New Welsh Review 76, Summer 2007

Editorial:

Dead Poets' Society (Francesca Rhydderch)

When I took over the editorship of this magazine in 2002, I decided that, apart from the first few editorials, I would save my mission statements for grant applications. I assumed that readers were far more interested in the magazine itself than in the paraphernalia of its production and politics. My editorial columns would bring together and crystallize in a very straightforward way the criticism and new writing featured in a particular issue: I had, after all, read enough back copies of The Welsh Review, The Anglo-Welsh Review and New Welsh Review itself to gauge the state-of-the nation proselytizing that lies around the corner for any editor.
read more.....

Features

• Germinal Fictions by Frances Williams
  Frances Williams on artists Heather and Ivan Morison, who are representing Wales at the Venice Biennale. Presenting text in a variety of formats, from postcards to vapour trails, they like the comparison of their art to a work of fiction “... because when you read a novel you don’t expect it to be true.”.
  
  
• Performance and Protest by Heike Roms
  Heike Roms re-visits the international performance art programme at the National Eisteddfod in 1977. In conversation with Timothy Emlyn Jones, John Chris Jones and Andrew Knight, she discusses its attempt to connect a radical art practice with local cultural concerns, as well as its legacy.
  
  
• At Home and Abroad by Kathryn Gray
  2006 was a bumper year for poetry - Kathryn Gray surveys the cream of the crop.
  
  
• Cities and Islands by Tristan Hughes
  A lyrical travelogue from Helsinki by novelist Tristan Hughes, this piece was written as part of the Sealines project, which brought together writers from European ports.
  
  
• Photo / Poem Collaboration by David Hurn and John Barnie
  
  
  
• A Writer's Writer by Tiffany Atkinson
  The poet reflects on the influence of Pam Ayres in her childhood, and her literary crush on Simon Armitage.
  
  
• Photo Essay by Teija-Tuulia Ahola
  Haunting images from Finland.
  
  
• Peter Prendergast 1946-2007 by Tony Curtis
  An obituary of the artist who sadly died earlier this year.
  
  

Fiction

• The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley
  Preview extract
• Resistance by Owen Sheers
  Preview extract

Poems

Poems by :
Annemarie Austin
Markus Lloyd
Pentti Saarikoski
Henry Shukman
Johanna Venho

Reviews

The majority of books reviewed in New Welsh Review can be bought online from gwales.com, the Welsh Books Council's online bookshop, by simply clicking on the 'buy now' icon. For any that are unavailable, please contact the publishers or ask in your local bookshop. All details were correct at the time of publication.

• Under the Dust by Jordi Coca translated by Richard Thomson
  Published by Parthian
  ISBN 9781905762392  PB £9.99
  Reviewed by Amanda Hopkinson
  
  
• The Eyrie by Stevie Davies
  Published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson
  ISBN 9780297851417  HB £12.99
  Reviewed by Nuala Ni Chonchuir
  
  
• The Life of Kingsley Amis by Zachary Leader
  Published by Cape
  ISBN 9780224062275  HB £25.00
  Reviewed by Dyfrig Jones
  
  
• Don't Cry for Me Aberystwyth by Malcolm Pryce
  Published by Bloomsbury
  ISBN 0747580162  HB £12.99
  Reviewed by Ceri Gorton
  
  
• Mr Cassini by Lloyd Jones
  Published by Seren
  ISBN 1854114255  PB £7.99
  Reviewed by Ceri Gorton
  
  
• Jan Morris: Around the World in Eighty Years by Ed. Paul Clements
  Published by Seren
  ISBN 1854114247  PB £9.99
  Reviewed by Jean-Yves Le Disez
  
  
• British Art by Julian Freeman
  Published by Southbank Publishing
  ISBN 9781904915058  PB £8.99
  Reviewed by Ceri Thomas
  
  
• The Big If: The Life and Death of Johnny Owen by Rick Broadbent
  Published by Macmillan
  ISBN 9781405052986  HB £16.99
  Reviewed by Rachel Trezise
  
  
• Occupation Prizefighter: The Freddie Welsh Story by Andrew Gallimore
  Published by Seren
  ISBN 9781854113955  HB £14.99
  Reviewed by Rachel Trezise
  
  
• In the Green Tree: Letters & Short Stories by Alun Lewis
  Published by Parthian
  ISBN 1902638875  PB £7.99
  Reviewed by Alan Vaughan Jones
  
  
• A Cypress Walk: Letters to Frieda by Alun Lewis
  Published by Enitharmon
  ISBN 1904634303  HB £20.00
  Reviewed by Alan Vaughan Jones
  
  
• Dial M for Merthyr: On Tour with Midasuno by Rachel Trezise
  Published by Parthian
  ISBN 1905762127  PB £7.99
  Reviewed by Christian Saunders
  
  

Letters

• Wales and Film - Peter Edwards, Chairman of the Film Agency for Wales