All you need to know about your Festival experience in Llandeilo

All you need to know about your Festival experience in Llandeilo

Getting there: 

Llandeilo is connected to Swansea, Cardiff and Shrewsbury via direct train lines: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/LLL.aspx
and via buses to Llandovery, Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford.
http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/bus-timetables
It’s well connected for travel by car via the A40 and isn’t far from the end of the M4 near Swansea.

Entry to the Book Fair is free.
Tickets for the festival:

You can buy festival tickets online with direct links from our websitehttps://llandeilolitfest.org/calendar/
but you can also buy paper tickets at Peppercorn,  5 King Street, Llandeilo, Dress Agency 19 Carmarthen Street, Llandeilo and The Red Cross Book Shop Rhosmaen Road, or, if still available, on the door on the day.

Please note that due to the size limitations of the venues events can sell out quickly. To avoid disappointment please book in advance, even for the free events.

Main EventsEvents for our young audiencePoetry EventsWelsh Interest and Welsh Language EventsWorkshops

Parking:

The main parking square on Crescent Road provides central and cheap parking but you can also park and walk from an overflow car park at the Llandeilo Rugy Club http://llandeilo.clwbrygbi.cymru/find-us on Saturday and Sunday you can  take advantage of our Free Park and Ride service from Bro Dinefwr School in Ffairfach (http://brodinefwr.org.uk/Contact-Us/ SA19 6PE) with a shuttle bus running approximately every twenty minutes into town from 10am to 10pm.

Shopping: 
Llandeilo is a beautiful market town with a broad selection of shops and restaurants.
Excquisite jewellery, fashionable clothing, gifts, kitchen ware, art and crafts, fair trade shopping, traditionally Welsh items, wool, heavenly chocolate temptations, plants, antiques and garden ornaments – Llandeilo has a lot on offer besides the book fair and the LitFest.
as you will notice if you participate in the book hunt through the local businesses.

From 10am onwards on the Saturday the Book Fairy will be hiding books and vouchers for signed copies of books by festival and book fair authors all day long and all over town.  A treasure map will be provided to help you find them.

Food and Drink

Llandeilo has a great selection of places to eat, from a quick snack to à la Carte meals with 4 star Hotels, Restaurants, Inns, Cafes or Take-aways. If you are getting tired from all the book hunting you can find refreshments everywhere:
Food at the Book Fair at the Civic Hall will be provided by The Hangout on Saturday and Caffi Iechyd Da on the Sunday.
Our venues, the Angel and The Cawdor Hotel on Rhosmaen Street both have a bar and restaurant section. We also recommend Cafe Braz on King Street, the Ginhaus Deli on Market Street or The Plough Inn in Rhosmaen.

Where to stay:

If you are thinking of making a weekend of it – and don’t let the Bank Holiday Monday on May 1st and the beautiful Carmarthenshire Countryside put you off this http://www.visitllandeilo.co.uk/?Where_to_Stay

Introducing the participants of the #LlandeiloBookFair: Publisher profile: Gomer

Welsh books - from Wales - about Wales by welsh authors. Buy Welsh, English and Bilingual books online from the largest independent publisher in Wales ...the home of beautiful books. It all happens here, at our factory in West Wales where we print, fold, bind and despatch to clients . http://www.gomer.co.uk

Gomer have supplied the Lit Fest with plenty of authors and will be selling their books at the Llandeilo Book Fair both days.

Introducing the participants of the #LlandeiloBookFair: Publisher profile "Library of Wales" / "Parthian"

Today I have the honour of introducing "Library of Wales" and Parthian Books, who will be present at the Llandeilo Book Fair on Saturday and Sunday. Their exquisite catalogue includes several of our Lit Fest authors, too.

A Carnival of Voices in Independent Publishing 

Central to our mission is our belief in the power of a great book, and what we publish reflects a diverse and contemporary Wales that casts a keen eye on the wider world. Exciting, vibrant, surprising, relevant and original... in recent years, our authors have garnered critical acclaim and prestigious accolades including The Dylan Thomas Prize, The Betty Trask, the Wales Book of the Year, the Orange Futures Award, The Rhys Davies Prize, the Journey Prize, the Edge Hill Readers' Award and The Stonewall Award.

https://www.parthianbooks.com/https://www.parthianbooks.com/collections/library-of-wales

Poetry 

New titles for 2017 include poetry collections from Terry Hetherington and Robin Reeves winner Natalie Ann Holborow, Wales Young People’s Laureate Sophie McKeand, Christina Thatcher, Eleni Cay and Susie Wild. Recent releases include poetry from Kate Noakes, Jasmine Donahaye, Mark Blayney, M.A. Oliver-Semenov, Norman Schwenk, Siôn Tomos Owen and Jemma L. King. 

