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Our publishing editor Susie Wild is talking writing, poetry and publishing on class act panels in two far flung UK locations this autumn! This month, come see her on Thursday 20 September in Southampton: Then, next month, Susie will be on the panel of the More Poetry is Needed session at Swansea Fringe Festival (2-4pm, Sunday 7 October: Submitting your poems to a publisher can be intimidating, but The Swansea Fringe is here to help! Three of Wales’ leading poetry editors – Emily Blewitt (New Welsh Review), Nia Davies (Poetry Wales) and Susie Wild (Parthian Books) – join The Crunch’s Adam...

As much as I love talking about myself, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about someone else for a change. Rhys Owain Williams is the first of several writers who are going to be contributing in some way or another to this blog.

I first met Rhys a couple of years ago at the Hay Festival. We were both part of the Hay Writers at Work Scheme, this amazing project that sees a group of writers from Wales sent to the festival for 13 days to write, network and, basically, develop professionally.

I liked Rhys straight away. He was a late recruit, joining up with us on the second year of the scheme, but he easily slotted into our group. We drank beer. Lots of beer. We attended events and workshops with famous writers and agents. We listened to each other’s poetry. We sat outside in the Green Room and talked about our collections which were, at this point, just fragmented words in various notepads, half formed ideas in our heads, their front covers like adverts for holidays we could only imagine going on.

I mostly liked Rhys because we had the same sense of humour. He’d share funny stories about the B&B he was staying at and the old lady who ran it, Betty, describing their early morning conversations, her ornaments and her concern for his well-being during his stay. I imagined him sneaking back in the middle of the night, creeping up Betty's stairs like a burglar after one of our group’s drinking sessions at The Old Electric Shop, like Betty was his Nan or something and he didn’t want to disappoint her with his antics.

As well as having a talent for befriending old ladies and drinking beer, Rhys is also a fantastic poet. The nice part about our friendship is that those conversations in the Green Room about our first poetry collections became a reality. We were both offered publishing contracts, at the same time, by the same publisher.

Rhys’ collection is different to mine though, in that he uses a lot of styles and poetic devices. He’s a poet who has clearly worked on his craft for years and that shows – every word counts, every word has been thought out, making an extremely moving and accomplished debut collection.

I’m really looking forward to touring with our books. It’s exciting having a new book out anyway but it’s even better being able to share the journey with someone I know. Rhys has his own launch in Swansea tomorrow (Friday 14 September).

You can buy his book That Lone Ship HERE.

I asked him some questions.

Over and out. X

the last polar bear on earth by Rhian Elizabeth is available from our online shop for £8 and free P&P (UK)

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...

The monumental Welsh classic Border Country by Raymond Williams has been translated into Italian for the first time. We're thrilled to see Welsh literature cross borders like that!

Rhian Elizabeth here. Parthian have given me control of their blog for the next month. Perhaps this will be a mistake on their part. I’ve been asked to write as much as I can manage and whatever I feel comfortable with. Since I’ve been focusing on poetry this past year, I haven’t written prose in a really long time, so whatever I can manage may not be very much at all. I’ve got to try and remember what a full stop is, where the caps lock is on my keyboard, and to fill the page with loads of words. Becoming...