Calon – serie

The elemental pull of water is irresistible, whether it’s to bathe, swim, shower, splash about, sail or simply paddle. We are drawn to it not just for pleasure but for its healing and wellbeing benefits. Destinations, from holy wells to mysterious lakes and enchanted rivers, also have spiritual meaning and are shrouded in myths and folklore.In The Water Remedy, Clare Gogerty offers a guide to some of the best places in the UK to enjoy being with water, inspiring us to see beyond its day-to-day domestic use so that we can benefit from its spiritual and restorative powers.Discover the difference that our rivers and seas, lakes and springs, wells and waterways can all make to our wellbeing

In 2020 and 2021, at the height of the Covid pandemic, Gwrych Castle was familiar to the British public as the setting of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Lesser known is that, at the beginning of the Second World War, this once-grand country house in North Wales became home to around two hundred Jewish refugee children who had been rescued from Europe on the Kindertransport.Under trying conditions, while the families they had been separated from faced the gravest of dangers, these children and their adult guardians established a Hachshara at Gwrych Castle: a training centre intended to prepare them for the dream of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine (Eretz Yisrael), where they hoped one day to be reunited with the families they left behind.In this fascinating debut, historian Andrew Hesketh tells the story of these refugees and the community they built, shining a light on a chapter of Jewish history that deserves to be far more widely known. He recounts moving moments of friendship, respect, tension and humour as the new arrivals and local residents came to know each other, while the shadows of war loomed ever closer, and the Hachshara project found itself facing an uncertain future.

The music industry as you've never seen it before – from the bottom.Music. We all love it. We can't live without it! But what exactly is it? Why is it so awesome? And who are the mysterious figures who create it, perform it and keep us all stocked up with the good stuff? What's it really like to be in a band and just how bad is the music industry?In his new book, rock'n'roll underdog James Kennedy takes us on a tour through the hidden lives of the every-day musician – this isn’t hotel room trashing but how 99% of musicians live in the real world. Blowing away the usual mythologies and pulling no punches, Loud Medicine is a rough and ready rollercoaster ride – OK, transit van ride – into the secret world of the modern day musician.It’s also an exposé of music’s many enemies, a manifesto for change and a love letter to everyone’s favourite medicine. There will be rants, dramas, a cast of dysfunctionals, big ideas, industry scam shockers, truth-bombs, f-bombs, the likely crucifixion of a beloved music icon or two – and yes, of course, there will be road stories. So come and squeeze in amongst the drum cases and warm beers, and let’s hit the road!

Even as many in the modern world draw away from organised religion, the great hymns of our time persist: we turn to them at weddings and funerals, at rugby matches and in pubs.Bringing together twelve of Wales’s best-loved hymns, from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, Poems from the Soul reveals the heart and soul of a people’s poetry. These are the poems of ordinary folk – blacksmiths, farmers and preachers – and they played a vital role in the creation of the Welsh people.

What does ‘home’ mean? Is it where you come from, or is it somewhere that you have to create for yourself, building brick by brick on the ruins and treasures of everything that has gone before?In this compelling memoir, Gosia Buzzanca tells the story of a young woman who leaves Poland at the age of nineteen in search of a bigger life, hoping to leave the traumas of her teenage years behind her. After studying in England, she finds a rich new tapestry of experience awaiting her in Wales, with intertwined threads of love and literature, hope and despair. Motherhood brings new joys, but the pain of the past must be faced before this new life by the seaside can truly feel like home.With the fearless honesty of a poet, Gosia offers her account of an extraordinary ordinary life where every flavour is tasted, every moment lived to its fullest. This story of a lifelong quest for home will call to anyone who has ever felt lost or incomplete, and who yearns to find a place where they belong.

What does ‘home’ mean? Is it where you come from, or is it somewhere that you have to create for yourself, building brick by brick on the ruins and treasures of everything that has gone before? In this compelling memoir, Gosia Buzzanca tells the story of a young woman who leaves Poland at the age of nineteen in search of a bigger life, hoping to leave the traumas of her teenage years behind her. After studying in England, she finds a rich new tapestry of experience awaiting her in Wales, with intertwined threads of love and literature, hope and despair. Motherhood brings new joys, but the pain of the past must be faced before this new life by the seaside can truly feel like home.  With the fearless honesty of a poet, Gosia offers her account of an extraordinary ordinary life where every flavour is tasted, every moment lived to its fullest. This story of a lifelong quest for home will call to anyone who has ever felt lost or incomplete, and who yearns to find a place where they belong.

