Welsh Interest
Weird and wonderful history tour
Sat 12:00 St Teilo’s Church 
“Ymunwch â Nick Brunger am daith drwy hen Landeilo gyda straeon am hanes y dref. Cyfarfod ym mynwent eglwys Teilo Sant.”
“THE GREEN HOLLOW” by Owen Sheers
“THE GREEN HOLLOW” by Owen Sheers
In 1966 a coal slag heap collapsed on a school in south Wales, killing 144 people, most of them children. Poet Owen Sheers has given voice to those who still live in Aberfan, the pit village in which tragedy struck, and uses their collective memories to create a striking work of poetic power.
This is a portrait not just of what happened, but also of what was lost. What was Aberfan like in 1966? What were the interests of the people, the social life, the sporting obsessions, the bands of the day? What was the deeper history of the place? Why had it become the mining village it was, and what had it been before the discovery of coal under its soil? Perhaps most significantly: what is Aberfan like today?
The Green Hollow is a historical story with a deeply urgent contemporary resonance; a story of what can happen when a community is run by a corporation. It is also a story known along generational rather than geographic borders. Based on the BBC One production, The Green Hollow is a beautifully rendered picture of a time and place – and a life-altering event whose effects are irrevocable.
The Green Hollow: an extraordinary memorial to the 1966 Aberfan disaster. The BBC commissioned Sheers to write a film-poem, including performances by Michael Sheen, Jonathan Pryce, and Sian Phillips, to mark the 50th anniversary of the disaster in 2016.
Faber and Faber are now bringing the powerful and hugely moving film-poem into print in a beautiful hardback edition of The Green Hollow released this April.
The Green Hollow is a historical story with a deeply urgent contemporary resonance; a story of what can happen when a community is run by a corporation. It is also a story known along generational rather than geographic borders.
Based on the BBC One production, The Green Hollow is a beautifully rendered picture of a time and place – and a life-altering event whose effects are irrevocable.
Owen Sheers is a poet, author and playwright. His first novel, Resistance, was translated into ten languages and adapted into a film. The Dust Diaries, his Zimbabwean non-fiction narrative, won the Welsh Book of the Year. His awards for poetry and drama include the Somerset Maugham Award for Skirrid Hill, The Hay Festival Poetry Medal and the Welsh Book of the Year for Pink Mist and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award for his play The Two Worlds of Charlie F. He is Professor in Creativity at Swansea University and lives in Wales with his wife and children. His second novel, I Saw A Man, was published by Faber & Faber in June 2015.Adventures in the Book Trade
Sunday 14:00 Angel Inn ADVENTURES IN THE BOOK TRADE
Jeff Towns on being an itinerant Bookseller
An illustrated ramble through the History of Dylans Bookstore from its inauspicious small beginnings in 1970 at 75 High Street Swansea ( rent 10 shillings a week) through years of itinerant bookselling at Book Fairs in London and all around the Uk and then on to Canada, USA, Malta and Amsterdam . With references to famous and infamous customers – Mick Jagger, President Jimmy Carter. Mandy Rice Davies, Sir Peter Blake, Ian McKellen, Oliver Sacks et al . Ending with the reincarnation as a proper itinerant outfit with the establishment of Dylans Mobile Bookstore. Along the way Jeff Towns has edited and written a few books mainly relating to Dylan Thomas – which earned him the nick name “That Dylan Guy” 
Dydd Sul 14.00 Gwesty’r Angel ANTURIAETHAU YN Y BUSNES LLYFRAU
Jeff Towns yn siarad am ei brofiad fel gwerthwr llyfrau teithiol.
Mae Jeff Towns yn un o arbenigwyr mwya’r byd ar Dylan Thomas. Mae’n gwerthu hen lyfrau ac yn byw yn nhref y bardd sef Abertawe. Yn wreiddiol roedd Jeff yn adnabyddus fel ‘Jeff y Llyfrau’, bellach fe’i hadweinir fel ‘Y Bachan Dylan Thomas’.
Jeff Towns is one of the world’s leading Dylan Thomas experts. An antiquarian bookdealer by trade, based in the poet’s home-town of Swansea, Jeff was originally known, both locally & globally, as ‘Jeff the Books’. He is now known simply, affectionately and professionally as ‘The Dylan Thomas Guy’.
