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Last minute Christmas shopping? On the 9th day of Christmas, Parthian suggests The Actors' Crucible: Port Talbot and the making of Burton, Hopkins, Sheen and all the others, an enlightening study of the Port Talbot and its seminal contribution to the history of cinema. The Actors' Crucible: Port Talbot and the making of Burton, Hopkins, Sheen and all the others is available in hardback and paperback here. Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Sheen count amongst the world's most renowned and gifted actors. Yet they have something else in common: they all come from the south Wales steel town of Port Talbot....

Consisting of short stories, poems, essays and cartoons and comics, Cawl is an anthology of one multi-prize winning, funny, angry young man's creative endeavors and social and political frustrations. Traditionally Cawl is a mix of everything thrown into one stew pot and left to simmer, boil over and be savoured. Here Siôn Tomos Owen invites the reader to choose what to taste next. The meat of the essays, the parsnip of poetry, the spud of satire or the OXO cube of comedy.  You can find Cawl here or in our carnival bookshop in Cardiff!   ‘Siôn Tomos Owen’s book couldn’t...

A veteran soldier who served in the British India and many areas of the Western Front, Frank Richards wrote his seminal account of the Great War from the standpoint of the common soldier, Old Soldiers Never Die, in 1933. This was followed by Old Soldier Sahib, a memoir of his time serving in British India, in 1936. He died in 1961. '...the greatest account of trench warfare...' Phil Carradice, BBC Arguably the greatest of all published memoirs of the Great War, Old Soldiers Never Die is Private Frank Richard's classic account of the war from the standpoint of the regular soldier, and...

Winner of the PEN International New Voices Award 2015 Shortlisted for The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award 2015   'This first collection of stories features a wonderfully diverse array of characters, including a dog racer, a music shop owner, singers, circus performers, and two young sisters in Warsaw during the Second World War. Behind each colourful backdrop lies the inner turmoil of depression, grief and loss, which Rebecca F. John explores with touching empathy and a profound humanity.’  Francesca Rhydderch  ‘These stories come from a deep, soul-like place of vitality, warmth and beauty.  This is a debut as compelling as the work...

Ugly, Lovely: Dylan Thomas's Swansea and Carmarthenshire of the 1950s in pictures is a unique combination of literature and the visual arts. Fans of photography, of Dylan Thomas's writing, of the landscape of South Wales find this inspiring collection and a lovely Christmas gift here. Ethel Ross, the sister in law of Alfred Janes, was the guardian of Dylan Thomas' legacy for decades. Shortly after his death in 1953, She compiled a photo memoir of his haunts in and around Swansea. Ugly, Lovely: Dylan Thomas’s Swansea and Carmarthenshire of the 1950s in pictures is a touching collection of Ethel's photos accompanied by quotes from...