I follow the patterns in ever-widening circles. Gathering dust in the heat of summer. Rainwater in all seasons. Occasional snow, glimpsed in the kernel of a persimmon seed. Bramble, acorn, hawthorn and cherry. Tracing the lines of a landscape and the patterns of a year. Towards a greater appreciation of what was there all along.Along the seasons of a year, Gathering Days recalls the ways in which the act of collecting might offer a sense of purpose in times of uncertainty. Walks across the fields and coasts of Wales bring encounters with stories from elsewhere – a quiet garden in Kyoto or a lamplit street in Seville.Woven together, these contemplations of land, self and place form a memoir that celebrates the small yet miraculous moments of everyday life, while asking the question of how we might steady ourselves against a landscape.

Discover the power of our relationship with Y Môr (the sea) along the Wales Coast Path.Matthew Yeomans takes us on journeys along the official walking trail, which in its entirety covers 870 miles (1400 km) of the Welsh coastline. He uncovers how the sea has shaped our lives through history; how Wales’s rich mythology, literature and culture has been influenced by this fluid force, and the growing role that the sea plays in our lives.Along the way, Seascape challenges us to face the realities of climate change and how we will need to adapt where and how we live. Only by recovering a healthy relationship with the sea can we meet our future challenges and unlock opportunities for better ways of living.

Discover the power of our relationship with Y Môr (the sea) along the Wales Coast Path.Matthew Yeomans takes us on journeys along the official walking trail, which in its entirety covers 870 miles (1400 km) of the Welsh coastline. He uncovers how the sea has shaped our lives through history; how Wales’s rich mythology, literature and culture has been influenced by this fluid force, and the growing role that the sea plays in our lives.Along the way, Seascape challenges us to face the realities of climate change and how we will need to adapt where and how we live. Only by recovering a healthy relationship with the sea can we meet our future challenges and unlock opportunities for better ways of living.

Who are the Queer figures, past and present, who have made, and continue to make, Welsh history?Discover the diverse array of LGBTQ+ figures influencing Wales – and the world – in an exploration of the household names and hidden icons who have shaped their fields and driven forward Queer representation.From Jan Morris to Ivor Novello, Kenneth Williams to Callum Scott Howells, Jess Fishlock to Lauren Price, via Terrence Higgins, The Vivienne and Owain Wyn Evans, Welsh people have marked the breadth and variety of Queer achievement.Rainbow Wales is an exciting, inspiring tour of figures from culture and sport to politics and activism, and a jubilant exploration of the rich tapestry of Queer identity in Wales.

What’s it like to run away with the circus?Cardiff, Wales, 1983. A bunch of university dropouts and unemployed hippies find themselves united by two things: a talent for juggling and a desire to live a different kind of life. They decide it might be fun to juggle their way out of the rat race by founding a circus, which they call ‘NoFit State’.How does this group grow from its lowly origins as buskers on the city streets to become one of the most admired and respected contemporary circuses in the world?Stephen Glascoe, a member of NoFit State’s amateur community group ‘Splott State Circus’, takes us behind the scenes of the drama, stress and joy of a radical modern circus.Based on in-depth interviews with the founders of the circus and many others who have been part of its history, Circus Rebels charts the challenges and triumphs of underdogs turned Welsh creative powerhouse.

Reimagine our relationship with the natural world through the Welsh poetic traditionAt a time of biodiversity loss and climate grief, we need to reset our relationship with the natural world. Cynefin helps us hear the voices of people down the centuries who have, through poetry, expressed a different way of connecting with the living world around us.Carwyn Graves explores how the Welsh poetic tradition offers a different view of nature and connecting to our place in the world, and demonstrates its power to help us address the challenges we face.Find fresh perspectives from themes of grief and loss mediated through snow and the cuckoo’s song, to ecological sensibilities in medieval poems and the generosity of the water that drives the water wheel. In a thousand years of poetry we see the natural world portrayed not as a pristine realm but a human home; bittersweet as well as welcoming. Above all Carwyn invites us, through these poems, to encounter nature – in a bee, a flower, a lake or a field of sheep – not in the abstract but in all its sparkling reality.

'Exploring detailed accounts of historic crime is one of the best ways to catch a glimpse of a society and its culture decades and centuries later. Of course, stories of crime and deviance are intriguing in their own right; but through understanding the context in which they were committed, how they were made sense of, and how communities and officials responded to them, we can gain incredible insight into life at that time and place.'On 20 October 1799 at Pensieri in Anglesey, a fire breaks out, destroying cart house, corn, haystacks and timber. A young woman is seen running from the scene – but what secrets drove her to set the fire? Uncover the tales of real-life murders, manslaughters, assaults and arson that took place in Georgian Wales and the borders, which together give us a window onto life for ordinary, common people – whose lives would otherwise be lost from the historical record. From courtship rituals to the value of horses, Georgian attitudes to sex work and insanity, vulnerable adults and fraud, each chapter uses documents from Wales’s Court of Great Sessions to illuminate the past.

