Wildlife

HUGE congratulations to Bianca Bellová and Alex Zucker for making the longlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation! 16 titles have been longlisted for the seventh annual award of the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. The £1000 prize was established by the University of Warwick in 2017 to address the gender imbalance in translated literature and to increase the number of international women’s voices accessible by a British and Irish readership. The prize is judged by Amanda Hopkinson, Boyd Tonkin and Susan Bassnett. In 2022, the prize was jointly awarded to  Osebol  by Marit Kapla, translated from Swedish by Peter Graves and published by Allen Lane/Penguin Random House, and to  Tomb of Sand  by Geetanjali Shree, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell and published by Tilted Axis Press. The 2023 competition received a total of 153 eligible entries representing 32 languages; this is the largest number of submissions made to the prize to date. The longl...

Hey folks! Parthian is open to submissions for a short window next month. Take a look at what we are looking for in the link below... We look forward to reading your work! More info here: https://www.parthianbooks.com/blogs/news/submissions-window-to-open-in-november

Black Bough Book of the Month October 2023: Small by Natalie Ann Holborow ' Small is brave, honest and straight-eyed, overlaid with a rare passion that confronts the edges of human fragility. The weight and force of its characters are centre-stage in a raw telling that shines a soul-trapping and valuable light on the invisible stigmata of pressure to conform to body-image perfection.' – Glenn Barker, September 2023 Read the review in full

Read the Czech Literary Centre's supplement in the new issue of The Bookseller The supplement is mainly focused on Czech books that have recently been published (or will soon be published) by British publishers. Space was given to fiction as well as to poetry and graphic novels. The cover was designed by Jaromír 99 . The highlight of the supplement is Tivnan‘s article about Bianca Bellová and her novel The Lake (trans. by Alex Zucker, publ. by Parthian Books ), for which she won the EBRD Literature Prize in June (Olga Tokarczuk was also among the finalists). Ra Page, the director of Comma Press , introduces The Book of Prague , an anthology of Prague short stories, edited by Ivana Myšková and myself. It contains 10 short stories by 10 Czech writers, translated by 10 translators (or translating couples). The book will be published later this month. Scottish poet and publisher Rob A. Mackenzie wrote a short essay about why he decided to publish Selected Poems by Petr Hruška, an...

We are delighted that Burning Bones – written by Miren Agur Meabe and expertly translated to English from the original Basque by Amaia Gabantxo – has been selected as the winner of the TRANSLATION PRIZE LABORAL KUTXA – ETXEPARE 2023. The prize rewards the quality of the translation itself and the publisher’s promotional strategy. The publisher and the translator will share the prize. In a series of short poetic narratives Burning Bones ( Hezurren Erretura ) finds the writer on a remarkable journey of imagination, discovery and emotion. Burning Bones is a companion piece to A Glass Eye ( Kristalezko begi bat ) – a collection of short stories that complement the universe of Miren’s novel about absence as an engine for creation, about what we make out of the things we lose; her eye, in the author’s case, or love, or the innocence of youth. Throughout this work, Miren tries to illuminate the life of a woman artist. She asks how a woman can be an artist in this society? How to make art ...

  ‘He became the unacknowledged national poet of his generation, an open hearted soul whose poems embodied much of what our nation is today—diverse, passionate, tender and unafraid to take a hard look at its political and cultural complexity.' – Menna Elfyn Wild Cherry: Selected Poems by Nigel Jenkins, edited with an introduction by Patrick McGuinness will be released this November. #nationalpoetryday #poetry #poetrycommunity

Well this is lovely! Congratulations all! >> Exciting News! The Broken Spine is thrilled to announce our Best of the Net (BOTN) nominations for 2023! These outstanding pieces have captured our hearts and exemplify the exceptional talent we're proud to publish: "I Hate You" by Sue Finch "Desert Streets" by Regine Ebner "Anne Neville" by Bex Hainsworth "That Snarl Amongst the Goddesses" by Damien B. Donnelly "Sheltered" by Jen Feroze "I've been wanting to write to you about the trampolines" by Susie Wild These nominations are a testament to the incredible poets and writers who entrust us with their words. We are immensely proud of their work and the profound impact they've made in the world of literature and poetry. Join us in celebrating their remarkable contributions to the literary world by using #BOTN and #Nominations . Let's continue to champion the power of words together! #TheBrokenSpine #Lite...

