Wildlife

So I survived another birthday. Lovely mini holiday in West Wales with my beau, an intimate acoustic set from Patti Smith in Laugharne before I headed off to do a mini gig as part of the Jam Bones crew of Cardifferent poets at a blustery first outing of Dinefwr Literature Festival . We performed in a flappity tent on the Saturday, but many of the acts were forced indoors due to the bad weather . Still, I managed a walk in the woods and over marshes, spotting deer etc and dosed up on a fair bit of good country air. I also proved my poet credentials (bad at sport and coordination) in a game of boules with Nasty Little Press and was read a Revolting Rhyme by Mr Joe Dunthorne during a patch of sunshine. (He read this one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5DS2DnsJ04 ). I also waved farewell to my trusted travelling companion - my starry tent - who had survived a decade of festivals, but finally snapped this weekend. Sob sob. I think I have to admit that me and camping are almost thro...

Happy International Short Story Day! I shall be celebrating by reading short stories this morning and working on a new short story this afternoon...  I hope you have a day of enjoying short stories and their writers, also. Gifts/ drinks most welcome.  Next week I am off to see Patti Smith play, frolick about in Laugharne for my birthday, and then hop over to Dinefwr festival to perform a few poems : Saturday, 1.00pm Jam Bones is the brain child of Mab Jones, and is a spoken word enterprise based in Cardiff. It has organised over 50 events, including: monthly  Manic Monday  poetry happenings in the capital city; the popular  PechaKucha Night  of mini-presentations at Chapter Arts Centre; various slams, including the Welsh heat of this year’s  National Team Poetry Slam ; the  Floralia Festival , a showcase of female creative and performance talent; the Welsh leg of Attila the Stockbroker’s 30th anniversary UK tour; and many, many more! ...

La Boheme Published  Wednesday 6 June 2012  at  12:01  by  Susie Wild Welsh National Opera’s La Boheme is a feast of the senses celebrating La Belle Epoque. Choosing to revive one of their best-loved productions with the alternative version of the opera is always going to run the risk of displeasing traditionalists and avid fans of the other production, however the beautifully contemporary visual spectacle they have created is guaranteed to win them many new admirers. Annabel Arden makes an assured debut with WNO as director with great attention to the nuances of character. Stephen Brimson Lewis has designed incredible, cinematic sets incorporating multimedia to great effect as the action switches from the shadows and starlight of Parisian garrett rooftops and the exuberant bustle of bohemian cafe culture in the Madcap years to the painterly winter tableaux of Act III. Extravagant diversive rather than outrageously distracting. Anita Hartig (Mimi) and A...

Sundays are meant for this: sunshine, a country walk, and then reading in a beer garden before watching Shakespeare in the sun, overlooking mountains with my handsome man... Here is my The Stage review of alfresco As You Like It : As You Like It Published  Monday 28 May 2012  at  13:11  by  Susie Wild “All The World’s a Stage!” proclaims the small, versatile cast of As You Like It, performing in their pop-up outdoor theatre against a stunning sun-drenched backdrop of Monmouthshire mountains. One of 66 dates in pretty locations, Rain or Shine’s adaptation of this classic scores decently on topicality. The first half centring on The People’s Games and including asking a random punter to deliver a flaming torch to the stage. The ensuing entertaining wrestling match also contains amusing, effective slowmo action and comical costumes. Pippa Meekings shines, playing a feisty and fun gender-swapping Rosal...

Rhian's poem is the Saturday poem in today's Guardian. I am going to frame it like a proud mum. You can read it here:  http://m.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/25/parents-evening-rhian-edwards-saturday-poem?cat=books&type=article Now go and buy her book!

Waterstones Cardiff wrote: WATERSTONE'S CARDIFF THE HAYES Thursday, 24 May 2012, 7:00PM Come and meet the brilliant James Sallis. He is joining us for a Question and Answer session about his new book 'Driven'. Hope to see you there. Further details: 02920 665606 Yes he wrote Drive too, the book that became THAT Ryan Gosling film. I went along to talk words and help drink the wine. Sallis is a lovely, kindly guy who encourages writers to enjoy themselves and remember that they are the lucky ones who get to make stuff up for a living. His new book examining a woman in peril years after the event sounds interesting too. Here is a picture of Sallis with Cult Books Waterstones Hero Bert: Also, tomorrow it Towel Day - go forth and celebrate the work of Douglas Adams .

