Susie Wild's Blog: Wildlife, page 6

New Welsh Writing Awards: The Shortlists!

Delighted to reveal the shortlists for both categories in the New Welsh Writing Awards! Congratulations to all the shortlisted writers!

We are delighted to reveal both shortlists in the 10th edition of the New Welsh Writing Awards, championing new and unpublished writing from Wales and beyond with thanks to the generous support of philanthropic sponsors RS Powell and Bob Borzello, and prize sponsors Literature Wales and Gladstone’s Library.

Now in collaboration, with Parthian Books, this year’s awards include The Rheidol Prize for Prose with a Welsh Theme or Setting with previous winers including Jasmine Donahye, Susan Karen Burton and Eluned Gramich and new poetry writing competition The Borzello Trust Poetry Prize.

We’d like to congratulate all the shortlisted writers in this years awards!

The Rheidol Prize: for Prose with a Welsh Theme or Setting

2024 Shortlist

(In alphabetical order)

Sam Christie – The Widowmaker

Louise Denham – Hon Oedd Fy Ninas

Kevin Dyer– Elorgarreg

Sybilla Harvey – The Flattening

Natalie Ann Holborow – The Man Who Knew Things

Neil Stone – Trecco Beach Baby

Read more about the shortlisted writers.

The Borzello Trust Poetry Prize  2024 Shortlist

(In alphabetical order)

Emma Baines

Natasha Gauthier

Cerys Hughes

Lesley James

Sarah Persson

Rhian Thomas

Read more about the shortlisted poets.

Highly commended – Karen Goodwin, Kathryn Gonzales and Shelby Salerno.

Winners for both awards will be announced on the 3rd of July at Waterstones Abergavenny for a special evening celebrating the awards and the launch of the new edition of atmospheric novella The Plankton Collector by 2017 Rheidol Prize winner Cath Barton.

Judges: Gwen Davies and David Lloyd-Owen (Rheidol Prize: For Prose with a Welsh Theme or Setting)
Susie Wild and Niall Griffiths (The Borzello Trust Prize for Poetry)

Since 2015, the New Welsh Writing Awards have sought the best writing in short form (5,000 – 30,000 words) over a variety of categories. Previous winners include:

Tim Cooke for River, 2022Jasmine Donahaye for Reading the Signs, 2021Susan Karen Burton for The Transplantable Roots of Catharine Huws Nagashima, 2020Peter Goulding for Slatehead:The Ascent of Britain’s Slate-climbing scene, 2019JL George for The Word, 2019Ed Garland for Earwitness: A Search for Sonic Understanding in Stories, 2018Catherine Haines for My Oxford, 2017Cath Barton for The Plankton Collector,  2017Mandy Sutter for Bush Meat, 2016Eluned Gramich for Woman Who Brings the Rain, 2015

Nation.Cymru: On Being a Poet in Wales by Tracey Rhys

'Being a writer in Wales means wrestling with an entire school gym full of insecurities, but it also means hwyl, humour, self-deprecation, lots of coffee and wet anoraks...'

Read the feature in full on Nation.Cymru

Free Verse Poetry & Magazine Fair: Parthian and New Welsh Review

We have a stall for Parthian Books and New Welsh Review at Free Verse Poetry Book & Magazine Fair in London on Sat 26th April. Come say hello!

Sgwennu’n Well | Writing Well: 15 Months of Development for Six Literary Facilitators

 

Congratulations to Tracey Rhys (Parthian Books) and all the rest of the Writing Well cohort:

We are delighted to announce the participants for Sgwennu’n Well | Writing Well 2025-2026, our annual development programme for literary facilitators.  

Sgwennu’n Well | Writing Well on intensely developing the skills and knowledge of literary facilitators specifically in the field of Health and Well-being, so they feel more confident and equipped to devise and deliver creative writing projects in the community.  This year, the programme will focus on the theme of nature too. It is a 15 month-long professional development programme for a group of early to mid-career facilitators, which includes mentoring sessions, a bursary of £1,000, a series of four online training sessions, a residential course at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre, aftercare support and more.    

The first three months offers opportunities to hone skills in areas such as project development and management, running budgets, capturing and communicating impact, safeguarding their groups, and more. Following the initial three-month training programme, the intention is to offer facilitators a pot of funding to deliver projects they have designed and planned during the initial stages of the programme.  

We were inundated with interest in this programme once we opened for applications in January 2025, and after careful consideration, the panel has selected six facilitators who will benefit from the opportunity this year:  

Helen Comerford Megan Lloyd Tracey Rhys Gillian Brownson Duke Al Durham Durre Shahwar 

We look forward to welcoming and supporting our new cohort of facilitator, and to follow their transformative journey. Read more about them and their hopes for their time on this programme on the Sgwennu’n Well | Writing Well page. 

Nation.Cymru: On Being a Poet in Wales by Christina Thatcher

In his book, Poetics of Space, the French philosopher, Gaston Bachelard, says that ‘poetry comes naturally from a daydream’. Before arriving in Cardiff, I’d never connected these two things. I do now.

Read the article in full on Nation.Cymru

PHOTO BLOG: Double Poetry Launch

 

What a fantastic double launch tonight for ‘Breaking a Mare’ and ‘Bathing on the Roof’, thanks to all who came along and helped us to celebrate!

LONDON GRIP REVIEW: Breaking a Mare

'for anyone who appreciates the power of poetry to warn, to move, to enlighten, especially when in the hands of a poet in full command of her craft.' Thanks to Pat Edwards and London Grip for this enlightening review of Christina Thatcher's Breaking a Mare.

Thanks to Jenny White for this wonderful Western Mail spr...

Thanks to Jenny White for this wonderful Western Mail spread on Tracey Rhys’ debut collection Bathing on the Roof today!

In Praise of Magnolia

 

Teaching means a walk through Roath Park and along the lake. Look at this beauty!

Tidy, Jetlagged

 

I'm back from Thailand, jetlagged but tidy and off to teach at Cardiff Met...