Ifor Ap Glyn: Cuddle Call
Friday at 19:30 at the Horeb Chapel, Cawdor Hotel
Ifor Ap Glyn: Cuddle Call
Detholiad dwyieithog o gerddi hen a newydd, gan Ifor ap Glyn, bardd Cenedlaethol Cymru, Gyda Elinor Wyn Reynolds.
National Poet of Wales, Ifor ap Glyn will be reading from his new book of selected bilingual poems.
Bilingual
Wales as a backdrop to fiction
Saturday 17:00 Angel Inn: Wales as a backdrop to fiction
Panel Discussion with local authors Nigel Williams, Colin R. Parsons, Cheryl Reese-Price. Moderator: Jean Gill.
Cymru fel lleoliad mewn ffuglen- Trafodaeth
Trafodaeth banel gydag awduron lleol Nigel Williams, Colin R Parsons a Cheryl Reese-Price gyda Jean Gill yn y gadair.
Colin R. Parsons was born in the Rhondda Valley in south Wales, and has lived there all my life. He’s been a full-time writer for about fifteen years and writes in many genres: Science Fiction – Fantasy – Supernatural – Steam Punk & Mythical Fantasy.
Ganed Colin Parsons yng nghwm Rhondda yn ne Cymru ac mae wedi byw yno ar hyd ei oes. Mae wedi body n ysgrifennwr llawn amser am tua phymtheg mlynedd ac mae’n ysgrifennu mewn nifer o genres: Ffuglen Wyddonol, Ffantasi, Yr uwch-naturiol a Ffantasi Mytholegol. Enw’I lyfr newydd i blant yn 2018 yw ‘Ghosted’. Gosodir y llyfr yng nghwm Rhondda
His website/ Ei wefan:
Blurb for GHOSTED:
Four Welsh school children: Megan, Carol, John and Alan have unknowingly released the spirit of an evil headmaster – imprisoned in the bowels of the school for two hundred years.
Broliant GHOSTED
Mae pedwar o blant ysgol, Megan, Carol, John ac Alan, yn ddiarwybod iddynt wedi rhyddhau ysbryd prifathro drwg sydd wedi cael ei garcharu ym mherfeddion yr ysgol am ddau gan mlynedd.
Cheryl Rees-Price: 
Frozen Minds:
Bethesda House is a haven for vulnerable adults, those with complex mental disabilities. Their safety is dependent on those who care for them, and their wellbeing centres on routine.
When a body is discovered in the freezer at Bethesda House it is easy to shift the blame on the residents. Inside the house, they see and hear everything.
Who would believe them?
DI Winter Meadows is convinced that something sinister is going on in Bethesda House and the residents are not safe. First, he must gain their trust and understand their unique form of communication.
A second killing and time is running out.
Can Meadows outwit a cunning and dangerous killer?
‘I really enjoyed this book. I could not put it down. I have been waiting to read the second book in the Meadows series. It did not disappoint. It is one of the best I have read in ages.’ Helen
Trafodaeth ar Gymru mewn Ffuglen: Cheryl Rees-Price
Broliant ‘Frozen Minds’
Mae Tŷ Bethesda yn lloches i oedolion bregus, rhai sydd ag anableddau meddyliol cymhleth. Mae Di Winter Meadows yn argyhoeddedig bod rhywbeth sinister yn cymryd lle yn Nhŷ Bethesda ac nad yw’r trigolion yn ddiogel. Yn gyntaf rhaid iddo ennill eu hymddiried a deal eu ffordd unigryw o gyfathrebu. Gall Meadows fod yn gyfrwysach na llofrudd peryglus a chyfrwys?
Beth mae pobl yn dweud am ‘Frozen Minds’
‘Cyfres arbennig. Rwy’n dwli ar y gyfres hon! Mae’r ail ran yn anodd ei roi i lawr’ Brianna Bowen.
Nigel Williams:
Set in the Swansea Valley, EDEN RELICS featured a retired police officer drawn into the search for ancient relics discovered a century earlier by the opera diva Adelina Patti. It sold over 3,500 downloads and paperback copiesin the first month.
The screenplay is currently with a production company but whether it will ever see the small screen is another matter. Royalties from this book are donated to the British Heart Foundation.
