Susie Wild's Blog: Wildlife, page 4

FUNDRAISER GIG: Voices on the Bridge for the Children of Gaza

A great line up for this much-needed fundraiser... including Patrick Jones, Tracey Rhys, Abeer Ameer and Mr W. 

Fundraiser for the Children of Gaza. Saturday 21st June 2025

Storyville, Pontypridd

Starts 6.30pm.

Voices on the Bridge is organised and presented by Rob Cullen - Reading and performing will be Sabrin Hasbun, Patrick Jones, Abeer Ameer, Mike Jenkins, Rob Cullen, Tracey Rhys, Greg Cullen, Leanne Evans, Des MannayDisabled, Welsh writer of colour, Fiona Cullen, and Ben Wildsmith. Elizabeth Heath of RCT Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be speaking about the upcoming Palestinian youth visit to RCT and they will have a stall with info leaflets.Menna Elfyn couldn't be with us but has generously donated 20 copies of - Y Bachgen a'r Wal - The Boy and the Wall - a book creeated by the young people at Lajee Centre near the city of Bethlehem.Local artists Gerhard Kress & Barabara Castle, have donated paintings to be autioned on the night .Great news Gerhard Kress has donated £410 he raised from the sale of his art work!There will also be food and music. Bring cash if you plan to eat.Tickets are £10 online - £12 on the door.This is not a fundraiser for Hamas.This is an event to provide funds to support the Children of Gaza.All monies raised will be donated to UNICEF.

This event is part of The Pontypridd Great Big Community as Super Power Day.

Get your tickets now!

MSLEXIA REVIEW: "Thatcher wields form like a whip."

Thanks to Ellora Sutton and Mslexia for a lovely review of Christina Thatcher's third poetry collection, Breaking a Mare in issue 106. Here are some snippets:

"Breaking a Mare is Christina Thatcher’s ode to growing up on a horse ranch in Pennsylvania, a space where girls are taught 'never show / you’re willing to stay down’ (‘Get back on the horse’). But there are other lessons, too, subtly communicated by the ranch’s mares."

"Thatcher has a direct style, comparable to Selima Hill; she shows us, with precise detail, what’s on the surface, the veil through which uneasiness seeps""Thatcher wields form like a whip."
Pick up a copy of Mslexia here

GIG ALERT: Mari Ellis Dunning at Aberystwyth Poetry Festival

 

 At The Bookshop by the Sea on Saturday afternoon: Mari will be chatting about the power of language, words and poetry, as well as reading a sneaky excerpt from WITSH, (coming soon!)

Entrance to individual events can be sorted at the door, or you can purchase a day pass / full weekend ticket.

Tonight: Tracey Rhys on the BBC Radio Wales Arts Show

Tune in to the Hay Festival Special of the BBC Radio Wales Arts Show at 8.30pm tonight featuring Tracey Rhys & Tristan Hughes among the guests...

POETS ON THE RADIO: Tracey Rhys on the BBC Radio Wales Arts Show at Hay Festival

Back up in Hay today for lovely literary chats… with Tracey Rhys and Tristan Hughes among the guests for the Hay edition of the BBC Radio Wales Arts Show. You can tune in this Friday!

POETS ON THE RADIO: Natalie Ann Holborow on The Verb at Hay Festival

About last night… The Verb featuring the fantastic Natalie Ann Holborow will be broadcast on radio 4 in August…

Ian McMillan with Natalie Ann Holborow, Len Pennie, Michael Rosen and Alex WhartonFriday 23 May 2025, 7pm – Exchange MarqueeThe Barnsley Bard Ian McMillan is joined by a veritable paean of poets for a special edition of BBC Radio 4's The Adverb: Michael Rosen has been praised for his “ability to address the most serious matters of life in a spirit of joy, humour and hope”; Len Pennie has won acclaim and admirers for her muscular use of the Scots language; Alex Wharton is currently Children’s Laureate Wales but he writes poems for everyone and his fans include racing driver Sir Lewis Hamilton who had one of Alex’s poems stitched into his Met Gala suit last year; and Natalie Ann Holborow who describes poetry as “a powerful and precious thread that runs through the tapestry of our lives”. With three poetry collections under her belt, the thread is strong in this one.Join the audience for this Hay Festival edition of The Adverb – The Verb’s showcase of the best live poetry and performance.Free – drop in

ESCAPE: Cornwall

 

We escaped to Cornwall for a long weekend and it was good to us...

The More Than Human Perspective in Environmental Poetry: A Poem and Interview with Susie Wild

Interview by Zoë Brigley

Welcome back to our series on writing the #MoreThanHuman. We offer a set of interviews with poets and writers on how they approach writing about the environment. The more-than-human is a phrase that seeks to side-step traditional nature-culture dualisms and draw attention to the unity of all life as a kind of shared commonwealth existing on a fragile planet. It also reminds us humans that there is more to life, that there is more world, than the human. It relocates us in relation to the mystery.

This week we meet Susie Wild, author of the poetry collections Windfalls and Better Houses, the short story collection The Art of Contraception listed for the Edge Hill Prize, and the novella Arrivals. She tells us she lives in Rhondda Fach “with a TBR pile almost as high as Llanwonno”.

GIG ALERT: Poetry Showcase with Natalie Ann Holborow, Rae Howells and Christina Thatcher

 

GIG ALERT: Christina Thatcher, Tracey Rhys and Rhian Elizabeth

Poetry line-up of the summer, anyone? Enjoy brand new work from Christina Thatcher, Tracey Rhys and Rhian Elizabeth on Thursday 19/06 at Central Library Hub! Tickets are free at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/cardiff-hubs-libraries

They’ll be reading from their books Breaking a Mare, Bathing on the Roof, and maybe I’ll call gillian anderson. Congratulations also to Rhian for reaching the new Wales Book of the Year shortlist for girls etc, her 2024 collection.