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'For me the festival began on the Friday evening, with the Poetry Showcase – an opportunity to hear from a wide range of poets, including some I’d never heard before. I was laughing out loud at Rhian Elizabeth’s poems, from her newly published book The Last Polar Bear on Earth, but equally impressed by the more subtle work in Rhys Owain Williams’ collection That Lone Ship and the surreal world of Norse mythology in Ross Cogan’s Bragr. It was also good to hear again from Elizabeth Parker, Claire Williamson and Mari Ellis Dunning, all of whom I have heard before.' ...

by Rhian Elizabeth I posted the obligatory back to school photograph of my daughter on Facebook this morning. Because if you don’t post that photo then basically you are a bad mother and all your Facebook mother friends will judge you. Although I will admit that, unlike other parents and their photo captions, I was not 'bursting with pride' at the sight of Scout in her new uniform (after weeks of complaining about the stiffness of collars and the length of skirts and the uncomfortableness of ties I was just glad she put the fucking thing on), I was not...

As we prepare to launch our new season of poetry titles by Kate North, Rhian Elizabeth, Rhys Owain Williams and Mari Ellis Dunning, the first review is in: 'All four poets are spiky and surprising, often dark, sometimes funny...' Read the review in full by Thomas Tyrrell on the Wales Arts Review website Come along to Cardiff Book Festival next Friday 7 September to see three of the poets reading in the New Poetry Showcase. 19:30 — SPLOTT STAGE Poetry showcase - The Friday Night Poetry Party Our Friday night Festival fixture showcases some of Wales’ most exciting and engrossing...

As she prepares to release her debut poetry collection the last polar bear on earth, Rhian will be writing a daily blog for us across September about her writing and her life, so here's an interview to get you all introduced...

There is clearly a lot going on in your poetry, what influenced you to write?

I know. It’s because there’s a lot going on in my head! What first influenced me to write in general is what still influences me to write now – it’s not any sort of influence as such, just the need to write. I’ve always written about things that I’m going through that are difficult. I’m not good at talking about my feelings so I write them down instead. In my first book I fictionalised growing up, being a teenager, the death of my father, friendships, music. This poetry collection is all about me having Multiple Sclerosis, being a mother, being gay, being in and getting over a violent relationship, making mistakes.