Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Controversial author and columnist Julian Ruck will be the guest speaker at a meeting of Llanelli Rotary Club at the Stradey Park Hotel, Llanelli, tomorrow evening (7.30pm Wednesday, November 23). Ruck is a novelist, broadcaster, columnist and political journalist/commentator. He is presently a columnist for two of Wales' biggest selling newspapers. Having studied and trained as a lawyer in London, he dedicated a portion of his life to dealing with Legal Aid contracts in the not-for-profit sector. He now lives in West Wales, where he is a regular contributor to Labour Uncut and The Daily Express. He has published six books, all with Dinefwr Press, and is currently writing another. In October 2015, Julian was involved in a hit-and-run accident that left him seriously injured, but as of 2016, he is on the road to recovery and writing again. Link - http://www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=936

One of India’s leading writers is spending three months at Aberystwyth University following the launch of Literature Across Frontiers’ (LAF) inaugural Charles Wallace India Trust Creative Translation and Writing Fellowship. The Charles Wallace India Trust supports a number of fellowships including four in the area of creative writing and translation. The LAF Aberystwyth Fellowship offers a new opportunity to live and work in Wales for a period of three months. The Fellowship is the first of its kind in Wales and the latest in a series of similar residencies already open to Indian literary translators and writers at the universities of East Anglia, Kent and Stirling. Alexandra Büchler, director of Literature Across Frontiers said: “We are delighted to have Venkateswar Ramaswamy with us as the inaugural CWIT fellow and immensely thankful to the Charles Wallace India Trust for making the residency possible. “Rama, as we soon started to call him, will be working on the translation of a n...

Latest news from the Oriel Myrddin Gallery in Carmarthen -  Clwb Llyfrau Oriel Myrddin Book Club – Caitlin Moran Oriel Myrddin Book Club – Caitlin Moran ‘How to Be a Woman’ Wednesday 15 April 2015 6 – 7:30 in the gallery Alongside the exhibition, Angharad Pearce Jones: The Pram in the Hall, we’ve been reading Caitlin Moran’s ‘How to Be a Woman’ ‘Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin answers the questions that every modern woman is asking…’ Love it? Hate it? Come and air your thoughts! New faces and old are extremely welcome! Informal chat, tea and cake. 16 years + Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Church Lane, Carmarthen, SA31 1LH

Cynheidre-born author Peter Griffiths is getting ready to launch his latest novel. The Mystical Milestone is available to buy now, but the official launch will take place at Llangennydd Church, Gower, on Friday, March 7. Mr Griffiths is a well-known figure on the Welsh-American scene. He currently lives in Denver, Colorado, but is a regular visitor to Wales to see family and friends and get a top-up of Welsh 'hwyl'. Ceri Shaw of the popular AmeriCymru website interviewed Mr Griffiths about his latest book, which follows the success of the earlier Tongue Tied, which was a big success both in Wales and the USA. Here is part of that interview -  AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about your forthcoming book - "The Mystical Milestone'? Peter: As you know, my first novel Tongue Tied was a soaring saga set against a background of Welsh issues, Welsh history, and the Welsh language. I could have piggybacked its success...stuck to a formula, so to s...

The road back to a parent’s house is the central journey Welsh-born author Carol Lee portrays in Out of Winter, following news of her father’s sudden illness. Over the next two and a half years, the M4 becomes familiar territory as she travels from her London flat to Carmarthenshire, where her English father and Welsh mother have settled in their retirement. The experience of long-distance care is shared by many and, in this candid portrayal of family life, Carol writes of the conflicting emotions of being an adult ‘child’. Long journeys to visit the village near Llanelli where she was born find her a mass of conflicting emotions, guilt and anger among them. Part of her conflict is mirrored by her parents’ difficult marriage, which both she and her brother retreated from. In returning to care for her mother and father, she feels ‘stretched along the motorway, as if I had a Welsh heart and an English head. Always a piece of me left behind.’ But, in Out of Winter, Carol re-exa...