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This week we're talking all things poetry in the lead up to #NationalPoetryDay this Thursday on the 6th of October. We are delighted that Pearl & Bone by the wonderful Mari Ellis Dunning has been met with some great reviews since its launch last Saturday. 'This is a brave, complex, powerful, angry, and loving book, full of poems that argue, discuss, share, and reject the abuse of power that women and children are constant victims of' - Tears in the Fence Dunning's second full poetry collection explores themes of motherhood and femininity using her own intimate moments of becoming a mother during a global pandemic...

'Thatcher’s poems can be nostalgic and delicious in their visualisations…In these echoes of capturing, cradling, holding — Thatcher suggests that the speaker’s temptations aren’t drugs, or fire, but deeply-felt connections, touches, and caresses. There might never be enough.’ In their latest issue, Poetry London has given Christina Thatcher's second poetry collection, How to Carry Fire, a glowing review! In this perfect summing-up: 'Thatcher suggests that the speaker's temptations aren't drugs, or fire, but deeply-felt conections, touches, and caresses. There might never be enough.' they capture the burning heart of this fine collection. If you haven't read it yet, you can...

For their New Welsh Writers series, The Cardiff Review's Jamie Gillingham interviewed Roberto Pastore (Hey Bert) about all things writing. The series 'speaks to new voices in Welsh literature, delving into how they got their start and what advice they might have for other emerging writers.'

Roberto talks about his writing routine, his inspirations, and his experience of the route into publishing.

Sydney Whiteside, for the Wales Arts Review, takes an indepth look at the writings of Christina Thatcher (How to Carry Fire) and Zoë Brigley (Notes from a Swing State), finding cultural depths and resonances as an American living in Wales.

'Both Christina Thatcher’s How to Carry Fire and Zoë Brigley’s Notes from a Swing State are born of trans-Atlantic origins. Writing between Wales and America, though in opposite directions, Thatcher and Brigley speak of both countries with spellbinding precision and depth. As someone inhabiting a similar position, reading these works was both a joy and an inspiration.'

You can read the full article here.

And both books are available to buy on our website - link here.

Listen to Susie Wild narrate her poem 'The Carnivore Boyfriends', published in the Spring 2020 edition of Poetry Wales. 

Susie Wild is the author of Better Houses, The Art of Contraception, and Arrivals. Her second collection of poetry, Windfalls is forthcoming from Parthian in Spring 2021. She placed second in the Welshpool Poetry Festival Competition 2020, was highly commended in the Prole Laureate Poetry Competition 2020 and longlisted for the Mslexia Women's Poetry Prize 2018. Poems have recently appeared in The Atlanta Review and Poetry Wales. She lives in Cardiff.