Carnival Blog RSS

Ece Temelkuran was born in 1973 and is a Turkish writer, journalist and political commentator. She has written various columns which have been published in leading international newspapers such as the Guardian and Le Monde. Her work has not gone unnoticed: in 2001 she received the Pen for Peace Award and in 2009 she received the Free Thought and Democracy Award. Her work often tackles subjects like the Kurdish and Armenian questions, the women's movement, and political prisoners, which are all highly controversial topics in her homeland of Turkey. Her criticism of the Turkish government eventually led to her dismissal...

We are excited to announce that Tristan Hughes’ Hummingbird, his highly-anticipated fourth novel, will be hitting shelves from June 1. A story of loss, life and redemption, Hummingbird shrouds an isolated Canadian hamlet in mystery and examines how the past can never be retrieved completely. Inspired by a mystery taken from Hughes’s own family history, this is a novel not to be missed, by those who have loved Hughes, and by those yet to experience this powerful and gripping literary voice. 

The Western Mail interviewed Hughes on the inspirations behind this novel:

‘Several years ago, my mother was clearing out the attic of our family home when she discovered me first book […] I’d written it when I was nine years old and it had the catchy title of ‘Four Short Stories’ […] the last - and the longest - was about a man who walks into the wilderness of northern Canada and never returns. That one was based on a true story. Near the beginning of the last century, my great uncle wandered off into the forests of northern Ontario and didn’t come back […] I can see now how my nine-year-old self simply couldn’t comprehend that somebody could just disappear. The story must have haunted and bewildered me…’

Taking place on Saturday 17th June at MOMA Machynlleth is a day of presentations, discussion and music exploring the transformation of place in art, music and literature, to accompany the MOMA Machynlleth exhibition Roger Cecil: Inside the Studio. Full programme: 10 am Registration and coffee 10.30 Dr Peter Wakelin, Roger Cecil Curator Welcome: Abstracting the Landscape 11.00 Professor Jeff Wallace, Cardiff Metropolitan University What do we want from abstraction? 11.45 Dr Kate Romano, Goldfield Ensemble Invisible Places and Imaginary Landscapes in Music 12.20 Break to view exhibition Bring a packed lunch or eat in Machynlleth 13.45 Professor Mike Tooby, Bath School of...

'Rebel Sun is here! Can’t believe it’s finally happened. This beautiful hardback book was designed by my partner Andy Garside and I can’t thank my publisher, Parthian Books, enough for all of their support.' – Sophie McKeand writes on her blog today. Her hardback poetry collection is here and it looks lovely!

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.