New Welsh Reader, Autumn 2020

Anthology/journal of creative writing from Wales and beyond on the theme of sea change, including essays, biography, memoir, literary essays, history, natural history, book extracts, fiction, writing of place, nature and poetry, plus original artwork, illustration and photography.* Excerpts from the three winning and three highly commended entries from the 2020 New Welsh Writing Awards. Comprises the winner, UEA graduate Susan Karen Burton from Norfolk, second place writer, Cardiff-based Ruby D Jones and the COSTA award-winning runner up from Newport, Gwent, Jonathan Edwards as well as highly commended authors Angela Evans, Mark Blayney and Janice Jones who reside, respectively, in Burry Port, Penarth and Bangor* Poetry and artwork from Robert Minhinnick & Dan Llywelyn Hall* Exclusive preview of Skomer Island by Mike AlexanderShowcase of the entries from the 2020 New Welsh Writing Awards Rheidol Prize for Prose with a Welsh Theme or Setting which was judged by Gwen Davies and awarded to the top three winning writers. 'The Transplantable Roots of Catharine Huws Nagashima' by Susan Karen Burton, an essay about a Welsh migrant experience in Japan and Catharine's embodiment of hybrid identity, was praised by Gwen Davies as being 'so superb [in its] visualisation of physical space and loving detail lavished on objects and the places we call home that I assumed the author must be a professional writer on architecture'. Ruby D. Jones' 'An Anatomy of Shame' explores both the difficulty and the power of self-acceptance and Jonathan Edwards' 'The Substitute' is a first foray into short fiction for the COSTA Award-winning poet.Among the highly commended entries is 'Tidelands' by Angela Evans, a reflective piece about an unsung industrial coastline, from Burry Port to Cefn Sidan, and two novellas - 'The Confidence of Water', a novella extract of a young middle-class couple attempting to adapt to sudden, catastrophic change, by Mark Blayney and 'Scenes from a Life', a humorous LGBTQ story of love and vaudeville by Janice Jones.'The Extinction Circus' by poet and climate change campaigner Robert Minhinnick is accompanied by a stunning interpretation of the poem by the esteemed Welsh artist Dan Llywelyn Hall. Mike Alexander's forthcoming book on the history and natural history of an island National Nature Reserve is previewed in 'Skomer Island', ahead of publication in November 2020 of Skomer Island: The History and Natural History of an Island National Nature Reserve, by Y Lolfa. And the meditative piece, 'Hare', by Aberystwyth writer Suzy Ceulan Hughes talks about those times when nature makes our space its own.