The Classics of Welsh Literature

We also publish the Library of Wales series edited by Professor Dai Smith. The series includes books such as Border Country, The Black Parade and Dannie Abse’s Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve. Recent books include W. H. Davies's Young Emma and Alun Richard’s Carwyn, along with a bumper, two volume, short story anthology edited by Dai Smith Story I and Story II.

In Translation

Over the years we have developed good translation links throughout Europe and beyond, and our books have appeared in fifteen foreign-language editions including French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Turkish, Danish, Turkish, Portuguese and Russian. We have recently announced our first book deal with New Star publications in China for the thriller The Colour of a Dog Running Away.

Featuring eight writers - eight women - from six countries - from the Basque coast at Donostia, to Slovakia, to Romania, to Germany, to Turkey and from Wales - the  new Parthian Europa Carnivale project represents a collection of new European fiction and poetry, written by some of the most talented contemporary female authors writing today.

The eight books we have chosen tackle a number of extremely important or relevant themes, some of them universal despite their foundations in differing languages, histories and cultures. These writers have woven the tales of a number of extraordinary women challenged by religion, health, love, war and politics; from The Equestrienne’s feeble Karolina, whose passion for trick-riding is threatened by the goliath that is capitalism, to My Mother’s Hands’s Nerea, who must battle more intimate, personal demons in the face of her mother’s amnesia, each story, be it long or short, showcases a masterful depiction of the human spirit in the face of adversity and oppression.

PEC, which began with the publication of Goldfish Memory  by Monique Schwitter in Spring 2015, has eight books either published or in the process of translation, with new voices being discussed for 2017. The books already released have garnered critical acclaim and a wealth of prestigious prizes, including the PEN International/New Voices Award, the Beterriko liburua, the Rotahornpreis and, most recently, the PEN Translates Award.

Our backlist also includes a growing number of titles in translation such as Petrograd, Harry Selwyn’s Last Race, To Bury the Dead, Under the Dust, The Bridge Over the River, Strange Language, Martha, Jac and Shanco, Feet in Chains from Spanish, Catalan, German, Basque and Welsh. 

 ~

Introducing the participants of the #LlandeiloBookFair: Publisher profile: Seren Books

I'm delighted to introduce Welsh publisher Seren to this blog. Seren provided the Lit Fest with several wonderful authors and they will be present at the Llandeilo Book fair both days.

https://www.serenbooks.com/

Seren is Wales’ leading independent literary publisher, specialising in English-language writing from Wales. Many of our books are shortlisted for - and win - major literary prizes across the UK and America.

Our aim is not simply to reflect what is going on in the culture in which we publish, but to drive that culture forward, to engage with the world, and to bring Welsh literature, art and politics before a wider audience.

At the heart of our list is a good story told well or an idea or history presented interestingly or provocatively. We’re international in authorship and readership, though our roots remain here in Wales, where we prove that writers from a small country with an intricate culture have a worldwide relevance.

Since its beginnings in 1981, Seren has developed into one of the most interesting publishing houses in Britain. Based in Bridgend, Seren continues to nurture and publish new talent whose quality is recognised around the world.

Notable books they’ll be bringing along:

Iolo Williams’ stunning guidebook Wild Places, 

A new Writing Motherhood anthology, 

and
local author Maggie Harris’ short story collection Writing on Water.

They’ll also bring along
Keidrych Rhys’ The Van Pool, what with this being of local interest. 

And there’s Rhian Edwards’ new illustrated poetry pamphlet Brood, 

http://www.serenbooks.com/productdisplay/brood

Book Fair author John Thompson and his book covers

I've already introduced Carmarthenshire based author
John Thompson on this blog recently

but I would like to take this opportunity to show off his brand new - and may I say fantastic - book covers.

John and his wife Sarada will be both at the Book Fair on Saturday and Sunday.

Meet the participants of the Llandeilo Book Fair: Cyfoes

We're delighted to welcome Ammanford bookshop CYFOES to the Book Fair, who will be present both days with a stall of goods, especially catered for the Welsh language readers.

  

Siop a chanolbwynt Cymraeg yn Rhydaman gan wasanaethu Dinefwr a thu hwnt!

https://www.facebook.com/Cyfoes-308404986027261/