Writing the Climate, the Climate of Writing in Wales
2 June, 18:30 – 20:30, Senedd-dy Owain Glyndŵr, Heol Maengwyn, Machynlleth, SY20 8EE
A conversation and readings with Welsh novelists Sian Melangell Dafydd and Llŷr Gwyn Lewis and authors from Quebec Juliana Leveillé-Trudel and Louis Hamelin.
4 June, 16:00 – 17:00 Hay Festival, Hwyl Stage
Llŷr Gwyn Lewis, Sian Melangell Dafydd, Juliana Leveillé-Trudel and Louis Hamelin in conversation with Alexandra Büchler
These two events are part of Writing the Climate, the Climate of Writing, an on-going collaboration between Literature Across Frontiers and Metropolis Bleu Festival in Montreal that brings together Quebecois and Welsh authors in exchange visits to discuss our relationship with nature and our place in the natural and cultural ecosystems.
Siân Melangell Dafydd is an author, poet and translator who writes in both Welsh and English. She was the co-editor of the literary review Taliesin and Y Neuadd online literary magazine for six years, and currently is the Welsh-language editor of Modron Magazine. Her second novel, Filò (2019), focuses on the little-known story of Italian prisoners of war in Wales. Her new She works with authors and poets internationally to translate and co-write poetry and the trilingual book Different Water is the outcome of her collaboration with the Malayalam poet Anita Thampi. She was Professor of Creative Writing at the American University in Paris where she lived for a number of years and currently teaches at Bangor University in North Wales. She is also a yoga teacher and researches yoga and writing as parallel practices.
Louis Hamelin (Grand–Mère, 1959) won the Governor General’s Award for his first novel, La Rage, in 1989. He then published numerous collections of short stories and novels, including La Constellation du Lynx (2010), which received the Prix des libraires du Québec and the Prix littéraire des collégiens. In 2020, he published his ninth novel, Les Crépuscules de la Yellowstone, and launched a collection of nature writing at the publishing house Le Boréal, “L’œil Américain”, of which he translated one of the titles, Lesétés de l’ourse. He is also a columnist for the daily Le Devoir.
Born in Montreal in 1985, Juliana Léveillé-Trudel practices various forms of writing: the novel – Nirliit (2015) and On a tout l’automne (2022) children’s literature – How to catch a bear who likes to read (2018) and Voyage de Nuit à la bibli (2022), co-written with Andrew Katz, and theatre We are not a city, Théâtre Pàp and À tour de role, forthcoming in 2023. Her work has been translated into English, Spanish, Icelandic, Danish and Basque. She presented several of her theatrical and literary creations on stage and founded Productions de brousse.
Llŷr Gwyn Lewis is a Welsh-language writer living in Cardiff. His first prose work, Rhyw Flodau Rhyfel (2014), won the Wales Book of the Year non-fiction award, and was published as Flowers of War in English translation by Katie Gramich in 2021. His first short story collection, Fabula, came out in 2017, and he was one of five authors included in the online magazine Words Without Borders’ Welsh-language issue in August 2019. His latest poetry pamphlet, rhwng dwy lein drên, was published during the pandemic and was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year award in 2021. He was also the 2022 winner of the chair at the National Eisteddfod for his sequence of poems in cynghanedd, Traeth.
Photos: Sian Mellangel Dafydd: Edi Matić; Louis Hamelin: François Couture; Juliana Léveillé-Trudel: Laurence Grandbois-Bernard, Llyr Gwyn Lewis: Lowri Russell
The project is supported by the governments of Quebec and Wales.
