Interview by Leigh Manley “[No] matter how many words I put down, it didn’t touch on what I was trying to get to. Instead, what I have tried to do is not say it, but use the space in-between, the felt space, and use that as a vehicle to get me, and hopefully the reader, closer to something.“ Is this ok? Glue, we watch clips of the family friendswimming and swimming for his sister’s life;we cheer on – not brave enough to cry –and we ask our friends if they’re ok;we ask your Mother if she is ok;we ask each other if we’re ok;it is not ok.Our homes are flooding,the land is burnt,and still w ..read more

Interview by Doryn Herbst “I was attempting to write song lyrics before I realised it was poetry I was writing” Legacy I see you Elvis          in Blue Hawaii where dancing girls swayed their hula hips  fell beneath the spell of your blue trans -Pacific lure on US-colonised white beaches.               I see you Elvis                       &n ..read more

Poetry Wales alongside sponsors Literature Wales are delighted to announce the shortlist for Wales Poetry Award 2023, judged by Denise Saul. Over 1,000 poems were submitted to the competition. Thirteen have been selected for our shortlist. The three Award Winners and nine* Highly Commended placements will be announced at our online Awarding Ceremony on 22nd July – more details to come soon. The shortlist, presented here in alphabetical order, is: ‘After Mum Died, I went to the Freud Museum’ by Julia Runacres ‘Calton Hill’ by Jake Smith ‘Cheshire hills: parlando’ by Pete Taylor ‘Driving H ..read more

Poetry Wales is delighted to have received funding from Books Council of Wales’ New Audiences Grant for a Videographer to help us create two videos for our website and social media to celebrate our 60th Anniversary in 2025 Find out more below The deadline to apply is 19th July 2024 If you have any questions please email info@poetrywales.co.uk Videographer | Fideograffydd £1000 fee for two videos to deliver by December 2024 Ffi o £1000 am ddau fideo i’w cyflwyno erbyn Rhagfyr 2024 Application Pack | English VideographerDownload Pecyn Cais | Cymraeg FideograffyddDownload Other Opportuniti ..read more

Poetry Wales is delighted to have received funding from Books Council of Wales’ New Audiences Grant for a number of fixed-term opportunities to help us deliver our next issue Find out about each different role, and how to apply to them, below The deadline for all applications is 19th July 2024 If you have any questions please email info@poetrywales.co.uk Cymraeg Editor | Golygydd Cymraeg £500 fee for approx. 12 hours between August-December 2024 Ffi o £500 am tua. 12 awr rhwng Awst-Rhagfyr 2024 Application Pack | English Cymraeg EditorDownload Pecyn Cais | Cymraeg Golygydd CymraegDownload ..read more

Join Poetry Wales at Tiger Bay Poetry in Cardiff Bay to celebrate the launch of our Summer 2024 issue, Poetry Wales 60.1 Full of poems that invoke the history and stories of Tiger Bay, 60.1 is an issue that explores community, identity in relation to location, world writing, and so much more Hosted by Poetry Wales Editor Zoë Brigley Full list of readers and accessibility information to come soon…  Venue InformationCarruthers Room Coal Exchange Mount Stuart Square Cardiff CF10 5FQ The post Poetry Wales Summer 2024 Launch appe ..read more

Interview by Matthew M C Smith “For me, inspiration for poems tends to arrive when you least expect it and I find that my mind is particularly receptive to ideas when it’s in ‘neutral’ or ‘resting’ mode. Which is why this one came to me while I was queueing up to be served in Ashton’s Fish stall at Cardiff Market one Saturday afternoon” History Marlon the joker, a swish of the fin, always a jibe–poking his head in your side to signify no offence.How could we take any? Sally loved him. We all knew butno one spoke. One day it would be clear. She kept herstripes shiny. For him. Patient.Jealou ..read more

Interview by Matthew M C Smith Content note: this interview discusses grief “The very act of writing a poem implies that one hopes it will be found valuable, helpful even, by a reader or readers” Staircase with Handbag I miss her so much, our friend said, walkingaway from us in his kitchen and hers,looking from behind like someone in pain,physical pain, as if part of his bodywas burning with real fire, some kind of torture.And that, I think, is what it felt like to him,a glowing ember which a breeze of feelinghad kindled to intenser agony,some gist of talk among his trusted friends,people ..read more

Interview by Ashley Thompson “I think that titles are best used when they tell us something about the poem – specifically, something that you may be otherwise unable to say within the body” In two hundred years we live in a cleft of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park and it's bigger than we need. It’s not hardto live within our means, butwe have two fog-faced childrenwho we think of semi-guiltily. We pointfrom the window to certain tides, shimmeringstar-glitter winking in the seafoamand we hold each other – trace the blueingmaps wrinkling in our skins.We bake my nanny’s fruit breadthen ship ..read more

Interview by Zoë Brigely “I hope that along with evoking an artist’s sensibility and intellect at a young age, my poem also conveys [Richard] Burton’s powerful forward motion in life” Devil on Wheels Selected and sequenced from entries during 1939-40 in the Richard Burton Diaries, when Burton was 14 and 15 years old. He watched films at two movie theaters: the ‘Cach’ (the ‘shithouse’) and the Regent. Stranded in Paris, Bulldog, Drummond Secret Police, I Met aMurderer, Exile Express. The first picture was very boring.Oklahoma Kid with James Cagney and H. Bogart, Union Pacific.Went to Jo ..read more