Our Bookshelf
Browse our Bookshelves, selected annually by the Exchange as a window to recent Welsh literary works which we recommend for translation.
Lottie Williams, Nation Cymru
“Beautifully and precisely written, Donahaye allows you access to an incredibly honest peeling of layers. Feminism and nature abound, these essays are a contemporary fusion of memoir, ornithological and eco writing centred around the reality of being a brown woman in a rural setting and, let’s face it, society in general.”
Lottie Williams, Nation Cymru
“Anger, fear and the tragic are skillfully balanced against a curiosity and passion so unapologetically alive that her words form wings and smack you across your face as they take flight, leaving a mark.”
Mike Parker
“An absolute kingfisher.”
Gwyneth Lewis
“Fresh, modern, forensic.”
Birdsplaining: A Natural History
A wren in the house foretells a death, while a tech-loving parrot aids a woman’s recovery. Crows’ misbehaviour suggests how the ‘natural’ order, ranked by men, may be challenged. A blur of bunting above an unassuming bog raises questions about how nature reserves were chosen. Should the oriole be named ‘green’ or golden? The flaws of field guides across decades prove that this is a feminist issue. A buzzard, scavenging a severed ewe’s leg, teaches taboos about curiosity.
In Birdsplaining: A Natural History, New Welsh Writing Awards 2021 Winner Jasmine Donahaye is in pursuit of feeling ‘sharply alive’, understanding things on her own terms and undoing old lessons about how to behave. Here, she finally confronts fear: of violence and of the body's betrayals, daring at last, to ‘get things wrong’. Roaming across Wales, Scotland and California, she is unapologetically focused on the uniqueness of women’s experience of nature and the constraints placed upon it. Sometimes bristling, always ethical, Birdsplaining upends familiar ways of seeing the natural world.
- (2023)
New Welsh Review
Fideos
Watch Author discuss and read from Meet the Author: Manon Steffan Ros
Watch Author discuss and read from Poetry Connections on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Jasmine Donahaye on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Translating Minority Languages in the Literary Translation Centre
Watch Author discuss and read from Digwyddiad Diwrnod Rhyngwladol Mamiaith 2021
Watch Author discuss and read from Alun Davies | Ar Lwybr Dial (Pursuit of Vengeance)
Watch Author discuss and read from Cyfnewid Anrhegion
Watch Author discuss and read from Iaith y Nefoedd (The Language of Heaven) | Llwyd Owen
Watch Author discuss and read from Mari Strachan on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Aled Islwyn on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from The Party Wall | Stevie Davies
Watch Author discuss and read from The Jeweller | Caryl Lewis, translated by Gwen Davies
Watch Author discuss and read from We Could Be Anywhere By Now | Katherine Stansfield
Watch Author discuss and read from Footnotes to Water | Zoë Skoulding
Watch Author discuss and read from Gwirionedd | Elinor Wyn Reynolds
Watch Author discuss and read from Stillicide | Cynan Jones
Watch Author discuss and read from The Mission House | Carys Davies
Watch Author discuss and read from Wing | Matthew Francis
Watch Author discuss and read from Filò | Siân Melangell Dafydd
Watch Author discuss and read from Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru yn cyflwyno Ffon yr Her Gyfieithu i Grug Muse yng Nghricieth on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Her Gyfieithu 2020 Translation Challenge
Watch Author discuss and read from Zafer Şenocak 'Nahaufnahmen’
Watch Author discuss and read from Grug Muse 'Craffu' on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Eleoma Bodammer 'Close ups' on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Tony Bianchi on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Damian Walford Davies on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Owen Martell on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Fflur Dafydd on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Wiliam Owen Roberts on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Deborah Kay Davies on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Lloyd Jones on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Stevie Davies on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Owen Sheers on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Jasmine Donahaye on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Siân Melangell Dafydd on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Lloyd Markham on Bad Ideas/Chemicals
Watch Author discuss and read from Llŷr Gwyn Lewis on Rhyw Flodau Rhyfel (Some Flowers of War)
Watch Author discuss and read from Llŷr Gwyn Lewis on 'Fabula'
Watch Author discuss and read from Richard Gwyn on The Blue Tent on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Eluned Gramich - Woman Who Brings the Rain on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Angharad Price on O! Tyn y Gorchudd on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from Manon Steffan Ros on Llyfr Glas Nebo on Vimeo
Watch Author discuss and read from https://player.vimeo.com/video/448576310
Watch Author discuss and read from https://player.vimeo.com/video/453687535
Watch Author discuss and read from Darllen y Byd - Llenyddiaeth Ryngwladol i Blant yn y Gymraeg
Adolygiadau
“Beautifully and precisely written, Donahaye allows you access to an incredibly honest peeling of layers. Feminism and nature abound, these essays are a contemporary fusion of memoir, ornithological and eco writing centred around the reality of being a brown woman in a rural setting and, let’s face it, society in general.”
Darllenwch fwy o adolygiadauLottie Williams, Nation Cymru