FAKE BAKED – a crime comedy about a small-time Cardiff con man dreaming of pulling the ultimate scam. The story was based on the cons of a real hustler called Victor Lustig. Lustig sold the Eifel Tower to Parisian scrap dealers, not once but twice. He somehow managed to convince them the tower was due for demolition at the turn of the last century and got away with it. My protagonist uses the same con by trying to sell the old Severn Bridge.
DIY media vs MSM- the new media revolution in Wales
Saturday April 28th 16:30 at Mark Waghorn Designs “Reading Room”
DIY media vs MSM- the new media revolution in Wales
A discussion on the alternative future of the media and how people in Wales are ploughing their own furrows. Does the UK & Welsh MSM marginalise, ignore or misconstrue Welsh life, culture and matters.
Nia Medi, journalist with BBC Radio Cymru will chair the discussion with Grug Muse of Stamp poetry magazine, Ifan Morgan Jones, founder of the Nation Cymru news website; Dr Dan Evans, founder and presenter of the Desolation Radio podcasts and a representative of arts website the Wales Arts Review.
Ydy’r cyfryngau confensiynol yn colli eu tir a fawr ddim o’r Gymru go iawn yn cael ei hadlewyrchu ganddynt? Dyma drafodaeth gan ddyrnaid o Gymry heriol sydd yn torri cwysi eu hun drwy gymorth y cyfryngau newydd.
Bydd Grug Muse, Ifan Morgan Jones, Dr Dan Evans, a chyrychiolydd o gwefan Wales Arts Review a yn trafod hyn oll gyda’r newyddiadurwraig o BBC Cymru, Nia Medi wrth y llyw
ENGLISH
The Iron Masters of Merthyr- Fact and Fiction.
The Iron Masters of Merthyr- Fact and Fiction. – Saturday April 28th 15:00 Angel Inn
In the 18th Century five men created the biggest industrial city civilisation had ever seen. They were the Iron Masters, masters of metal and men. Their cannons saved a kingdom, forged the greatest empire in the world and changed the history of the human race.
Merthyr Tydfil, a town where the furnaces burned day and night, the sun seldom pierced the soot filled sky and the Iron Masters ruled without pity.
Nye Vaughn, a humble farm boy from Llangadog, walked to Merthyr to find his destiny, unaware that a war was coming which would engulf the known world and make bold men rich. To fight Bonaparte, Britain needed cannons, thousands of them. Vaughn built the largest foundry of them all and made his fortune but, when the world changed, the iron behemoth he constructed turned on him.
Author Graham Watkins surprises and entertains with the real stories behind his Welsh historical novel ‘The Iron Masters’.
Yn y 18fed Ganrif creodd pum dyn y ddinas ddiwylliannol fwyaf a welodd wareiddiad erioed. Nhw oedd y Meistri Haearn, meistri ar fetel a dynion. Achubodd eu gynnau mawrion deyrnas, creu’r ymerodraeth fwyaf yn y byd a newid hanes dynol ryw .
Roedd Merthyr Tudful yn dref lle’r oedd y ffwrnesi’n llosgi ddydd a nos a’r haul yn methu torri trwy’r caddug yn yr awyr a lle’r oedd y Meistri Haearn yn rheoli’n ddidrugaredd.
Cerddodd Nye Vaughn, crwt fferm o Langadog, i Ferthyr i chwilio am ei ffortiwn heb wybod fod rhyfel ar fin dod y byddai’n traflyncu’r byd a chreu cyfoeth i ddynion dewr. Er mwyn ymladd yn erbyn Bonaparte roedd angen gynnau mawrion, miloedd ohonynt. Adeiladodd Vaughn y ffowndri fwyaf oll a gwnaeth ei ffortiwn ond, wrth i’r byd newid, fe drodd y behemoth a greodd arno.
Mae’r awdur Graham Watkins yn diddori ac yn synnu gyda’r straeon gwir sydd tu ôl i’w nofel hanesyddol ‘The Iron Masters’.
Psychopaths in Literature
Psychopaths in Literature – Saturday 28th April 11:30 Angel Inn
South Wales crime fiction writers GB Williams, John Thompson and John Nicholl in a panel discussion about their most evil characters. Moderator: Thorne Moore.
Seicopathiaid mewn Llenyddiaeth, Ffrainc, Sbaen
Bydd awduron nofelau ditectif o Dde Cymru, GB Williams, John Thompson a John Nicholl yn trafod eu cymeriadau mwyaf aflan.
