New Welsh Reader 131: Glory Days

European female-led literature specialising in writing of place, with an emphasis on Wales. This anthology is themed 'Glory Days' and looks ironically at the heydays of a nation, including the development of Pembroke Dock as a navy town, a fictional Valleys Carnegie Library at the point of closure, having been started of funds during the Cameron austerity years, and a narrative told from beyond the grave in an exclusive preview of Elaine Canning's Belfast novel, The Sandstone City.

HIGHLY COMMENDED WRITERS IN THE NEW WELSH WRITING AWARDS 2022 RHEIDOL PRIZE FOR PROSE WITH A WELSH THEME OR SETTING

'A Killing Frost' Novella extract by Jo Mazelis

'When the Library Closes' Novella extract by Giancarlo Gemin

'Blinks and Shards' Novella extract by Beck Collett

FURTHER FICTION

'The Silence Project' Exclusive novel preview by Carole Hailey

'Hearth' Story by Jem Poster

'Day 1: The Boneyard' Novel extract from The Sandstone City by Elaine Canning

NONFICTION

'Tidelands: Pembroke Dock and the "Blessed Haven"' Angela Evans (in the third of a series celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Wales Coast Path) reports on master shipbuilders, Nelson and the Amazonian oyster women of Llangwm (photographs © David Street)

'Still Life' Angharad Penrhyn Jones on what nature can teach us about slowing down and staying still

POETRY

'Heard at the Hay Farm' Christina Thatcher

'No poem, not even this one, can capture her' Christina Thatcher

'She never steeples her hands' Christina Thatcher