Aberystwyth lecturers shortlisted for top book prize

Mihangel Morgan, a lecturer in the Department of Welsh, and Tiffany Atkinson, a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University, have been shortlisted for the 2012 Wales Book of the Year Award.
The Award will be presented to the best Welsh and English-language works first published in 2011 in the fields of creative writing and literary criticism in three categories: Poetry, Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction.
Dr Mihangel Morgan, shortlisted for his latest Welsh language fiction novel Pantglas, has based his book around inhabitants of the imaginary village Pantglas and how they face change and numerous tragedies.
Originally from Aberdare, Mihangel Morgan currently lectures in 20th century Welsh literature and lives in Talybont in Ceredigion. In 1993, he won the National Eisteddfod’s Prose Medal with his novel Dirgel Ddyn and was also on the shortlist for the Book of the Year Award 2006 for Digon o Fwydod – a collection of poems.
Dr Tiffany Atkinson has been shortlisted for her collection of poetry Catulla Et Al, which summons up the sensual and scandalous spirit of the Latin poet Catullus.
Catulla Et Al is Tiffany’s second collection - her first collection, Kink and Particle, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and winner of the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2007. She is the poetry editor for New Welsh Review and gives regular workshops and readings across the UK.
The Award, administered by Literature Wales with funding from the Arts Council of Wales, will be presented on Thursday 12 July at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.