Exciting news!

My debut poetry collection, Salacia, will be launching in Spring with Parthian Books.

I’m really pleased to be able to announce that my debut poetry collection, currently titled Salacia, will be released with Parthian Books in Spring 2018. Though I’m still tinkering with the final manuscript, the collection is primarily an amalgamation of poetry exploring mental health, darkness, mythology, fairy tales and ‘Welshness.’

It’s been a long time in the making – poetry is something I discovered in seriousness at about age 13, when I would spend most evenings scribbling away about my inner-most thoughts and feelings. I remember getting in to trouble at school on more than one occasion for writing song lyrics and lines of poetry across my school books, and was pleased when my Mam responded by telling my form tutor that I was an emotive individual filled with a need to self-express.

During my final school years, when I had reached sixth form and was studying Creative Writing at AS level, one of my favourite teachers lent me her copy of her Sylvia Plath’s poetry. I quickly devoured Plath’s words; that was the evening I began to imagine my own poetry collection sitting neatly on the shelves of book stores, read with equal relish by other girls my age. I wanted to inspire, to invoke the same wonder and passion that reading had stirred in my own heart.

You could even say it all started a decade before, when I wrote a whole rhyming ‘collection’ for my ill grandmother, all about the relationship we had and what she meant to me. As I said, it’s been a long time coming – and yet the collection itself is composed primarily of poems written only in the last six months or so. I’m somewhat of a perfectionist and will easily discard pieces I once thought were of value but which now make me cringe!

Many pieces included have been already published elsewhere, such as in anthologies, magazines and journals. Some have placed in competitions or been highly commended by judges, and others are brand new. Either way, I’m thrilled and humbled to have been accepted for publication by one of Wales’ most renowned publishing houses, particularly as I will be in very good company amongst many poets and writers I deeply admire – Christina Thatcher, Natalie Holborrow and Jemma King to name a few. I’m also psyched to be launching my collection alongside the wonderful Rhian Elizabeth, who has become a source of encouragement to me as well as a friend over the last year.

Soon, I’ll be writing about the Roman Goddess Salacia, what she means to me, and why I chose to title my collection for her – as long as I can find the words, of course! xx