New Welsh Review 83, Spring 2009

Editorial:

Serious Times (Kathryn Gray)

Readers of New Welsh Review will not need reminding that these are serious and exceptional times in which we live. That already hackneyed term ‘the credit crunch’ has become, in a matter of months, shorthand for an era of prevailing uncertainty and caution. Literary publishing, like any other business, will be determined by the new conditions. And the implications are worrying, to say the least.
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Features

• Still in Hollywood by Tom Anderson
  Travel writer Tom Anderson takes a tour of ‘La-La Land’ and surveys the Culture of Impulse.
  
  
• Darkness and Light by Jane MacNamee
  Jane MacNamee discusses the life and work of Eiluned Lewis with her daughter, Katrina Burnett. Fleet Street journalist, country woman and novelist, Lewis felt a strong connection to the ‘strange and immortal’.
  
  
• A Genuine Contender by Judy Kendall
  Judy Kendall appraises The Annotated Collected Poems of Edward Thomas and a recent anthology of poetry and essays inspired by his work, Branch-Lines.
  
  
• Out of Hearsay by John Sam Jones
  John Sam Jones reflects on a literature emerging from the margins. Should his work be labelled as ‘gay’ or is that simply a convenient marketing niche?
  
  
• First Hand by Robert Minhinnick
  Poet, novelist and essayist Robert Minhinnick on his bid for a Creative Wales Award, and his latest work-in-progress In Goliath's Country.
  
  
• Photo Essay: Appalachian Coal Mines by Roger Tiley
  Introduced by the photographer, the photo essay explores the parallels between Appalachian and Welsh coal mining communities.
  
  
• The Last Word by David Adams
  Former arts correspondent for The Guardian and a regular reviewer for The Western Mail, David Adams writes on the failure of theatre criticism in Wales, and how this is rendering the performing arts invisible.
  
  

Fiction

• Maggie's Lipstick by Bethan Roberts
  
• Nathan and the Cloud of Unknowing by Henry Shukman
  

Poems

Poems by :
Carrie Etter
Kelly Grovier
Paul Henry
Charles Simic
Katherine Stansfield
Richard Marggraf Turley

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.

• Welsh Environments in Contemporary Poetry by Matthew Jarvis
  Published by University of Wales Press
  ISBN 9780708321522  pb £18.99
  Reviewed by Katie Gramich
  
  
• Fighting Pretty by Louise Walsh
  Published by Seren
  ISBN 9781854114747  pb £7.99
  Reviewed by Rachel Trezise
  
  
• Other Beasts by Sarah Corbett
  Published by Seren
  ISBN 9781854114662  pb £7.99
  Reviewed by Katherine Stansfield
  
  
• Qwerty by Paul Groves
  Published by Seren
  ISBN 9781854114594  pb £7.99
  Reviewed by Katherine Stansfield
  
  
• The Untogether by Jeb Loy Nichols
  Published by Alcemi
  ISBN 9780955527241  pb £7.99
  Reviewed by Susie Wild
  
  
• Grace, Tamar and Laszlo the Beautiful by Deborah Kay Davies
  Published by Parthian
  ISBN 9781905762422  pb £8.99
  Reviewed by Susie Wild
  
  
• The Captain's Wife by Eiluned Lewis
  Published by Honno Classics
  ISBN 9781870206983  pb £8.99
  Reviewed by Molly James
  
  
• Aber: Essays on Aberystwyth by Photographs by Keith Morris
  Published by Gomer
  ISBN 9781843239406  hb £14.99
  Reviewed by John Harrison
  
  
• Real Aberystwyth by Niall Griffiths
  Published by Seren
  ISBN 9781854114471  pb £9.99
  Reviewed by John Harrison
  
  
• What's Welsh for Performance?: v.1 by Heike Roms Ed.
  Published by Trace: Samizdata Press
  ISBN 9780955392726  pb £10.00
  Reviewed by Owen Griffiths
  
  
• King Driftwood by Robert Minhinnick
  Published by Carcanet
  ISBN 9781857549652  pb £9.95
  Reviewed by David Wheatley
  
  
• My First Colouring book by Lloyd Jones
  Published by Seren
  ISBN 9781854114785  pb £7.99
  Reviewed by Jerome de Groot
  
  

Letters