It happened. The official launch of Rhian Edwards' debut full poetry collection Clueless Dogs at Gwdihw on Sunday 20 May. Only Rhian would have 15 people support her at her booklaunch gig - 14 ukulele players and myself. I sold out of my book too, and have more orders. It was fun. Well done Rhian! Pictures are from the night. Bardic babes below (L-R): Carole Burns, Me, Rhian Edwards, Ivy Alvarez

Our first session of the all new Cardiff Literary Salon will meet at Sherman Cymru on Monday 21st May 2012.  Facebook event page:   https://www.facebook.com/events/273891899356312/   I will be in conversation with special literary guests about writing for performance from 8pm.  My guests include: Comic, poet and playwrong Mab Jones Double John Tripp Award winner Rhian Edwards Up and Coming Cardiff Poet Frank Thomas Poetry Editor at Seren Amy Wack Unfortunately The Gwyneth Lewis conversation has had to be postponed but we shall be welcoming her later in the season, and congratulate her on the Wales Book of the Year shortlist. About Cardiff Literary Salon: A literary gathering in an informal setting, the Cardiff Literary Salon sees top writers read or perform their work, and discuss their practice with 'notable bohemian' Susie Wild. Questions are then opened up to the audience for discussion and good conversation. After the talk the revellers c...

I am taking part in Imagistic on Flash Fiction Day (16 May 2012), writing a new flash story inspired by a painting by Keith Bayliss. Here is the picture 'Untitled': Here is an extract from my piece called 'We Hang in the Balance': Some days I imagine breaking you into pieces. I think you would be more fun. More manageable then. In small parts. I would hold your hand over breakfast. Bend your ear over lunch. At night, in the garden I'd use my diabolo skills to impress you, I'd dance with your head. You probably wouldn't enjoy it. You'd look bemused. Ask me to change the music. Ask if maybe I'd prefer to dance with a leg instead. Imagistic: Cardiff Flash Fiction Day  is on Wednesday. Come along. Edited to add here is a picture of organisers Carole Burns and Paul Edwards on the Roy Noble show with the image Rhian wrote her excellent shoe story about. We had a lovely evening reading with Niall Griffiths, Richard Gwyn, Des Barry, Tony Bian...

Little Dogs Published  Monday 14 May 2012  at  11:29  by  Susie Wild Little Dogs is an energetic, contemporary take on Dylan Thomas’ short story Just Like Little Dogs, in which men with homes to go to instead choose to walk the streets of Swansea. Frantic Assembly has cleverly re-imagined the lost souls of Swansea’s night times from Thomas’ young man years to the present day, translating this feeling of lost limbo to today’s teenagers fighting their nightly hormonal wars with Thriller-style dance offs. Darren Evans and Sian Phillips in Little Dogs at the Patti Pavilion, Swansea (previous picture shows Katie Elizabeth-Payne) Photo: FarrowsCreative The promenade production begins with a scrawny, agitated teenage boy (Darren Evans) sat in a chintzy family room, while a concerned and ghostly maternal figure (Sian Phillips) watches over him. He frets, twitching limbs and net curtains, before finally allowing her to comfort him. At the point of the hug ...

Last night I read at the launch of Rhian Edward's first full poetry collection  Clueless Dogs . She is a super darling friend and I am most proud. Here is a picture of me reading taken by Auntie Lynne: Today I am mostly reading my copy of the book - it has my name in the front AND the back. You can and should get your hands on a copy here:  http://www.serenbooks.com/book/clueless-dogs/9781854115737 Here is a picture of the congrats card I made Rhian, with Rhian and her beloved American beau Blake Harwell:   Yep, I know, multi-talented, me. I am supporting Rhian at a joining up of my two favourite Swansea nights - The Crunch and Skye - on Sunday . Sadly STUPID LAST TRAIN TIMES mean that I can't get to these nights now I have left Swansea, some  may say this is fair punishment for leaving, but I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar faces there. Here is the beautiful poster for the event:   After that Rhian has lots of other gigs, some o...

Facebook event page:  https://www.facebook.com/events/419006744777859/

Clytemnestra Published  Monday 23 April 2012  at  11:00  by  Susie Wild A former National Poet of Wales, Gwyneth Lewis has also made a name for herself as a librettist and writer of factual prose. Clytemnestra is her first theatre play. As with her recent novel The Meat Tree, a retelling of the story of Blodeuwedd from the Mabinogion, Lewis has once again re-imagined an old text in the near future; reflecting her interest in the contemporary parallels of myths and legends. Nia Gwynne and Jaye Griffiths in Clytemnestra at the Sherman Cymru, Cardiff Photo: Toby Farrow For Clytemnestra, her makeover of Aeschylus’s fifth century BCE Greek trilogy The Oresteia, Lewis has set the story at a time when oil has run out and the world fights for food. Agamemnon is fighting a food war, and sacrifices his daughter to save his people. In his absence, Clytemnestra unravels with the grief and fury of a mother betrayed. The only character not to have her death aveng...