GB Williams specialises in complex, fast-paced crime novels, book one of the Locked Series, “Locked Up”, was released in 2017, “Locked In” publishes in Feb 2018, and “Locked Down” is due in Autumn 2018. GB was shortlisted for the 2014 CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition with the story Last Shakes, now available in Last Cut Casebook. Crime novels are her stock in trade, but she has had success with short stories in other genres including steampunk, horror, and erotica. She has also penned her debut steampunk novel, she launched in September 2017. And she hates every photo ever taken of her. Find out more at www.gailbwilliams.co.uk.
John Nicholl, an ex-police officer, child protection social worker and lecturer, has written six darkly psychological suspense thrillers, each of which has been an Amazon international bestseller, reaching # 1 in multiple categories in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Australia, Canada and the USA. John reached # 10 of all books on Amazon in Australia and has been awarded three Amazon All-Star awards for being one of the 25 most read authors in the UK.
John is happily married, lives in rural West Wales, and has three adult children and one grandchild. He began writing after leaving his job heading up child protection services for Carmarthenshire.
He is represented by Toby Mundy – Literary agent at TMA.
You can find out more about John and his books at: http://www.johnnicholl.com
John Thompson was born in the district of Eton in 1942, and attended Windsor Grammar School, graduated in 1965 from the University of Aberdeen with an Honours Degree in History. He followed this by reading for an M.A. in American History at the College of William and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated – tempestuous times!
John eventually became side-tracked into Law and spent the next two decades as a practising barrister.
John has always been a voracious reader. John has an abiding interest in the human psyche, having studied Psychology as a minor subject in his first degree, while twenty years of practice in divorce and criminal law exposed him to every aspect of the human mind!
John has won awards from the National Association of Writers’ Groups and been short-listed several times in other competitions, notably those contained in Writing Magazine, which John would recommend to any aspiring writer.
The Brindavan Chronicle: Genesis was published in June 2015 – in which a charismatic man uses his charm to bend the will of others to his own purpose. The real interest in such a situation is not that the gullible and guileless can be taken in by such a man, but how they respond when they manage to see through the veil of delusion.
Seicopathiaid mewn Llenyddiaeth, Ffrainc, Sbaen
Bydd awduron nofelau ditectif o Dde Cymru, GB Williams, John Thompson a John Nicholl yn trafod eu cymeriadau mwyaf aflan.
Mae GB Williams yn arbenigo mewn llyfrau ditectif cymhleth sy’n symud yn gyflym Cyhoeddwyd y llyfr cyntaf yn y gyfres, “Locked,” sef “Locked Up” yn 2017, cyhoeddir “Locked In” ym mis Chwefror 2018 a disgwylir “Locked Down” yn Hydref 2018. Rhoddwyd GB ar restr fer cystadleuaeth straeon byrion Margery Allingham yn 2014 am ei stori, “Last Shakes.” Straeon ditectif yw ei harbenigedd ond cafodd lwyddiant hefyd gyda straeon byrion mewn ffurfiau eraill gan gynnwys arswyd ac erotica. Cewch mwy o wybodaeth ar http://www.gailbwilliams.co.uk.
Cyn heddwas yw John Nicholl, gweithiwr cymdeithasol a darlithydd ac mae wedi ysgrifennu chwe nofel seicolegol gyffrous ac roedd pob un yn un o lyfrau mwyaf llwyddiannus Amazon gan gyrraedd ҂1 mewn nifer o gategorïau yn y Deyrnas Unedig, Ffrainc a Sbaen a derbyniodd tair gwobr seren Amazon am fod yn un o’r 25 awdur mwyaf poblogaidd yn y DU.
Dechreuodd John ysgrifennu ar ôl gadae ei swydd fel pennaeth gwasanaethau amddiffyn plant yn Sir Gaerfyrddin
Caiff ei gynrychioli ganToby Mundy, gweithredwr llenyddol TMA
Cewch mwy o wybodaeth am John a’I lyfrau ar http://www.johnnicholl.com
Ganed John Thompson yn ardal Eton yn 1942 a bu’n ddisgybl yn ysgol ramadeg Windsor a graddiodd o brifysgol Aberdeen gydag anrhydedd mewn hanes. Dilynodd hyn gan ddarllen am MA mewn hanes America.
