Darren Chetty
Darren Chetty was born in Swansea, and lives in London. He contributed to The Good Immigrant (Unbound, 2016), and The Mab (Unbound, 2022). His books as a co-editor include Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales (Repeater Books, 2022) and Critical Philosophy of Race and Education (Routledge, 2019). His books as a co-author include How to Disagree: Negotiate Difference in a Divided World (White Lion Publishing, 2019) and What is Masculinity? Why Does it Matter? And Other Big Questions (Wayland, 2021).
Iestyn Tyne
Iestyn Tyne was brought up in Boduan, Pen Llŷn and now lives in Caernarfon with his family. He is co-founder and co-editor of Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp, an independent publishing house platforming new voices in Welsh-language writing. He is co-editor, with Darren Chetty, Grug Muse and Hanan Issa of Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales (Repeater Books, 2022), and his most recent collection of poetry, Stafelloedd Amhenodol (Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp, 2021) was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2022 poetry category. He is co-author, with Leo Drayton, of Robyn (Y Lolfa, 2021), a young adults’ novel in the Y Pump series, which won its category in both the Tir na n-Og and Wales Book of the Year awards in 2022.
Aditionally, we will welcome guest readers to inspire further discussions on the theme – Grug Muse, and Hanan Issa, the National Poet of Wales.
Grug Muse
Grug Muse is a poet and essayist from Dyffryn Nantlle. Her day-to-day work is working as a facilitator addressing climate change in communities, and her writing work concentrates on nature, the environment, water and feminism. Her latest collection of poetry – merch y llyn – was published by Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp in 2021, and her essays have been published in magazines including Planet and O’r Pedwar Gwynt. She is an editor for Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp, and a collection of essays, Welsh (plural), co-edited by her will be published in spring 2022 with Repeater.
Hanan Issa
Hanan Issa is the current National Poet of Wales, and is a Welsh-Iraqi poet, filmmaker and artist from Cardiff. Her works include her poetry collection My Body Can House Two Hearts (Burning Eye Books, 2019) and her contributions to Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales (Repeater Books, 2022) and The Mab (Unbound, 2022), a retelling of the Mabinogi stories for children. Her winning monologue ‘With Her Back Straight’ was performed at the Bush Theatre as part of the Hijabi Monologues. Her work has been performed and published on platforms such as BBC Wales, ITV Wales, Huffington Post, StAnza Festival, Poetry Wales, Y Stamp, Wales Arts Review, Wales Arts International and the British Council. Hanan co-founded the Cardiff open-mic night Where I’m Coming From. She was also a member of the first cohort of writers who took part in Literature Wales’ Representing Wales programme in 2021, is the current National Poet of Wales and Hay Festivals’ International Fellow.