MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
Pen and Plough: 20th-century Poets and Bards of Ceredigion, by Diarmuid Johnson (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch £8.50)
CEREDIGION is renowned among Welsh speakers for its proletarian poets, skilled in their use of the complex traditional metres of Welsh poetry and in this book Diarmuid Johnson explores the considerable published body of their work, mainly from 1933 to 2012.
Nowhere in Europe, says Johnson, has so rich and abundant body of poetry been published in so short a time by so many accomplished writers — working-class poets some of whom had received little formal secondary education.
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson
RUTH AYLETT reviews two collections of outright political poetry
ALAN MORRISON celebrates life and work of the late Tony Harrison, 1937-2025


