C o Distribution Wales Distribution & representation v e r england, scotland, ireland, europe Welsh books Council i m Central books ltd, 99 Wallis road uned 16, stad Glanyrafon, llanbadarn, a g e : london, e9 5ln aberystwyth sY23 3aQ s t i l phone 0845 458 9911 Fax 0845 458 9912 phone 01970 624455 Fax 01970 625506 l f r [email protected] [email protected] o m sales and Marketing Manager: tom Ferris T h representation e [email protected] G inpress ltd o s p Churchill house, 12 Mosley street, e l o newcastle upon tyne, ne1 1De north aMeriCa Distribution & f U s www.inpressbooks.co.uk representation d i r . phone 0191 230 8104 independent publishers Group D a Managing Director: rachael ogden 814 north Franklin street v e [email protected] Chicago il60610 M c K sales and Marketing : James hogg phone (312) 337 0747 Fax (312) 337 5985 e a [email protected] [email protected] n seren, 57 nolton street, bridgend, CF31 3ae 01656 663018 [email protected] www.serenbooks.com Facebook: facebook.com/serenbooks twitter: @serenbooks publisher: Mick Felton sales and Marketing: simon hicks Marketing: Victoria humphreys Fiction editor: penny thomas poetry editor: amy Wack poetry Wales: robin Grossmann, rebecca parfitt Directors: Cary archard (Founder and patron), John barnie, Duncan Campbell, robert edge, richard houdmont (Chair), patrick McGuinness, linda osborn (secretary), sioned puw rowlands, Christopher Ward no. 2262728. Vat no. Gb484323148. seren is the imprint of poetry Wales press ltd, which works with the financial assistance of the Welsh books Council www.serenbooks.com Preface 3 2011 was an exciting year in which we celebrated our 30th birthday and threw a street Cynan Jones Bird, Blood, Snow 4 party outside the seren offices on the sunniest october saturday since records began. Judy brown and nerys Williams made the Forward shortlist, while patrick McGuinness’ Lloyd Jones See How They Run début novel The Last Hundred Days was on everyone’s long/shortlist: Man booker, Owen Sheers The Gospel of Us 5 Costa, Desmond elliot, authors’ Club, Writers’ Guild. he went on to win Wales book of Paul Binding After Brock 6 the Year (disappointing also-shortlisted robert Minhinnick in the process). book sales Mark Ryan Seán Tyrone were encouragingly buoyant, bucking the industry trend. A Symphony of Horror but no room for complacency as the book trade in 2012 is buffeted by structural Candy Neubert Big Low Tide 7 upheaval and recession. Fortunately, our list this year is strong and diverse. owen Christopher Meredith The Book of Idiots sheers’ The Gospel of Us is a novella from his screenplay of The Passion , performed to widespread acclaim by Michael sheen and a cast of thousands in port talbot. lloyd Damian Walford Davies Witch 8 Jones and Cynan Jones provide the next instalments in our series of new stories from Deryn Rees-Jones Burying the Wren the Mabinogion. Candy neubert takes us to the Channel islands with Big Low Tide ; paul Katha Pollitt The Mind-Body Problem 9 binding and Christopher Meredith consider men in youth and middle-age; while Seán Rhian Edwards Clueless Dogs Tyrone is a magical Symphony of Horror , beautifully illustrated by the author Mark ryan, sadly published posthumously. Duncan Bush The Flying Trapeze 10 Simon Mundy More for Helen of Troy highlights from the poetry include a pbs recommendation for Deryn rees-Jones; Damian Walford Davies’ account of witch trials in seventeenth-century norfolk; and a Emily Hinshelwood On Becoming a Fish 11 Forward-shortlisted début Clueless Dogs from rhian edwards, who is charismatic in Grahame Davies Lightning Beneath the Sea performance, winner of the John tripp award for spoken poetry. Tokens for the Meirion Jordan Regeneration 12 Foundlings is a powerful anthology celebrating the legacy of the Foundling hospital. The Van Pool rehabilitates the poetic reputation of Keidrych rhys. Poet to Poet: Edward Tony Curtis (ed) Tokens for the Foundlings Thomas’ Letters to Walter de la Mare offers further insights into a writer whose Keidrych Rhys The Van Pool: Collected Poems 13 reputation rides high almost a century after his untimely death. Judy Kendall (ed) Poet to Poet: Edward Thomas’ Letters to Walter de la Mare irish-speaking family life in belfast at the height of the troubles is recalled by liam Carson. German-born, Welsh-speaking imogen herrad explores cultural identity in John Redmond Poetry and Privacy 14 patagonia where Welsh, spanish and indigenous cultures collide. Closer to home, The Liam Carson Call Mother a Lonely Field Chapels of Wales celebrates and memorialises the nonconformist tradition, while nigel Imogen Rhia Herrad Beyond the Pampas: 15 Jenkins gives swansea the Real treatment for a second time. In Search of Patagonia We have two very