Diolch to Wales Arts Review for including Ness Owen's Moon Jellyfish Can Barely Swim in their pick of poetry Summer Reads! Moon Jellyfish Can Barely Swim   by Ness Owen (Parthian) Moon jellyfish live a life adrift, relying on the current to take them where they need to go. They are the ultimate survivors and one of the most successful organisms of animal life. So how do they thrive in the open ocean when they can barely swim? Ness Owen uses this poignant selection of poems to delve into questions of womanhood, language and identity, asking what it really means to move with the flow of an ever-changing environment.

  Tackling @thesealeychallenge this August?  Well we’ve got the stack for you!  Buy any poetry book from Parthian Books this August and get your second half price with code - SEALEY. www.parthianbooks.com

Nice to see David Hughes, Swansea and Working Out ( Parthian Books ) mentioned in The Friday Poem's article by Steven Lovatt on dialect poetry... I arrange to meet up with David Hughes in Swansea’s Queen’s Hotel, a long-time haunt of poets and other artists, and formerly a place where Swansea dialect would have been thick in the air between the dockers, fishermen and workers at the various foundries and copperworks that made the city’s name. It’s mid-afternoon and the bar is only half-full, mostly with retirees and tradesman on a break. I hear no dialect, though the accent is evident enough. David has arrived before me and thoughtfully bought the first round. We’ve met a couple of times before, at poetry readings and also by chance in the street. He has published two books of poems, Tidy Boy in 1998 and last year’s Working Out. Although mostly in standard English, both collections also contain poems representing the Swansea dialect and accent. The opening stanza of the poem ‘Tidy ...

The yolk-bright new issue of Poetry Wales has just arrived on my doorstep featuring a new poem of mine after Queen of Bohemia Nina Hamnett’s Fancy Dress (1899) at Tenby Museum. This issue is bursting with other great poets and articles including a wonderful review of Topher Mills ’ new and selected poems Sex on Toast (Parthian Books), a new poem from Rae Howells and writing from Mari Ellis Dunning and Robert Minhinnick.

  What a pleasure it was to read in the Lady Chapel at Llandaff Cathedral Festival last night with star poets Hanan Issa, Philip Gross and Manon Ceridwen James and a wonderfully attentive audience. Thanks to Mike Church for hosting too!

The Lake   by Bianca Bellová, translated from Czech into English by Alex Zucker and published by Parthian Books, is the winner of the   EBRD Literature Prize 2023 . It was a joy to celebrate the announcement with them at dizzying heights at the EBRD HQ, Canary Wharf.  The winning work of translated literary fiction, originally published in the Czech Republic, was chosen by an independent panel of judges composed of Toby Lichtig (Chair), Maya Jaggi, Arkady Ostrovsky and Natasha Randall. Both author and translator were congratulated in person by EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso at an awards ceremony at the Bank’s headquarters in London. The €20,000 prize will be split equally between the author and translator.

* Voices on the Bridge * Thursday 22nd June 2023 – Clwb Y Bont, 85a Taff Street, Pontypridd, Wales CF37 4SL. The lineup of poets reading includes Stephen Payne, Nick McGaughey, Susie Wild, Ben Wildsmith, Leigh Manley, Pete Akinwunmi & Rob Cullen. Starts at 7.15pm

Huge Congratulations to  Rae Howells, shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2023 for her stunning debut collection of poems The language of bees ( Parthian Books)! I am so delighted by this news. Congratulations to all the other shortlisted writers and publishers as well! With thanks to the judges and to Literature Wales. Read the Literature Wales full story Watch Just Another Poet's recent interview with Rae Howells It seemed appropriate to have a mocktail in the rain… (we're still island hopping in the Dodecanese): This week has also seen us celebrate World Bee Day and Rae's birthday, so why not join us in celebrating by treating yourself to Gower Lavender's The language of bees giftbox? This limited edition gift set is the perfect bee-tastic present. You get a jar of yummy locally-produced honey, a honey dipper, some beeswax melts, a bee decoration, a bar of our bee-friendly lavender soap, and a signed book of bee poetry, all packaged up in an eco-friendly box. ...