Radio Wales Arts Show Live from the Hay Festival
Memoir, fiction, translation, and Wales Book of the Year chat in front of a live festival audience.
An annual treat this week, where I get to take the conversations out of the studio and in front of a live audience at the Hay Festival. We were lucky with the weather, but no luck was involved in the quality of my guests.
Tiffany Murray talks about her memoir, My Family and Other Rockstars, about growing up in the 1970s living at the iconic Rockfield studios, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Bowie and Mercury.
Poet Gemma June Howells introduces us to her debut novel, about a young working class girl striving to grow up and become a poet. It’s pretty gripping, gritty, no-holds-barred read.
Emyr Wallace Humphreys discusses the trials and tribulations and wonders and euphoria of translating Owain Owain’s cult 1970s Welsh sci-fi novella The Last Day into English for the first time.
And co-CEO of Literature Wales Clare Furlong fills us in on the preparations for this year’s Wales Book of the Year (the award ceremony of which now just happens to clash with a certain national poll - drat!).
It’s a packed half hour, and you can listen to it here.
Gary Raymond is a novelist, author, playwright, critic, and broadcaster. In 2012, he co-founded Wales Arts Review, was its editor for ten years. His latest book, Abandon All Hope: A Personal Journey Through the History of Welsh Literature is available now with Calon Books.