different true crime stories. John Morris’ Jack the Ripper: The Hand of Nigel Jenkins Real Swansea Two a Woman presents a compelling case against a new and controversial suspect. The D. Huw Owen The Chapels of Wales 16 Pembrokeshire Murders is steve Wilkins’ account of how his team tracked down and John Morris Jack the Ripper: 17 convicted one of the most infamous serial killers of modern times. The Hand of a Woman Finally, we’re accelerating our digital publishing programme. Most new titles will have Steve Wilkins The Pembrokeshire Murders simultaneous print, kindle and ebook editions, and we’re bringing out selected backlist Stocklist 18 titles in a determined effort to gain a share of this growing market for our authors. preface 4 the novel of The Passion : “one of the outstanding theatrical events of the decade.” – Observer “sheers writes with dazzle and poetic economy” – The Times “owen sheers is one of the finest writers at work today. he always £8.99 £8.99 9781854115898 pb 9781854115904 pb £8.99 pb finds the sublime in the everyday 9781781720097 kindle 9781781720080 kindle 9781854116222 and the miracle in the mundane.” 9781854116079 e-book 9781854116086 e-book 9781854116444 kindle october october 9781854116451 e-book – Michael sheen Cynan Jones Lloyd Jones Owen Sheers Bird, Blood, Snow See How They Run The Gospel of Us in the original ‘peredur’ a youth seeking to small-minded academic Dr llwyd Mcnamara ‘Whenever my bampa was down the social owen sheers is the author of two poetry become a knight defends maidens, defeats has a grant to research one of Wales’ biggest telling a story, he’d pause before the best bits, collections, The Blue Book and Skirrid Hill (which giants, and overcomes witches. Cynan Jones heroes: rugby player big M. but as he plays with lick his finger, touch it to his throat and then – received a somerset Maugham award); a turns the tale into a modern Quixotian romp. his usb sticks in his office, the gods have other so’s you could only just hear him – whisper, Zimbabwean travel narrative, The Dust Diaries plans for him... ‘God’shonesttruth now.’ then he’d carry on, (Welsh book of the Year 2005); and a novel, his father and brothers dead, jailed or missing, making all them other men lean in over their Resistance , shortlisted for the Writers’ Guild best peredur's mother takes him from the estates. but llwyd quickly discovers a link between the pints and cans, listening. Well, i’m licking my own book award and now a film starring andrea when local kids cycle into his life, he follows rugby star Dylan Manawydan Jones and his own finger now. and touching my throat. but it isn’t riseborough. his novella White Ravens is part of them, with the notion of finding arthur – an life, in the shape of the luxurious but strange God’s honest truth what i’m going to tell you. it’s seren’s ‘new stories from the Mabinogion’ series. absent, imaginary guardian. hotel Corvo on the west Wales coast. but from ours.’ here things only get stranger. are his rival’s owen’s tV credits include A Poet’s Guide to Britain Written from changing perspectives – police claims to a link between big M and the Celtic in The Gospel of Us , owen sheers reimagines as which he wrote and presented for bbC 4. the reports, psychiatrists’ notes, peredur’s voice myths of the past just a load of academic waffle... fiction his play The Passion , a three-day accompanying anthology is published by among them – Bird, Blood, Snow jigsaws the key and what is the significance of the mouse tattoo? dramatisation set in the streets, beaches and penguin. in 2012 his play The Two Worlds of events of his life, letting the reader draw the tale clubs of port talbot, co-directed by and starring Charlie F. (based on the experiences of injured together. there are ulterior meanings and a lloyd Jones retells ‘Manawydan son of llyr’ with Michael sheen. soldiers who also acted in the production) quest for readers errant. references, parodies his usual ingenuity, imaginative intelligence and premiered at the theatre royal haymarket. and quotes from classic texts all lurk within the zest for language, to create a skilful and hugely sheers’ novella is told through the eyes of a port owen is currently the Welsh rugby union artist writing for the brave reader to locate. enjoyable tale. talbot boy who stumbles upon a stranger in the in residence. windswept dunes, singing songs to the sea. at Cynan Jones has published two novels, The Long lloyd Jones’ début Mr Vogel won the McKitterick dawn a week later this stranger welcomes the Dry (which won a betty trask award) and prize and was shortlisted for the bollinger teacher, a local man who has been missing for 40 Everything I Found on the Beach , and a piece from everyman Wodehouse prize.