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Art, books, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Carmarthenshire Event, Cawdor Hotel, cawl, craft, discussion, exhibition, Humour, hwyl, Lit Fest Star, literature, literature festival, Literature set in Wales, litfest, llandeilo, Llandeilo Book Fair, Llandeilo Event, poetry, Quilts, Rhondda, Saturday, short stories, South Wales, talk, Wales, Welsh Books, Welsh Fiction, Welsh language, Welsh literature, Welsh writers
I won’t lie to you. When I was summoned for a field trip to search for poets for the Llandeilo Lit Fest, I wasn’t too keen to visit an open mic night in Carmarthen. I’m not great with poetry and I was tired and not in the mood.
To my surprise, this evening turned into one of the best nights out I’ve had in a long time, thanks to organiser Dominic Williams and poet Siôn Tomos Owen.
How better to describe Siôn’s collecion CAWL than this:
‘Good, honest, mean-minded, violent, foul-mouthed stuff’
(Martin Rowson).
Well, maybe not so mean-minded, just a very apt reflection on life in Rhondda, a county that has suffered from the end of coal mining and often feels like a forgotten piece of the country. Siôn Tomos Owen bemoans the harsh living coniditions, the political situation, ignorance of people about Wales, the depressive economic situation and many other things. He does so, however, with a lot of good humour and in shape of satire, comics and appealing poetry, in both Welsh and English.
While there is anger, there is also love and warmth as well as personal sharing of his perspective on life as a father. It is much more rounded than taglines about the collection may suggest. It is also very entertaining.
Poignant, witty and reflective, this truly is a Cawl, a mixture of a lot of things that come together nicely and portray Rhondda with honesty, love and realism.
Meet charismatic Siôn and enjoy a reading from his work at the Llandeilo Lit Fest on April 29th
at 4pm at the Horeb Chapel, Cawdor Inn.
Cawl is Siôn Tomos Owen’s debut full-length collection. Consisting of short stories, poems, essays and cartoons and comics, Cawl is an anthology of one multi-prize winning, funny, angry young man’s creative endeavours and social and political frustrations, by the presenter and cartoonist of S4C’s documentary series Pobl Y Rhondda.
Multi talented Siôn has appeared at the Hay and Laugharne Festivals, BBC Radio 5 Live Poetry Slam and his work been published in several magazines. The publication of Cawl was successfully crowdfunded by publishers Parthian Books with Sion.
‘Siôn Tomos Owen is a down ‘n’ dirty Welsh Robert Crumb, as exhilarating and slightly terrifying as a Saturday night in the rougher parts of Swansea’ ( Martin Rowson, Guardian cartoonist)
Digwyddiad Dwyieithog
Sion Tomos Owen yn darllen ei waith difyr am gymeriadau Cwm Rhondda, Cawl
Dydd Sadwrn 29 Ebrill am 4 o’r gloch yng nghapel Horeb, y Cawdor
Dewch i gwrdd â Siôn y cartwnydd a’r cyflwynydd carismataidd sydd wedi ein cyflwyno i gymeriadau y Rhondda yn ei gyfres gwych am y cwm ar S4C. Bydd yn darllen ei gasgliad cyntaf o straeon byrion, cerddi, traethodau a chartwnau.
Mae yr aml-dalentog Siôn wedi ymddangos ynn Ngŵyl y Gelli, Gŵyl Talacharn ac ar Slam Barddoniaeth Byw BBC Radio 5 ac wedi cyhoeddi mewn nifer o gylchgronau. Llwyddodd I gyhoeddi y gyfrol drwy gymorth crowdfunding a Parthian Books.
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I was amazed at the enthusiasm and knowledge Jen and her assistant demonstrated and time just flew by.
