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BOOK REVIEW: 'one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Welsh writing in English'


There is a wonderful extended review essay 'Ecological Literacy' by Steven Lovatt in the latest issue of New Welsh Review exploring recent books that seek to restore natural and cultural ecologies and recognise how the cultural nature of our landscapes is preserved in language. It offers an in-depth look at This Common Uncommon by Rae Howells, and here are three of our favourite snippets:

"Rae Howells’ new poetry collection, This Common Uncommon, is a fierce and loving affirmation of the local, exemplifying the sort of care-full attention to the interdependence of people, other animals and plants that will be required if anything worthwhile is to be saved from the present ruin."
"Howells confirms the evidence of her first collection, The Language of Bees, that she is a highly adept poet, possessing one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Welsh writing in English."
"If West Cross Common is developed for housing, nobody can now claim ignorance of what was lost. So whether you buy or borrow This Common Uncommon be sure to share [it] widely. For there are countless such sites across Wales, all under threat and all uniquely valuable, the little-known places no less than those sometimes noticed in the media. Such fragments of the ancient landscape rarely make it into poems, and indeed I don’t know that anywhere as small and 'humble' as West Cross Common has ever before been celebrated in a collection of such ability."

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