The story of trying to get life right even when things feels a little bit wrong, How an Egg Changed My Life is a tender, funny blend of memoir, cookbook and nostalgic observation on what it takes to feel fulfilled.From growing up as a gay teenager in the Welsh valleys to trying to find his own space in the city, Mikey Bell builds a life that looks good on paper – but a curious sense of dissatisfaction lingers, which makes even the best achievement feel incomplete. With honesty and wit, Mikey’s story captures the disappointment and struggle of discovering that life rarely unfolds as you expected.During an existential panic, Mikey takes a trip to Italy, cooking and eating his way toward clarity – and along the way examines identity, expectations, success and what it means to find fulfilment. With reaffirming recipes that turn everyday food into a lens for joy, How an Egg Changed My Life reminds us that we can always find a new appetite for life, but only when we learn to define what truly keeps us full.

Welsh Food Stories explores more than two thousand years of history to discover the rich but forgotten heritage of Welsh foods - from oysters to cider, salted butter to salt-marsh lamb. Despite centuries of industry, ancient traditions have survived in pockets across the country among farmers, bakers, fisherfolk, brewers and growers who are taking Welsh food back to its roots, and trailblazing truly sustainable foods as they do so.In this important book, author Carwyn Graves travels Wales to uncover the country's traditional foods and meet the people making them today. There are the owners of a local Carmarthenshire chip shop who never forget a customer, the couple behind Anglesey's world-renowned salt company Halen Mon, and everyone else in between - all of them have unique and compelling stories to tell about how they contribute to the past, present and future of Welsh food. This is an evocative and insightful exploration of an often overlooked national cuisine, shining a spotlight on the importance - environmentally and socially - of keeping local food production alive.

Get your backstage pass to the world-famous Rockfield Recording Studios in Monmouth, Wales. Featuring frank and funny interviews with the artists who recorded there and studio staff, Rock Legends at Rockfield reveals the fascinating stories behind some of the world’s best-known and loved rock albums and records, including Oasis’s What’s the Story (Morning Glory), a number of Queen songs including Killer Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody, and Motörhead’s first recordings.This new edition will be fully revised and updated with new chapters on the artists who have recorded at Rockfield since 2007, including new interviews with bands such as Thunder, The Dirty Youth, Gun and YES; the Studios’ recent appearances in film and television such as the Oscar-winning Bohemian Rhapsody film and the Rockfield: the Studio on the Farm documentary; and a section on Rockfield’s neighbouring rehearsal studio, Monnow Valley, which later became a recording studio in its own right and has hosted bands such as Black Sabbath.A must-read for anyone interested in rock music and music history.

‘There is a certain feeling – standing between rows of richly dyed blue cloth – that you are within an enclave of protection, that within this ocean you can feel calm; a separation from the outside world.’One summer, a mother and daughter are reunited in the small village of Betws Gwerful Goch in North Wales following the death of a father and grandfather. Ellie returned from studying at university, while Jeanette had been studying the art of indigo dyeing in Japan. In this lyrical memoir, Ellie Evelyn Orrell transports readers to their hillside garden, reflecting on a summer spent learning to work with indigo, and witnessing the power of creativity in moments of mourning and recovery. In it, she weaves together stories of resettling in a once-familiar landscape; the healing powers of art; the historical, mythological and present day properties of indigo; and the presence of this indelible colour within the Welsh landscape.An Indigo Summer is an absorbing meditation on art, rural life and roots, grief, creativity and the artistic process.

Discover 366 fun and surprising stories about Wales - each linked to a specific day of the year. Did you know that the recipe of Tennessee's famous Jack Daniel's whiskey is rumoured to have originated in Llanelli, or that the world's first radio play was set in a Welsh coal mine? Why was a showing of the Jurassic Park film in Carmarthen so special, and how is Rupert Bear connected to Snowdonia? Delve in to discover the stories that most history books leave out.

When and how did we humans lose our connection with nature – and how do we find it again?Matthew Yeomans seeks to answer these questions as he walks more than 300 miles through the ancient and modern forests of Wales, losing himself in their stories (and on the odd unexpected diversion, too).Return to My Trees weaves together history and folklore with tales of industrial progress and decay. On his journey, he visits landmarks that once were home to ancient Druids, early Celtic saints, Norman Lords and the great mining communities that reshaped Wales. He becomes immersed in the woodlands that inspired the country’s great legends. At one point he even stumbles upon a herd of television-watching cows.As Yeomans walks, he reflects on these woods’ uncertain future, his own relationship with nature and the global problems we need to solve if humans are to truly make peace with the natural world. from tree-planting in ways that are actually beneficial to the environment and local communities to embedding the value of nature into our financial and economic systems.The result is a fascinating and funny adventure that offers insight into the past, present and future of Wales’s woodlands and shows what the rest of the world can learn from them.

When and how did we humans lose our connection with nature – and how do we find it again?Matthew Yeomans seeks to answer these questions as he walks more than 300 miles through the ancient and modern forests of Wales, losing himself in their stories (and on the odd unexpected diversion, too).Return to My Trees weaves together history and folklore with tales of industrial progress and decay. On his journey, he visits landmarks that once were home to ancient Druids, early Celtic saints, Norman Lords and the great mining communities that reshaped Wales. He becomes immersed in the woodlands that inspired the country’s great legends. At one point he even stumbles upon a herd of television-watching cows.As Yeomans walks, he reflects on these woods’ uncertain future, his own relationship with nature and the global problems we need to solve if humans are to truly make peace with the natural world. from tree-planting in ways that are actually beneficial to the environment and local communities to embedding the value of nature into our financial and economic systems.The result is a fascinating and funny adventure that offers insight into the past, present and future of Wales’s woodlands and shows what the rest of the world can learn from them.

The magical world of Welsh mythology deserves to be better known outside its homeland, with its cast of heroes and tricksters, animals that can talk and change shape, and magicians and witches who can bring disaster or triumph to the people in their paths.Enchanted Wales is an invitation to voyage through the key stories of Welsh mythic literature, exploring not just their medieval texts but also their ancient roots, which can be glimpsed in sculptures, carvings and other artefacts from at least a thousand years earlier. These stories are more than epic entertainments: they allow us to explore our deepest questions about life and death, war and peace, and good and evil, secure in the knowledge that a skilful storyteller will guide us safely to the end of the tale.On this journey, you will encounter severed heads that speak, birds that can tell the future, cauldrons with magical properties, quests that are as intricate and exciting as the Labours of Hercules, and ghostly underworlds where strange and frightening things happen to the humans who visit them. Enter these pages, and prepare to discover a weird, wonderful and Narnia-like world of dreams – the world of enchanted Wales.

The television writing of Russell T Davies defies easy categorisation, ranging from children’s programmes, across Shakespeare, historical drama and comedy, to the landmark series that have made him a household name: Queer As Folk, Doctor Who and It’s a Sin.Gay Aliens and Queer Folk takes a deep dive into the queer narratives Russell T Davies has brought to our screens, exploring how each work created new space for LGBTQ+ stories to enter our living rooms and looking at their impact on the people who saw themselves reflected on mainstream television, often for the first time.Covering Russell T Davies’ career from his earliest work to his highly anticipated return to the TARDIS for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, and highlighting key themes such as politics, sex, AIDS and the role of Wales in his writing, Emily Garside reveals how Davies broke down barriers, showing gay characters unapologetically living their lives to the full and celebrating the complexity and joy of queer identities.

‘I awoke from a deep sleep I had taken under the shade of a tree in a field at the outskirts of a dark wood, without remembering how I had gotten there, or, indeed, where it was exactly, I had gotten.’So begins a most unusual odyssey, in which a writer – who bears a striking similarity to our author, Gary Raymond – allows himself to be led through the many-layered realms of Welsh literature, not by Virgil but by the late Professor Raymond Williams.Taking in the history of Welsh writing in English from the legacy of the bardic tradition to contemporary experimental works, Abandon All Hope introduces Welsh literature in a way it has never been presented before – as cutting edge, experimental, vibrant, exciting, intimate, and with a multitude of voices. This voyage into a uniquely Welsh Inferno offers a revolutionary new way to examine and explain literary history, traversing elements of chronology and genre, in a wide-ranging and, above all, highly entertaining manifesto for a new perception of Welsh literature both inside and outside of Wales.

If the story of Wales in the 1990s was a movie plot, it would all seem so far-fetched. Thankfully, it was all true.The 1970s and ‘80s were a bleak time for much of Wales: the closure of steel works and coal mines led to mass unemployment while the country’s culture and language was disregarded by politicians and the music industry alike. Some bands even travelled across the Severn Bridge to make sure their records arrived at the London offices sporting an English postmark.The 1990s changed everything. While Wales was already known for Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and Male Voices Choirs, but bands such as Catatonia, Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics and Super Furry Animals exploded into the charts and showed the UK population the breadth of what this small but inherently musical nation could offer. Meanwhile, S4C – the Welsh-language television channel – became increasingly prominent and a new Welsh Assembly was on the horizon…Featuring fresh analysis and new interviews, International Velvet charts the UK in a decade in which ‘Cool Cymru’ won over the masses and shows how it inspired the still-vibrant Welsh music scene into the 21st century and beyond.

What can one Welsh hill farm tell us about how we can help nature to thrive?In recent times, farming has often been viewed as harmful to nature and the environment, causing friction between those wanting to protect wildlife and the farmers whose livelihoods depend on upon the land.Conservationists and governments frequently propose well-meaning ideas and policies to enable farming and conservation to work together, but all-too-often these do not have the intended results. At the heart of this is a lack of understanding about the realities of farming life and managing the land for nature.In this captivating debut, conservationist David Elias explores a farm in the Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park and unpacks what it shows us about the gritty reality of trying to reconcile hill farming and caring for nature. Visiting through the seasons, he forms a deep relationship with the land and the people who work it, coming to understand their particular way of life, history and concerns about the future.It is also a farm rich in nature and he brings his experienced eye to how its habitats and wildlife have been shaped by changing farming practices over the generations.Through lyrical prose and first-hand conversations with farmers, Elias also shows what current government policies have achieved – or not achieved – and why it is so important for us to understand what it really takes ensure farming families remain on the land while simultaneously allowing nature to flourish.

What can one Welsh hill farm tell us about how we can help nature to thrive?In recent times, farming has often been viewed as harmful to nature and the environment, causing friction between those wanting to protect wildlife and the farmers whose livelihoods depend on upon the land.Conservationists and governments frequently propose well-meaning ideas and policies to enable farming and conservation to work together, but all-too-often these do not have the intended results. At the heart of this is a lack of understanding about the realities of farming life and managing the land for nature.In this captivating debut, conservationist David Elias explores a farm in the Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park and unpacks what it shows us about the gritty reality of trying to reconcile hill farming and caring for nature. Visiting through the seasons, he forms a deep relationship with the land and the people who work it, coming to understand their particular way of life, history and concerns about the future.It is also a farm rich in nature and he brings his experienced eye to how its habitats and wildlife have been shaped by changing farming practices over the generations.Through lyrical prose and first-hand conversations with farmers, Elias also shows what current government policies have achieved – or not achieved – and why it is so important for us to understand what it really takes ensure farming families remain on the land while simultaneously allowing nature to flourish.

Human civilisation was not just created by humans: we had the help of many creatures, and foremost among these were sheep. From Argentina to Australia and from Mesopotamia to Mongolia, just about every country with hills and meadows has adopted and then developed sheep farming as a way of living. And in Wales in particular, sheep played a central role in shaping landscape and culture. Sheeplands outlines the journeys taken by some of these sheep as they voyaged across the world, both by themselves and with human shepherds, from the earliest human settlements to the present day. Along the way, Alan Marshall paints vivid portraits of the roles sheep have played in the development of the modern world, in times of peace and war, and describes how our sheeplands might continue to influence Wales and the wider world in future years.

Human civilisation was not just created by humans: we had the help of many creatures, and foremost among these were sheep. From Argentina to Australia and from Mesopotamia to Mongolia, just about every country with hills and meadows has adopted and then developed sheep farming as a way of living. And in Wales in particular, sheep played a central role in shaping landscape and culture. Sheeplands outlines the journeys taken by some of these sheep as they voyaged across the world, both by themselves and with human shepherds, from the earliest human settlements to the present day. Along the way, Alan Marshall paints vivid portraits of the roles sheep have played in the development of the modern world, in times of peace and war, and describes how our sheeplands might continue to influence Wales and the wider world in future years.

A fascinating and exhilarating look at the many ways we love, and are loved.Following on from his bestselling The History of Wales in Twelve Poems, M. Wynn Thomas turns his attention in A Map of Love to poems from Wales and reflects on what they have to say on the age-old subject of love in its many and varied forms.Featuring twelve pieces dating from the fourteenth century to the present, this absorbing collection deliberately veers far from clichéd verses with its poems of regret and of mourning; straight love and gay love; bawdy verses of passion and desire, and gentle meditations on motherhood and marriage. It features anonymous and lesser-known writers as well as household names such as Gillian Clarke and R. S. Thomas, and it includes a previously unpublished poem by Emyr Humphreys.With original illustrations by Ruth Jên Evans throughout, this short but powerful collection will appeal to anyone interested in people and their complex relationships.