Natalie Ann Holborow RSS

Welsh and Indian authors reflect on the theme of place in their writing at this podcast recorded at the Hay Festival Wales 2017. The poets took part in the Hay Mela: a series of events at Hay Festival that were part of the UK India Year of Culture 2017- a year of cultural exchange marking the 70th anniversary of India’s independence. In this British Council podcast recorded at the Hay Festival Wales 2017 with host Georgina Godwin writers from West Bengal and Wales talk about their cross cultural collaboration through the project Village, City and Valley. Read More and Listen to...

Welsh writers Natalie Ann Holborow, Siôn Tomos Owen and Sophie McKeand will be joined by Indian writers Aniesha Brahma, Srijato Bandyopadhyay and Arunava Sinha. The writers have been brought together by Welsh publisher Parthian Books, Kolkata-based Bee Books, Literature Wales and Wales Arts Review, for their new project The Valley, The City, The Village.

The project is supported by India Wales, a new funding scheme by the British Council and Wales Arts International. The scheme supports artistic collaboration and exchange between creative professionals and arts organisations in Wales and India to build sustainable, creative relationships and networks between the two countries.

The Valley, The City, The Village brings together the six writers in a series of residencies and live performances, which will result in a trilingual publication of new writing in Bengali, English and Welsh to be published by Parthian in 2018. The project incorporates prose, poetry, art and reportage from Bengal and Wales. A special 48-page full colour magazine celebrating The Valley, The City, The Village will also be launched on 26 May, featuring contributions from all writers.

Struggling to write? In a panic about sending your next project out into the world? Now that she has 'been there, done that' Natalie Ann Holborow offers up frank wit and kind advice to other writers in her new blog post:

'I haven’t posted in over a year, but I figured launching my first book is something worth noting down now, while it’s happening, because your first time will only ever happen once (ahem).'

'I suppose people will expect me to gush here about the elation, the excitement, the surging rush of ecstasy at finally seeing five years’ of work and a dream I’d nurtured since I was writing two-page ‘novels’ in felt pen in front of The Powerpuff Girls finally come to life. I’d envisioned it and doodled it into the diaries I kept stashed in my pillowcases for years – me at a table in Waterstone’s, no longer the shy, sad mousey girl in secondary school but happy and signing books in front of a line of people who didn’t think writing was ridiculous or uncool. And you know what? Yes, it feels amazing.'

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Prepare to be immersed in four days of Welsh literary splendour, as the Llansteffan Literary Festival takes place this June. With the festival opening on June 8, an exhibition of famous writers associated with this historic village will be a sure-fire draw to literary and historical enthusiasts alike. Glyn Jones, Lynette Roberts and Dylan Thomas are some of the poets and novelists featured in this exhibition. Hosted by local historian Diana Bevan, readings of their works are included before the launch of Peter J. Jones’s new poetry collection A Fox in the Yard; what better way to begin celebrating Llansteffan...

'Moonlight washes across the entire, exposed landscape of this poetry collection. The ‘white eye’ orbits from the first page to the last, with a quiet, ancient glint amid the frail unfolding of melancholy lives. Swansea-born writer Natalie Ann Holborow levels the lunar gaze onto a sudden first kiss, violence at a party, memories of past love, wretchedly drunken taxi rides, and a bundle of other tender, inflamed moments. Each is conjured in imagery that aches.'

'And Suddenly You Find Yourself is somehow both meticulous and raw, as if Holborow has mulled infinitely on how best to describe the act of stripping us to our simplest selves.

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'Shoot for the moon? Holborow has landed, roamed its face, dipped into the craters, and gathered an armful of stars while up there.'

Sophie Baggott reviews Natalie Ann Holborow's debut poetry collection And Suddenly You Find Yourself for Wales Arts Review.