Absolutely delighted to have a new poem and an accompanying interview published by Poetry Wales today. 'Mother and Child' is inspired by two of Josef Herman's paintings at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea – a place my mother took me to regularly when I was growing up.

​Earlier this week I visited the gallery and one of the paintings mentioned in the poem – 'Miners' (1951) – is actually on temporary display at the moment as part of  Glynn Viv's 'Art and Industry: Stories from Wales' exhibition. As I say in the poem, it still steals a breath.

Diolch yn fawr to Zoë Brigley and Poetry Wales for publishing the poem and asking me a few questions about my writing process for their #HowIWriteAPoem series. You can read the poem and the interview on their website: ​

​poetrywales.co.uk/rhys-owain-williams-how-i-wrote-mother-and-child

The A470 is a 186-mile road that stretches across Wales from shore to shore, and I’ve got a poem in this new bilingual anthology celebrating it from Arachne Press. Diolch to editors Ness Owen and Siân Northey for choosing it, and also to Siân for translating it into Welsh!

The poem, ‘A Mountain We Climb’, is inspired by the regular journeys my mother and I made to visit my auntie in Llandudno when I was very young, often accompanied by my grandparents. You can read a little more about the inspiration behind it here: www.arachnepress.com/books/poetry/a470/melin-y-coed

A470: Poems for the Road / Cerddi'r Ffordd is the Books Council of Wales ‘Book of the Month’ for February so look out for it on displays in bookshops across Wales, or alternatively order a copy directly from Arachne’s website: www.arachnepress.com/books/poetry/a470

Really pleased to have a haiku in the latest issue of Frogpond Journal, which has just arrived at my door all the way from Seattle, USA. A lovely surprise too, in a magazine of 158 pages, to find myself sharing one with Paul Chambers, the only other Welsh writer in the issue.

There's a free sampler of some of the poems, essays and reviews from the issue on the Haiku Society of America's website, where you can also order a copy of the full issue.

Free sampler: www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/2021-issue44-2/index.html

Order a copy of the latest issue: www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/previousissues.html

I absolutely loved my time studying at Swansea University, so I was chuffed to be asked to write the following poem—celebrating both the university and the city—for their upcoming clearing campaign.

​What the team has done with a couple of pages of words is incredible, it's amazing to see it come to life.