The second session of the Cardiff Literary Salon will run in association with Parthian Books and features good literary conversation and readings from acclaimed short story writer Nigel Jarrett and hostess Susie Wild.

Five new pieces of theatre make up Converging Paths. Taken together they form an adaptation of The Ground Remembers, Matthew David Scott's dark, suburban novel. A myth about love, jealousy, shame and the things we cannot throw away.

Hay International Fellow Jon Gower has set himself a New Year challenge to read all of the titles currently published by the Library of Wales.  With a total of 33 books, from the best-selling novels such as Raymond Williams' Border Country to newly-discovered literary gems such as Margiad Evans' Turf or Stone, this series has something for everyone. Gower will begin his challenge, symbolically, on 1st of March 2012 - both World Book Day and St David's Day. 

What are we looking for in prospective work? And what are we looking for in prospective authors? Here’s the skinny on maximising your chances of success.

Familiarity Breeds Respect

One of the most important things to do before sending to any publisher is to become familiar with their list. And we at Parthian think it's really important that you get to know us before you send. We want our authors to be unique, and we don't favour a cookie-cutter approach to our list. But we do want authors whose values and aesthetics fit well with ours. And you'll get a good feel for what they are when you read our books. It's also a more basic matter of 'what we do'. If you write fantasy fiction – however good, and however much quite a few of us on the team might enjoy it – then Parthian isn’t the right place for you. So please buy and enjoy our books (after all, we might be your publisher some day). And do invest in the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook – the indispensable tome for writers everywhere, with helpful information on targeting your market, presenting your work at its best, and the commercial climate.

A Prior Engagement

Parthian would like to congratulate Dannie Abse on being awarded a CBE in recognition of his outstanding services to poetry and literature in this year's New Year Honours list.

Hear Dannie speak about receiving the award on the BBC Wales website.

We recently launched the poet and playwright's superb updated autobiography Goodbye Twentieth Century as part of our Library of Wales series. Buy it from us for £9.99.

The Western Mail ran a piece on our author Bill Rees on 14 January 2012. You can read it below:

Having quit work as a reporter, Bill Rees took to the road with the enthusiasm of a Kerouac wannabe. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Book Runner is an idiosyncratic account of what turned into a life of dealing in books

A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Funderland - Nigel Jarrett

Almanac is the annual publication from the Association of Welsh Writing in English and features the sharpest critical writing in the field. It is edited by Katie Gramich who is Reader in English at Cardiff Univeristy and is a specialist in the literature of modern Wales.

When

Thursday 19 January 7pm

A selection of photos from our Cardiff launch at Chapter Arts Centre. It ended up so busy that we ran out of chairs!  To see all the photos from the night visit our Facebook album.

If you'd like to see inside the covers, you can buy The Raconteur: America for £10.

Oh Twitterverse, we love it when you deliver us gems. This is a rather special one. This week twice Booker nominee Jon McGregor tweeted about Cynan Jones' The Long Dry, calling it a 'masterpiece' and his 'book of the year'. We're rather pleased.