New volume and launch on 17th March in Goldstone Books Carmarthen 6-7:30pm

  Republic Nerys Williams   here  9781781726969 •  Poetry • Paperback • £9.99 “Republic is the explosive new poetry collection from Nerys Williams. In it she opens a window on life in rural west Wales during the 1980s and 90s when arts and culture boomed. English and Welsh-language post-punk bands, politics, feminism and family life are thrown together on the page as she questions what constitutes a republic?”   Praise for Republic “Nerys Williams has written a ‘gold rush’ of a book, at times explosive and at other times meditative and soulful. Her vignettes, richly poetic, zing and thrill, delight and haunt. You will want to slow down your reading… Read More →

Publication Day Blog- Listening to REPUBLIC (listen to the music)

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  • Categories: Essays, Events, News   •   
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  • by Nerys Williams

Listening to Republic Writing Republic I found that post punk music of the 80s and 90s became key in an attempt to articulate a relationship between community, language and culture. Given the current preponderance of School Disco compilations, initially it might seem that retreating to the music of the 80s and 90s is another variant in communal nostalgia. This is not the intention of Republic. I believe that music carries an energy for future action and desire for change. What you learn over the years changes how you listen to those important early albums. Context shifts meaning. Republic is an anti-memoir, it came from a need to transcribe the voices of a community… Read More →

Review of “Republic” BBC Radio Wales “The Review Show” 17th February

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BBC RADIO WALES: THE REVIEW SHOW 17TH FEBRUARY, 2022 Reviewing The Review Show: Delighted with the review on BBC Radio Wales – the reviewers engaged with Republic‘s key issues:  politics, music, subjectivity and the represenation of Welsh language. Many of the issues raised – where the book might fit in terms of it being an experiement in prose, how it might be seen as a cross genre work were particulalry thoughtful My aim in Republic  was to reach  a broader readership than my earlier work Sound Archive   to address the complexities of bilingualism and the thinking through of Welsh identity (without reverting to tropes). In the past I have… Read More →

BBC at 100: Plath’s Maternity Verse Drama

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I’ve been writing on Syliva Plath’s engagement witn BBC Radio as a writer and poet – August 19th 2022 marked the 60th anniversary of  the broadcast of Plath’s  Three Women on the Third Programme . Produced by Douglas Cleverdon this was Plath’s only commisioned work for the BBC. Set on a materinty ward it follows the late pregnancies and birthing experiences of three unnamed patients. It is a remarkable work for its time addressing issues about consent, medical intervention, gynaecological rights, miscarriage and abortion. The research has been inclluded  as an essay “Sylvia Plath’s Three Women: Producing a Poetics of Listening at the BBC” in  this  insghtful book of essays.    The… Read More →

“Does dim rhyfel nawr – ma’r drws ar agor tan y wawr” Er Cof am David R. Edwards

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  Yn ddiochgar ofnadwy  i Sioned Rowlands  ac O’r Pedwar Gwynt wnath roi sbardun i sgwennu yn y man cynta; Thanks to Sioned Rowlands and O’r Pedwar Gwynt  who asked  (original in Welsh https://pedwargwynt.cymru – subscription) It is no secret that Datblygu first found their followers outside of Wales. As a teenager I attended gigs in remote country hotels where many of the Welsh speaking audience did not “get” Datblygu. The adulation of Dave in Wales has been very much a belated affair. I am certain David R . Edwards would curl his lips with bemusement at any overt hagiography. Unlike many writing eulogies for David R. Edwards, I never met… Read More →

Blackbox Manifold 25 – Experiments from Wales 2021

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Issue 25 Blackbox Manifold dedicated to Welsh Innovative Poetry  curated by John Goodby Goodby writes: “This is a selection of recent work by eighteen poets who were born and / or brought up in Wales, or who are from elsewhere but work and write in Wales, or who have other meaningful ties to the country. Most of it was written in the last twelve months or so and therefore dates from the fraught countdown to Brexit, and a good deal of it was written during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, directly or indirectly, it often reflects a strange and changeful period. Some of the poetry has been published before, but… Read More →