Wales Arts Review Name 'Pearl and Bone' Best Welsh Poetry Book 2022

It was so lovely to end the year with the news that Wales Arts Review named Pearl and Bone, the second poetry collection from Mari Ellis Dunning as Best Welsh Poetry Book 2022 and to have another of our titles, the debut Strange Animals by Emily Vanderploeg on the shortlist.

Clearly, I think all our 2022 poetry books, poets and editors are wonderful or I wouldn't have picked them, if you've had a backlog of great books to read, it did feel like 2022 was a bumper year for releases, then why not catch up with our 2022 list:

The language of bees – Rae Howells

Tempo: Excursions in 21st Century Italian Poetry edited by Luca Paci (bilingual Italian/English hardback)

Pearl and Bone – Mari Ellis Dunning

Strange Animals – Emily Vanderploeg

All available from Parthian Books and your favourite bookshops on and offline. You can also catch Mari offering her writing tip as part of Jo Bell's Writers Advent for Day 18.

I was also pleased to see another book I worked on at Parthian, An Open Door: New Travel Writing for a Precarious Country – ed. Steven Lovatt on the shortlist for Best Welsh Non Fiction Book 2022.

Finally my plans for the rest of the year were cut short. I had a splendid time dancing, eating Greek food, laughing at comedy and drinking nojitos at a dirty blues and jazz bars in That London for Bear's Big Birthday in early December and then – of course – I got well and truly knocked down with Covid for the first time afterwards making the festive season VERY lowkey indeed.

This did mean, good for little else, that I managed get to catch up on some telly, the best of which, not just because of the name, was The Bear – I love food and drama and this stirs both into the pot – excellent / excruciating TV – perfectly balanced with salt, fat, heat and acid and a great cast. Devour it. I also enjoyed Emily Blunt's The English mini series.

Finally in 2022, due to the strange diets of domesticated bears, I have finally beaten my nemesis the omelette, which I can now not only cook but also get onto a plate without it breaking. Considering the things that I can cook, I've no idea why this particular dish has been so hard to master and I'm not sure that I am a master yet, but it has been an important step in facing the things I think I cannot do over the last couple of years, big and small. Watch out for more of that in 2023.

Wishing you all the happiest of New Years and sending you joy and sparkle wherever you are Xx

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