Tomorrow I'll be putting on my Parthian work hat and doing   a mini presentation on women writers in Wales at Pecha Kucha in Chapter . More info about Pecha Kucha Cardiff: PechaKucha Night Cardiff is a free event which is part of a worldwide phenomena now showing in 400 cities worldwide, wit h over 1000 events each year. Drawing it’s name from the Japanese term for the sound of ‘chit chat’, PechaKucha invites selected speakers to share their knowledge through 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise and keeps things moving at a rapid pace, creating tempo, story, tension, show and tell. PechaKucha Night Cardiff is launched and hosted by Louisa Cameron and is supported by Chapter; Cardiff School of Art & Design, UWIC; Design Wales; Orangutan Studio; Inkling Creative and Culture Colony – Y Wladfa Newydd. PechaKucha Night is trademarked, devised and shared by Klein Dytham architecture. Free entry: please reserve free tickets at ...

‘Across The Water’ and ‘Swamp Area’ by Alistair Noon In  Pamphlets  on  April 16, 2012  at  10:28 am - reviewed by  Susie Wild  - Noon invites us to experience life seen as ‘A matinee at the Theatre of Water’ in  these two pamphlets , plunging hidden depths and murky shallows. His chosen forms both follow rules and break rank. A pleasing, readable rhythm pulses through these slim volumes, ebbs and flows like the tide. In  Across The Water  we glimpse fragments that have captured Noon’s attention. His poems blend fleeting flitting thoughts with snapshot word sketches to give us a sense of those moments. The 20-part title sequence is a good example of this brevity of style and expression, using little to say much. His sharp pen portraits capture the city and her people with mica glimmers of tongue in cheek humour. Sun shines, saplings grow and bubbles blow as failings are confessed, skies sag, rubbish is bagged and ...

You can catch me hosting The Cardiff Literary Salon w/ Gwyneth Lewis  at Sherman Cymru on 21 May 2012. Join the group for Cardiff Literary Salon for all event updates. I also have some poetry and flash fiction gigs coming up: 1. Mini Presentation on Women Writers in Wales @ Pecha Kucha , 24 April 2012, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff 6.30 - 8pm 2. I am writing a new piece based on a work of art to read at National Flash Fiction Day, 16 May 2012 at WMC. 3. I am supporting the fab poet Rhian Edwards on her Clueless Dogs book launch tour on these dates: The Crunch/ Skye, Sunday 6 May, Mozart's, Swansea 7pm Launch Proper, Sunday 20 May, Gwdihw, Cardiff 6.30pm - I shall be hosting this too. I shall also read at her gigs at Poets in the Bookshop, Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea (31 May) and First Thursday, Chapter (3 May). Be magic to see your beautiful faces at one or all of them x

' you appeared so many times in the passion on the bbc you should have been on the credits girl..  — with  Michael Sheen ' - Neale Howells Yes it really is one year since The Passion. Watch it/me on iPlayer again:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011wjxs/Passion_in_Port_Talbot_It_Has_Begun/ The Gospel of Us premièred in Port Talbot this weekend:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-17596122 The film will also be shown at the cinema each evening from Monday to Thursday before going on UK-wide release from 13 April.

EXCENTRAL TEMPEST ,  KATE TEMPEST ,  PERFORMANCE POET ,  PLAY ,  POETRY ,  SPOKEN WORD ,  SUSIE WILD ,  THEATRE ,  WASTED WASTED by Kate Tempest In  Performance Poetry  on  April 5, 2012  at  11:35 am - reviewed by  Susie Wild  - @ Sherman Cymru , Cardiff - 24 March 2012 Tempest: Spoken Word to Stage Kate Tempest  has already made a name for herself on the spoken word scene as a poet, rapper and hip hop artist, but with a surname like hers it seems only right that she should cross over to writing for the stage. It is a successful move. Her debut play takes the best elements of these lyrical influences to tell an engaging, emotive story of three friends knee-deep in weekends and growing too old for the drug-fuelled South London party scene. Friends raving or stuck in a rut? The friends have known each other since their teens, and now in their mid-twenties, are finding new concer...