Last weekend I scouted out the Bay Lit Festival - something I have been looking forward to since I came across it last year and an excellent opportunity to as a Bridgend Young Critic. It is a literary festaval held over two weeks and it's a chance for the authours and publishers of Wales to showcase their talent on home soil and to discuss topics central to Welsh Literature. Events take place across the modern, popular environment of Cardif Bay: a centre for artistic and creative events and the home of the Wales Millennium Centre.

Of the events I attended, Shock of the New proves an apt title for this Bay Lit Festival and not simply because the titles launched are new. Those new titles I was tempted with are a mix of innovation, challenge and certainly unusual in some cases, they should provide an exciting year for Welsh literature and entertainment for the reader. Listen, and for all the newness that abounds in these titles, the past gets a nod: after all there is no future without a past.

Thurs 28^th: New Stories from the Mabinogion launch by Seren

Outside of Wales and even to some Welsh the Mabinogion is an unknown so firstly: the book is 11 stories from early British history from the Red book of Hergest and the White book of Rhyderch but brought to prominence as the Mabinogion in the 1800’s by Lady Charlotte Guest. The stories give us the ancient perspective of the Arthurian tales; Celtic mythology and the magical belief’s of the British people. For the modern reader the Mabinogion can be a difficult read: the language is dry, its prose frustrating and it often leaves moments important to the narrative that are ripe for emotion as bare facts. Although for all its anarchic qualities it carries a freedom – there are no rules binding it to genre, form or style: the myth chosen by Gwyneth Lewis has Blodeuwydd as a woman created from flowers then turned into an owl as punishment, few writers could put that together even as Sci-fi or magic realism.

Authors Owen Shears, Nial Griffiths; Gwyneth Lewis and Russel Celyn Jones.

Change and tradition were the buzz words at the launch; difficult words to pair up but with a reworking of Mabinogion up for discussion they are central themes. How much danger do retellings carry? Too much change and the essence can be lost, not enough is seen as going over old ground. Seren’s editor Penny Thomas explained the writers were invited to choose a myth, given a deadline and a word count then given free reign – even with full creative control each chosen myth is at the centre of the novellas, this was evident from the readings given by the authors. Owen Shear’s in White Ravens borrows pieces of his myth Branwen’s message too her brother via bird as one example. As a Liverpudlian with Welsh and Irish heritage Niall Griffiths spoke of it as an opportunity to “reassess and rewrite a part of his own history”. Taping into the myth’s narratives unearths the roots of the Welsh and Celtic culture’s; carrying on our storytelling tradition.

We are as bad now as we were then: something of a generalist claim I agree but there is a parallel between the now of the Mabinogion stories and the here and now: a great deal of conflict existed then the only difference is that conflict now exists on a far more global stage. To the British chieftains of the time the Irish and greedy neighbouring kings were the biggest threats. History should teach us the lessons we need to change but Prince’s still head off to war to defend their people and from already leafing through the pages both The Ninth Wave and the Dreams of Max and Ronnie promise to pull in that parallel: from observing the state of the nation to setting it in an almost plausible future.

As a lover of ancient literature I have read the Mabinogion and even though it is a struggle to read it is rewarding. My advice is to just tackle each story one at a time and at your own pace and you will discover the wonders of magic and myth. As something of a devourer of all things Welsh I am certainly looking forward to reading my freshly purchased copies and hope to be as enthralled as I was last night.

Saturday 30^th: Getting Up Launch

Breakfast and Books: a brilliant idea, but at 10am on a Saturday morning? My first thought was adding a bed would be perfect but I doubt many people would appreciate a) sharing a bed with strangers in a public place, b) going to someone’s house for the event or c) people turning up to a public event in pyjamas no matter how comfortable they were. Though if memory serves, I could name certain individuals who have actually turned up to events or gone shopping in their PJ’s and called it ‘self expression’: 9am lecture’s in my slippers is as far as I’ll ever go. With the early morning moan over and tucking into tea, scrumptious looking pastries, fruit and yogurt (I was good I chose the healthy fruit and yogurt option) I settled into literary and writerly conversation about the Rhys Davies short story competition – Getting Up the collection of the winning and runner up short stories - with a lovely lady who I’d met whilst getting confused trying to find the location within the Wales Millennium Centre. It was a tad disappointing to see so few of the runner’s up included in the book attending – only one was there.

