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Emmylou Harris Day!

 We went to Bristol to see  Emmylou Harris! * Well, that was special!

Photo Blog: Sasha Debevec-McKenney wins the Dylan Thomas Prize

A lovely day in Swansea today and a joyful winning poet (Sasha Debevec-McKenney) at the Dylan Thomas Prize Ceremony…

Patrick Jones shortlisted for the Poetry Wales Award 2026

 It is so lovely to see Patrick Jones on the shortlist for the Poetry Wales Award 2026 . I have been working with him on his new collection Antidotes to Dissolution , out through Parthian this August.

TODAY: Vote in the Senedd Elections!

  Get out there and vote… I’ve cast mine.

Gig Alert: Natalie Ann Holborow at The Mill

 

Gig Alert: Rae Howells at Reading the Wild this weekend

Rae Howells will be taking part in Reading the Wild this weekend Books at the Dragon's Garden Catch her at 3.30pm Saturday. I’ll be reading poems from This Common Uncommon and The language of bees , and talking about the amazing power of poetry in environmental campaigns. Tickets:  https://www.facebook.com/BooksAtTheDragonsGarden

Gig Alert: Jemma L. King at The Cellar Bards in Cardigan

Coming up next week: Jemma L King is the guest poet at The Cellar Bards on Friday 8 May... ‘ In Moon Base One, Jemma L. King transports the reader between the sea and the stars; between mother and child; between the body and the vastness around it, so these are not separate spaces but part of the same orbit. King has a gift for writing in a way that’s relentlessly inventive and so often breathtaking. Raw heart, electric imagery and undeniable skill – Jemma L. King’s best yet.’ – Natalie Ann Holborow 'A masterclass in metaphor. From foetal spacemen to the ever-shifting landscape of the maternal body, here is poetry microcosmic and macrocosmic, intimate and vast, gorgeous and visceral. It moved me; it made me want to write; it was brimful of loss and hope and complexity. I loved it.' – Emily Blewitt 'Jemma L. King’s Moon Base One is bold, strange, gorgeously wrought – full of static and starlight, as well as strange beings and interactions along the way ... As a collection, ...

Radio Wales Arts Show: Odette Debono

Tune in to tonight’s Radio Wales Arts Show with Gary Raymond. Chatting to Odette Debono about her powerful and intimate memoir on her mixed-heritage docklands’ childhood and turbulent relationship with her mother, White Sheep .

Gig Alert: Parthian at Literature Caerleon This Saturday

Catch Odette Debono and Francesca Rhydderch as part of the line up of the wonderful Literature Caerleon This Saturday!

Patrick Jones at April's Cellar Bards in Cardigan

 

Photo Blog: Goa (Part Two)

Goa Part Two: including a visit to a spice plantation and an Agonda sunset with sea cows and seahorse.

Holiday Reading: Mother Mary Comes To Me

A little heartbroken to have just finished reading this extraordinary memoir ( Mother Mary Comes To Me )…

Photo Blog: A Month in Goa

I am away in Goa travelling / writing for a few weeks... So far, it has been wonderful...

White Sheep launches in Newport

  Photos by John Briggs

On Being a Writer in Wales: Odette Debono

'I was never going to write a book about my family, about our most intimate moments, but somehow it leaked out of me, bit by bit, even though over the years I have tried to think about, to write, anything else.' Read Odette Debono 's piece on writing her debut memoir White Sheep on Nation.Cymru ... Odette launches White Sheep at Newport Festival of Words on Sat 21st March. Order from Parthian Books or your favourite bookshop.

Welsh writers invited to revisit banned LGBTQ+ classic

Welsh writers are being invited to take part in a new literary project that aims to reimagine a controversial character from one of the most famous novels in LGBTQ+ history. Publisher Parthian Books has launched an open call for expressions of interest for Reimagining Mary Llewellyn, an anthology of short stories that will revisit the character of Mary Llewellyn from Radclyffe Hall’s 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness. The collection will be edited by Elizabeth English, senior lecturer in English literature at Cardiff Metropolitan University, and is due to be published in 2028 as part of the international research project 100 Years of The Well of Loneliness.

'It's a triumph!' – Taylor Edmonds on White Sheep

Thank you to Patrick Jones and Taylor Edmonds for these fantastic endorsements of Odette Debono’s compelling memoir White Sheep ...

Author's Notes: Odette Debono in The Western Mail

A lovely piece by Odette Debono in The Western Mail today on Pill and her debut memoir White Sheep which launches a week today at Newport Festival of Words ! Order a copy from Parthian Books or your favourite bookshop! 'A memoir that explores the deep complexities of a life: of coming-of-age, of being from a mixed-race family, of growing up in a working class community, with such intimacy and honesty, I couldn't put it down. Debono writes about a mother-daughter relationship that is strained by addiction with such nuance and ultimately, with great love and care. This is a book about home, about belonging, and about the beauty and pain that shapes the making of us. It's a triumph.' – Taylor Edmonds 'A heartbreaking rollercoaster of hope, fear… and love... and a timely reminder of the beauty and fragility of life.' – Patrick Jones

NWR #139: Editorial

The latest issue of New Welsh Review (#139: Journeys) is out from Parthian Books and all good bookshops now and I just thought I’d share my editorial for you here…

NWR #139 and White Sheep at LBF2026

What’s on our bookshelf at the London Book Fair? White Sheep by Odette Debono Blueprints by Crystal Jeans New Welsh Review #139 Journeys, edited by Susie Wild It Might Not Be True by Francesca Rhydderch Boundary Waters by Tristan Hughes The Extra Test by Andrew Hignell Behind the Scenes by Angela V. John