Books published by Poetry Wales Press

The border town of Hay-on-Wye is famous for two things: the annual Festival of Literature (now in its 31st year) and its stunning location. Jim Saunders new book is a photographic record and words about Hay-on-Wye, its environs and people. The result is a record of the relationship in which a landscape of great natural beauty shapes a people, ...

Leaping from the pages, jostling for position alongside the Valleys mams, dads, and bamps, and described with great warmth, the superheroes in question are a motley crew: Evel Knievel, Sophia Loren, Ian Rush, Marty McFly, a bicycling nun, and a recalcitrant hippo. Other poems focus on the crammed terraces and abandoned high streets where a working-class and Welsh nationalist politics is hammered out. This is a postindustrial valleys upbringing re-imagined through the prism of pop culture and surrealism.

New paintings on the subject of women and the constraints of domesticity by Shani Rhys James, accompanied by an informative interview and commentary by Edward Lucie-Smith.

A lavishly illustrated guide to sacred wells in the contested lands between England and Wales from prehistoric times to today, pagan to Christian, with diversions into the Roman occupation and the commercial spas of modern times.

This novella by Owen Sheers retells the Passion of Christ, based on the author''s groundbreaking National Theatre of Wales play starring Michael Sheen and performed over three days in Port Talbot.

Brave and beautiful, this remarkable debut collection of poetry features the edgy, modern voice of an urban female. From poems of a fraught childhood in Bridgend, south Wales--where a sensitive child escapes through imaginative games--to works depicting student rivalries, damaged peers, and tense situations associated with teenage problems, this compilation matures with an underlying sweetness. Additional poems explore the sensual rapture of love and the clear-eyed realization of its inevitable disappointments.

Celebrating the culture and landscape of Cornwall, England, this collection presents the sacred wells of the region through stunning color photographs and informative text. Trekking though densely wooden terrain and into ancient churches, this volume features dozens of preeminent Cornish wells and the legends and history associated with them. Unique and enlightening, this compilation demonstrates the Celtic influence on towns and villages through the nomenclature of wells and places of worship and further highlights the sacred wells through poetry--composed by renowned writers, including Robert Southey and Arthur Quller Couch.

By responding to loss with humor and by appreciating the world in all its quirky variety and odd detail, this collection meanders from an imaginary village to Manhattan, from southern California to London, from Arizona to the Czech Republic, finally coming to rest in the mysterious comforts of the Illinois prairie. Rich with original observation and wry commentary, these poems are lushly rendered with an unashamed wordiness. Incorporating a range of cultural touch points, each piece deftly pulls from a broad reference spectrum, including classic literature, Raggedy Ann, the notorious hangings at Newgate Prison, the ubiquitous Dear John letter, William Shakespeare, Bob Dylan, and John Keats's fiancée Fanny Brawne. Sensual and lushly engaged to its many worlds, the assorted works collected here evoke an altogether formal and thematic experience.

Poet Portraits Portreadau Beirdd results from a year-long project initiated by artist Lorraine Bewsey to paint twenty leading poets with strong connections to Wales. Her portraits are executed in pastel, in a uniquely expressive hyper-realist style which has been greeted with praise by critics, curators - and the sitters themselves. This publication, produced to coincide with a touring exhibition of the paintings, is an illuminating insight into the work of a prodigious talent. The stamina involved in producing such a significant body of work is in itself impressive. To maintain a supremely high standard so consistently across all twenty paintings (and a self-portrait) is truly remarkable. Lorraine says of her work: "Skill in drawing, in the subtle and accurate use of colour, are essential to me as an artist. I want my portraits not only to draw out the essential character of my subjects, but to be appreciated for the quality of line and tone. I want visitors to my exhibition to feel that the skill of an individual artist in drawing and painting is important. I want them to appreciate the continuity of artistic endeavour over the centuries." Art critic and lecturer Dr Anne Price-Owen's thoughtful Introduction places Lorraine's work in a wider context, while the artist adds a personal essay in which she outlines her methods and motives for this ambitious undertaking. The poets themselves have generously contributed a poem each to accompany their portrait. The Subjects: Dannie Abse, Tony Curtis, Grahame Davies, Christine Evans, Catherine Fisher, Peter Finch, Paul Groves, Paul Henry, Gwyneth Lewis, Tim Liardet, Hilary Llewellyn-Williams, Patrick McGuinness, Christopher Meredith, Robert Minhinnick, Twm Morys, Pascale Petit, Owen Sheers, Zoë Skoulding, Meic Stephens, Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch