(un)common: anthology of new Welsh writing

This is a collection of writings from members of the 2022/23 cohort of writers chosen to take part in the Representing Wales/Cynrychioli Cymru writer development programme for underrepresented writers, run by Literature Wales/Llenyddiaeth Cymru, our national organisation for the development of literature. Regardless of our current circumstances, we all come from an underprivileged background, and that is the theme that unifies the pieces of writing in this book. We tread common ground, but our voices spin many different tales from the raw wool that has been given us. Kittie Belltree’s sequence of poems tells a story of sisters estranged. Her words are patterned and stitched together precisely, underscoring the needlecraft imagery in the text. The stormy weather and turbulent relationships strain against the containment of the structure, creating an almost unbearable tension. Anthony Shapland’s narrators are set apart from others. They struggle to fit in a world that seems inimical to them. Through disguise and imitation they survive, without expectation of anything more, but there is a chance of recognition and connection where they least expect. The poems of Frankie Parris have a dreamlike quality, an edge of reality feeling, as if only the things that you look at directly are solid and unmoving. Out the corners of your eyes things are mutable, and the moment you look away everything changes. Past, present and future collide. Nothing is fixed and this is cause for both despair and celebration. ‘The Man in the Living Room’ by Jon Doyle is a chilling story of the consequences of unquestioning belief in an age of information overload, and the circumstances which can make any one of us vulnerable. The existential horror of Ciaran Keys’ writing is a window to another world, an altered reality that may be escaped (with luck and determination) but never forgotten. Amy Kitcher’s first story features the transformation of veteran soldiers from two generations which brings to mind the legendary Ceridwen’s cauldron within which dead warriors would be restored to life. The second story is set in what may be the worst pub in Wales on New Year’s Eve, when love, birth, pain and death all make their mark before the sun rises. In the extract from her children’s novel ‘Danny in the Dragon’s Den’ Simone Greenwood tackles grief, hunger, and the upside-down world of the young carer who has to look after the person who is meant to look after them. Her main character Danny is resilient, funny, and kind, and he finds an unusual friend to talk to in these five chapters. Simone’s series of poems are conversational, a dialogue in which she carefully frames her characters so they become like a collection of portraits. Bridget Keehan’s ‘The Changing Room’ is an extract from her novel Identity Theft, but it is fully able to stand alone as a complete short story, within which the young protagonist moulds herself to meet the expectations of her father, unconventional though they may be. Alix Edwards also writes about the relationship between a daughter and her father, and how one moment can change everything as the loss of a parent’s income can plunge a whole family into poverty. Her poems trace the progression of romantic love from heady honeymoon days to loneliness and regret. Ben Huxley’s ‘Winter Wynn Gardens’ is like a documentary; a day in the life of the Gardens place, in which we follow the paths, observing characters as they come and go, without attachment or judgement. ‘Blodeuwedd on the 28’ by Anastacia Ackers gives a voice to the woman made of flowers in a delightful story that weaves myth into contemporary life in the style of the traditional storyteller, and her ‘Manifesto’ closes this anthology with a creative call to arms. My own contributions are also contemporary stories that draw heavily on myth and fairy tales. The retelling of Rapunzel is an attempt to humanise the characters and explore the consequences of choices. No-one is wholly good or bad, right or wrong. ‘The Green Coat’ is about transformation; the inevitable eruption of the true self when cultural conditioning and pharmaceutical restraints can no longer contain it. Read on, and you will find a woman who turns into an owl and a man who becomes a flock of birds. Here be dragons, cloud-circling and deep-dwelling. Characters travel by bus and by train. They walk, run or even fly, through the pin-drop silence of libraries, through moon-frosted streets and winter-chilled parks, farms, houses, shops, cafés, and possibly the grottiest pub in Wales. Family ties are important, and not always the ones you’re born with. Transformation can liberate but it can also imprison. Isolation, addiction, tragedy and grief are here, but so is love, connection, and hope.