Autumn 2021

Browse our Bookshelf, selected annually by the Exchange as a window to recent Welsh literary works which we recommend for translation.

WLE bookshelf Autumn 21 web

The Gododdin : Lament for the Fallen

Gillian Clarke

Former National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke presents a new striking version of Y Gododdin, one of Britain’s greatest cultural treasures. Dating back to the sixth century and attributed to the poet…more

Still

Christopher Meredith

Still builds on Meredith’s previous collection, Air Histories, shifting between the personal and impersonal, developing a characteristically wide range of forms, techniques, settings and moods from…more

Mynd

Marged Tudur

Winner of the Wales Book of the Year 2021 | PoetryThis remarkable debut poetry collection – written in response to the death of the poet’s brother, Dafydd – is a profound and contemporary…more

Inhale / Exile

Abeer Ameer

Inhale/Exile is the debut poetry collection by Abeer Ameer, a rising poet of Iraqi heritage, who lives in Cardiff, Wales. Inspired by the many stories she heard as a child and visiting family in…more

Flowers of War (Rhyw Flodau Rhyfel)

Llŷr Gwyn Lewis

Winner of the Creative Non-Fiction Award, Wales Book of the Year 2015When the author is given a small package, containing letters and papers relating to his grandfather’s brother, who was killed…more

Cyfrinachau

Eluned Phillips

This very first publication of a lost classic by the poet Eluned Phillips (1914 – 2019) throws new light on the life and work of an important woman of Wales, whose legacy has for too long remained…more

Many Rivers to Cross

Dylan Moore

In his debut novel, Dylan Moore explores the so-called 'refugee crisis' of the mid 2010s. Set in Newport, South Wales; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and places in between, the book examines the experiences…more

Llechi

Manon Steffan Ros

Shortlisted in the Tír na nÓg Awards 2021Gwenno is dead: perfect, clever, beautiful Gwenno, popular with the swots and cool kids alike. But was she really the angel that everyone thought she was…more

Angels of Cairo

Gary Raymond

Robert Clifford is in Cairo to present his latest film for a festival prize. It has taken seven gruelling years of his life to make and is definitely NOT a film about his mother. But his moment in…more

Please

Christopher Meredith

Octogenarian language geek Vernon, who's never written a book, tries to find a way to write the story of his long marriage to Hannah. Under the comic surface of Vernon's pompous voice hides a story…more

Heavy Light: A Journey Through Madness, Mania and Healing

Horatio Clare

After a lifetime of ups and downs, Horatio Clare was committed to hospital under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act.From hypomania in the Alps, to a complete breakdown and a locked ward in…more

Ymbapuroli

Angharad Price

Shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2021 | Creative Non-FictionYmbapuroli gathers into one gem of a collection a decade of essays and thought pieces by Angharad Price, one of the most…more

Lloerganiadau

Fflur Dafydd

Phases of life are measured by the waxing and waning of the moon in this unique volume, award-winning novelist and screenwriter Fflur Dafydd’s first foray into memoir. Illustrated (or should that…more

tu ôl i'r awyr

Megan Angharad Hunter

Winner of Wales Book of the Year 2021A pioneering début by an extraordinarily talented young writer, tu ôl i’r awyr (behind the sky) weaves together the stories and psychologies of Deian and…more

Y Wraig ar Lan yr Afon

Aled Jones Williams

Described by its author as more akin to myth than a novel, Y Wraig ar Lan yr Afon (The Woman on the Riverbank) centres on the arrival of the mysterious Rachel, who sets up home in the Red House on…more

Easy Meat

Rachel Trezise

In the divisive wake of the Brexit referendum comes Rachel Trezise’s Easy Meat: bold, timely, and unremittingly humane.23 June 2016 is a day like any other for Caleb Jenkins. The former reality…more

Twll Bach yn y Niwl

Llio Maddocks

Shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2021 | FictionThe struggles of millennial life are captured with candour, humour, and poignancy in Llio Maddocks’ debut novel. Lowri has lost her way since…more

Y Castell Siwgr

Angharad Tomos

Shortlisted in the Tír na nÓg Awards 2021When circumstances compel Dorcas – a farmgirl in nineteenth-century Wales – to take up employment as a maid in Lord Penrhyn’s castle, her story becomes…more