Winner Sian Preece

Getting up is certainly an innovative piece: written from a young graffiti artist’s point of view – Sian, as the discussion progressed, talked about art as a form of communication across cultures and time: her own experience with a museum guide whose first language was not English where they ended up communicating via images and the boy in her story falls into a cave coming across cave drawings. Cave drawings being a rare access to a past we know very little about. Graffiti is much like the short story: short, succinct and often short lived but altogether powerful with an immediate impression. Short stories are slowly gaining more ground in literary circles, but as a form still have to justify their existence in the market far more than the novel even though examining history proves the form is far older – for example the Mabinogion is in a sense made up of ‘short stories’ that came from the oral traditions. They are gaining more prevalence via the Radio: BBC Radio 4 has the 15 minute afternoon reading slot, particularly suited to radio in their paired down, very visual nature where the reader/listener can fill in their own images and

imagination.

Saturday 30^th Bright Young Things

Parthian Editor Lucy Llewellyn and Author's Suzie Wilde and Tyler Keevil

A solid walk later I entered the cosy Havannah Bar and was greeted by a friendly, young crowd gathered near the bar awaiting the next event. I have been intrigued by the Bright Young Things and their titles – they blog regularly, or at least try to as author Tyler Keevil admits, and are debut writers that together create a unique support network for each other: a rare thing indeed for the writer. Yet their books seem to come from very different places, a small nugget garnered from the readings given by Suzie Wilde and Tyler Keevil who are in attendance at the event with the Parthian editor Lucy Llewellyn. I appreciated the inclusion of the missing author’s Wil Gritten and James Smythe: giving an appreciation of all the books together particularly as they are being marketed as a group.

One thing that stood out against the other launches was the encouragement of audience participation: ‘quiz’ sheets were handed out at the start and we were encouraged to listen carefully and fill in the sheet as there would be prizes for the winner. This is my meagre attempt: I have left it as I started it (honestly) – my multi-tasking skills have been left wanting between the listening, taking notes and filling in quiz sheets although it was a nice gesture and certainly a good incentive tool to engage with the panel. Goodies were also given out at the end for those who had questions.

One comment made by the audience that there is a common theme running through the books: there is a macabre quality to all the books as each deal’s with darkness and death; yet the writers are all young. It was certainly evident in the readings as Suzie’s character Amy loses her boyfriend and Tyler’s Razor loses his friend Chris although I will certainly reserve judgement and eagerly devour the books at a near point in the future.

Whilst I have thoroughly enjoyed my weekend of literary events and I certainly wish I could have attended more, one thing that has disappointed me is the timing: the end of the festival clashes with the start of Swansea’s Dylan Thomas Festival. It is an even smaller festival but one just as good and seems to carry more worldly renown and reach. Bay Lit is very much a writer/author and literary orientated event and it would be interesting to see collaboration between Academi and other artistic forms to create a bigger, more modern bilingual festival. The bilingual nature adopted by Academi is fantastic: it encourages the inclusion of all Welsh people: providing a local and international outlook, whereas the yearly Eisteddfod is still very much a Welsh language led programme and difficult to navigate by those of us struggling with the Welsh language. The location is a good one: Cardiff Bay has good parking facilities as well as the numerous places to eat before and after even if the events are spread out – the walk between the Millennium Centre and Havannah Bar felt a bit long after having to search for it. There are maps of the Bay posted on various walls but a map on the website to pin point all the places would have been good. I do have high expectations for next year, and I am curious to see the theme as Shock of the New has been inspiring and thought provoking. I hope that it has chance to grow and opportunities arise for expansion or collaboration.