This book will be released on October 5th 2023.
Pre-orders are charged at time of order and the book will be posted to you as soon as it becomes available.
UK postage is 99 pence per order.
Edited and with a foreword by Jenni Crane
Myfanwy Haycock (1913-1963) mapped out a career as one of Wales's most talented female poets during the mid-twentieth century and was dubbed as ‘Gwent’s second voice’ at the age of nineteen. A skilled illustrator, journalist and broadcaster, Haycock explored the world around her through impressionistic poetry and often outspoken articles. However, in the years since her death, Haycock’s poetic landscape has largely been lost. During her multifaceted life, from experiencing the tragedy of the Second World War to her own debilitating illness, Haycock was able to visualise the beauty around her and make ‘her literary output shine like a diamond among broken glass’.
The poems of nature and love, dreams and mourning, transport the reader from the roaming south Wales valleys to the trampled grass of Kensington and back again. Marking sixty years since her death, this collection featuring fifty poems that have been carefully selected by TV producer Jenni Crane will shine a light once again on Haycock’s lyrical landscape.
'She found grace and beauty everywhere, distilling her impressions in vivid word-pictures of charm and tenderness, her imagery, often touched with elfin whimsicality, is free and appealing.' – A. G. Prys-Jones
Myfanwy Haycock (1913-1963) was one of the Eastern Valley of Wales’s most endearing and talented female lyric poets, publishing seven poetry collections and broadcasting her poems on radio and television. In 1932, Haycock won the English Lyric entry at the National Eisteddfod, Port Talbot, for her poem ‘The Hill of Dreams’ and, later, two bardic chairs, at Ebbw Vale and Newport. Her poetry embodied her love of nature, places, and her hometown of Pontypool. She was a regular feature writer for the South Wales Argus, Western Mail and many others, illustrating her poems and short stories with scraperboard woodcuts. Moving to London in 1943, she worked for the BBC and became a member of The Society of Women Writers and Journalists. At the age of fifty, she tragically passed away after a debilitating illness.
Jenni Crane is a Pontypool-born BBC continuity announcer, broadcaster, TV and Radio Producer. With a BA Hons in Acting from The Italia Conti Academy, Jenni has worked on both sides of the camera. She authored BBC Radio 4 documentary The Chaplain's Suitcase. In 2023 she launched the Myfanwy Haycock Poetry Trail and presented My Hill of Dreams for BBC Radio Wales. Jenni has produced and introduced programmes: Your Home Made Perfect (BBC2) / Escape to the Chateau: DIY and Penelope Keith’s Village of the Year (Channel 4). She lives in London with her husband and Cave the cat and hopes to make her own return home to live in Wales soon.