Cafodd John ei ddenu gan y gyfraith a threuliodd y ddwy ddegawd nesaf yn fargyfreithiwr.
Mae John wedi bod yn ddarllenwr brwd erioed. Mae ganddo ddiddordeb parhao mewn eneidiau dynol, wedi astudio seicoleg fel rhan o’i radd gyntaf tra bod ugain mlynedd yn ymwneud ag ysgariad a throsedd wedi ei gyflwyno i bob agwedd o’r meddwl dynol.
Enillodd John wobrau gan Gymdeithas Genedlaethol Grwpiau Awduron a chafodd ei roi ar y rhestr fer nifer o weithiau mewn cystadlaethau eraill, yn enwedig y rhai hynny a gynhaliwyd gad “Writing Magazine.”
Cyhoeddwyd “The Brindavan Chronicle: Genesis” ym Mehefin 2015. Ynddo ceir ddyn carismatig sy’n defnyddio’i swyn fel bod pobl yn gwneud yr hyn a ddymuna.
“Why Wales Never Was” Discussion between Dr Seimon Brookes and Plaid Cymru AM Adam Price
Thursday 26h of April at 7pm at the Cottage Inn
Plaid Cymru AM Adam Price discuss the past and future of Welsh nationhood with one of Wales’ most radical and outspoken thinkers, Dr Seimon Brookes, author of “Why Wales Never Was”
Bydd y newyddiadurwr Simon Brooks ac Adam Price AC yn trafod llyfr Simon “Why Wales Never Was”
First published in Welsh in 2015, Why Wales Never Was affirms the author’s reputation as one of the most radical writers in Wales today. It combines a devastating analysis of the historical failure of Welsh nationalism with an apocalyptic vision of a non-Welsh future.
Dr Simon Brooks is the Associate Professor at the Morgan Academy, Swansea University. He is a former editor of the Welsh language current affairs magazine Barn.The Welsh version of this book Pam Na Fu Cymru (2015) was shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2016.
Adam Price is the current Plaid Cymru AM for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr. Prior to that he represented the constituency in Westminster as it’s MP from 2001-2010.
Y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg oedd Oes Cenedlaetholdeb Ewrop a llwyddodd y rhan fwyaf o wledydd bychain y cyfandir i feithrin mudiadau cenedlaethol llwyddiannus a fynnai warchod eu hieithoedd. Un o gwestiynau mawr hanes Cymru yw pam na ddigwyddodd hyn yn y wlad hon.?
Mae Dr Simon Brooks yn Athro Cyswllt yn Academi Morgan, Prifysgol Abertawe. Bu’n olygydd ar gylchgrawn Barn. Cyhoeddwyd y fersiwn wreiddiol o’r gyfrol hon, Pam Na Fu Cymru yn 2015 gan gyrraedd rhestr fer Llyfr y Flwyddyn 2016.
Adam Price yw Aelod Cynulliad Dwyrain Caerfyrddin a Dinefwr, cyn hynny cynrychiolodd yr etholaeth yn Sansetffan rhwng 2001-2010.
Lyn Ebenzer yn trafod cymeriadau Meini Llafar gyda Elinor Jones
Saturday 28th April 12:30 Horeb Chapel 
Lyn Ebenzer yn trafod cymeriadau Meini Llafar gyda Elinor Jones
Cyfrol o atgofion bro mebyd gan un o newyddiadurwyr ac awduron mwyaf toreithiog Cymru, Lyn Ebenezer. Portread cynnes a chrefftus o gymeriadau Pontrhydfendigaid ei blentyndod, ynghyd a’i bryddest i’w Wncwl Dai, a laddwyd yn y Rhyfel Mawr, pryddest a ddaeth yn agos at gipio’r goron yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Ynys Mon, 2017. Sesiwn yn Gymraeg
Lyn Ebenezer discussing his latest book with Elinor Jones. One of Wales most prolific authors, his latest book, Meini Llafar recounts the vanished characters of his square mile.
Lyn Ebenezer lives in Pontrhydfendigaid and is one of Wales most entertaining and longest serving journalists. Based in Ceredigion he has covered stories ranging from exploits at the National Eisteddfod to the biggest LSD bust in British history, Operation Julie.
Session in Welsh
Llandeilo Lit Fest 