Wildlife

1 December 2010 was a good day for Stefan Mohamed. The 22-year-old Powys writer was awarded the inaugural Sony Reader Award, the all-new category of the Dylan Thomas Prize for talented unpublished British writers under the age of 30. He wins £5000 and the chance for his debut novel  Sweet Sixteen  to be published in eBook format. The award was judged by a distinguished panel of experts including  that well-know novelist  ex-Catatonia front woman Cerys Matthews who said of the judging process: ‘The quality of entrants has been extremely high and it has been a joy to experience firsthand the level of unpublished literary talent in this innovative new category.’ Stefan first drafted his novel at the age of 16. He has since graduated from Kingston University with a First Class degree in Creative Writing.  Sweet Sixteen  tells the story of Stanley Bird, a solitary, eccentric teenager who lives in a quiet town in Wales where nothing ever happens. Then, on his six...

BY  SUSIE WILD   ⋅  DECEMBER 2, 2010  ⋅   POST A COMMENT FILED UNDER    BOOKS ,  CERYS MATTHEWS ,  DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE ,  SONY READER AWARD ,  STEFAN MOHAMED ,  SWANSEA Stefan Mohamed presented with his trophy by Welsh singer Cerys Matthews. Photo: Martin Ellard / Grafic House. 22-year-old Powys writer Stefan Mohamed has won £5000 and an e-publishing contract for  the inaugural Sony Reader Award category for unpublished writers  in the 2010 Dylan Thomas Prize. Stefan won the award for his novel  Bitter Sixteen , which he first drafted at the age of sixteen. Stefan is a writer, poet and musician from Powys, Mid Wales. He has recently graduated from Kingston University with a First Class degree in Creative Writing. The novel stars Stanley Bird, a solitary, eccentric teenager, lives in a quiet town in Wales where nothing ever happens. On his sixteenth birthday, Stanley is gifted with superpowers and he decides to b...

BY  SUSIE WILD   ⋅  DECEMBER 2, 2010  ⋅   POST A COMMENT FILED UNDER    BOOKS ,  DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE ,  ELYSE FENTON ,  LITERATURE ,  POETRY ,  SWANSEA Pic: James Davies American poet  Elyse Fenton (29)  was awarded the third £30,000  Dylan Thomas Prize  last night for her disquieting debut poetry collection Clamor  which powerfully charts the distance, intricacies, intimacies and harsh realities of love across a landscape of the Iraq war, between the frontline in Baghdad and the homefront in America. Clamor , which was written in part while Fenton’s husband was deployed as a medic in Baghdad, is the first book of poetry ever to have won the title, which has so far gone to two short story writers:  Nam Le with  The Boat  in 2008 and Rachel Trezise with  Fresh Apples  in 2006. The award, which is sponsored by the University of Wales, is designed to encourage creative t...

The Art of Contraception by Susie Wild A talent for razor-sharp, satirical observation  – Nigel Jenkins Susie Wild’s debut collection is a quirky mix in which tales of the fantastic and the everyday are told with inimitable style and flair. The deranged cravings of a mum-to-be lead to the accidental poisoning of her co-worker in ‘Pica’. Rob holidays in his bathroom and dreams about his underage love interest in ‘Aquatic Life’. The poignant and subtle novella ‘Arrivals’ unfolds slowly, revealing a mother and daughter in opposite corners of the planet, both experiencing their own personal revelation. At school Rob hadn’t had any human friends. He’d quite liked the croaky toad in the pond at St Fagin’s Primary, and the biology teacher at sixth form, because she let him eat his lunch in the labs while reading illustrated science books about aquatic life. There he had washed away his loneliness with watery facts: sea lions do not mate for life; young male Steller’s sea lions, known as b...

It is  National Short Story Week . WooHoo. I love short stories.  Sophie has written a very informative blog  about events packed with tips and linkage (see below), isn’t she lovely? As such  I thought I’d celebrate the week  by giving you my recommendations for top short story writers and collections written by women in or from Wales. In no particular order these are the books I have loved most: Jo Mazelis has written two great collections,  Circle Games  and  Diving Girls , the latter of which was shortlisted for the Best First Book Award in the Eurasia Commonwealth Writers Prize and for Welsh Book of the Year 2003. You can read her list of  the top 10 short story collections on the Academi site . Margiad Evans  The Old and The Young Anna Wigley  Footprints Maria Donovan   Pumping Up Napolean Imogen Herrad  The Woman who Loved an Octopus and Other Saint’s Tales Gee Williams  Blood Etc   - shortlist...

NOVEMBER 2010 Happy National Short Story Week The short story  is having something of a resurgence of late. I am not complaining, having written a book of them , and I am sure Tyler isn’t either, as Parthian are publishing his short story collection sometime in the future. Anyway, as such there are all sorts of fab celebrations of the short story form going on this month and next. This week is  National Short Story Week . There are events across the country, and short stories to read for free on the website including my story  Aquatic Life . I’ve also taken part in the short story challenge and contribute 150 words or so to the collaborative short story  Consequences . I will be guest editing the site for a month in 2011. I am going to be writing  a Mslexia blog  on why I love short form and my fave short story writers soon, possibly this afternoon. Sophie has written  a very informative one about events and resources for short story readers and writ...