Literary stars honoured in city ceremony
A NOVEL about the halfforgotten memories of childhood has won the Wales Book of the Year 2017 English-language title.
Pigeon, by Alys Conran, was first awarded the Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award before winning the overall prize of £4,000.
Meanwhile, Idris Reynolds won the overall prize in the Welsh-language section for Cofio Dic, a volume of recollections about the late poet and former Archdruid of Wales, Dic Jones.
The ceremony took place at The Tramshed, in Cardiff, when prizes were awarded in three categories in both English and Welsh before the overall titles were announced.
One of the judges, Costa Prize-winning author Jonathan Edwards, said: “These are great talents who have succeeded in proving that Wales is a world-class contributor to literature.”
In the English-language section, John Freeman took the Roland Mathias Poetry Award for his collection, What Possessed Me, which explores childhood memories and lifelong relationships. And Peter Lord’s The Tradition – which looks at the evolution of the visual culture of Wales – won the Creative Non-Fiction Award.
The winner of the Welsh-language Poetry Award was Aneirin Karadog, with Bylchau, while Caryl Lewis took the Welsh-language Fiction Award with Y Gwreiddyn.