tweeted, through just 28 tweets, across the day.

Swansea City Council are behind the idea, which will include tweets from seven of the best-loved characters from the play.

Anyone who wants to follow the play as it unfolds on the social networking site should follow the Dylan Thomas Centre - @DTCSwansea - and use the hashtag #milkwood to take part in the discussion on the day.

Councillor Nick Bradley, Swansea Council's cabinet member for regeneration, said: "Dylan Thomas is Swansea's most famous son and his legacy across the world speaks volumes for his enduring popularity.

"Performing an abridged version of Under Milk Wood on Twitter is a fantastic idea. It will bring Dylan Thomas into the 21st century and introduce his rich collection of work to new audiences and a new generation."

Watch an archive clip from a rare recording of Under Milk Wood from 1957:

A rare recording of a 1957 broadcast of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood

There will also be an event at Dylan's birthplace, 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, to mark National Poetry Day. Andy Morse, together with local musicians and poets, will introduce Down Sparrow Lane by poet and musician Tony Webb and The Other Side Of The Bridge, the new work by award winning Cumbrian poet Geraldine Green.

Another event that's embracing social media is being planned by Literature Wales.

They've challenged four Welsh poets, Iwan Rhys, Eurig Salisbury, Osian Rhys Jones and Hywel Griffiths, to create 100 poems in the space of 24 hours to mark National Poetry Day.

The poets will compose poems from their own homes and post the pieces, all of which will be in the Welsh language, on a collaborative blog, her100cerdd.co.uk.

The public can get involved by sending themes, title suggestions and encouragement on Twitter, @LlenCymru and using the hashtag #Her100Cerdd, on Facebook or by emailing post@llenyddiaethcymru.org with the subject header Her 100 Cerdd.

Also, shoppers at John Lewis in Cardiff will able to experience a little poetry on the day. The store has commissioned up-and-coming Welsh poet Rhian Edwards to lead a series of workshops encouraging shoppers, school pupils and students to get versed in the ways of poetry.

For more information and the latest news on what's taking place in Wales see the National Poetry Day website.