Afonydd: Poems for Welsh Rivers/ Cerddi Afonydd Cymru is a Welsh Voices* presentation.
*Welsh Voices is a series of monthly free virtual seminars on Zoom, presented by experts on Welsh and Welsh North American culture and history.
This one is sponsored by the Welsh Society of Western New England (WSWNE).
Some will be sponsored by the Madog Center for Welsh Studies | Cyfarwyddwr, Canolfan Madog ar gyfer Astudiaethau Cymreig at the University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College, Rio Grande, OH. Some will be sponsored by The Great Plains Welsh Heritage Centre in Wymore, Nebraska.
For more details and links, visit greatplainswelsh.org/eventsage Centre in Wymore, Nebraska.
Afonydd: Poems for Welsh Rivers/ Cerddi Afonydd Cymru is the title of an anthology of poems about Wales’ rivers. Several of the poets will join us at the presentation including Mair Ifans, clare e potter, Catrin Mari, Adele Evershed and Meg Elis, plus Ness Owen and Sian Northey, Editors..
Independent London-based publisher Arachne Press, inspired by the success of the publisher’s best-selling A470: Poems for the Road /Cerddi'r Ffordd, the new anthology is a collection of original poems by Welsh poets, all written in response to Wales’ rivers. These are not generic river poems, but specific poems about particular rivers, from the unnamed to the magnificent and the infamous – washing up against the rural, the urban, the industrial and the unspoiled.
The fully bilingual anthology includes 50 poems. The anthology is edited and translated by Ness Owen and Sian Northey, who were also the editors behind A470: Poems for the Road /Cerddi'r Ffordd, which was published in 2022 to widespread acclaim and was featured in a previous WSWNE Zoom presentation.
No two rivers are the same. From the least bog-trickle to the two-hundred-mile embrace of Hafren/Severn, each has its own voice, often many voices, each specific to the place it flows through and reflects. This is the insight that makes for such a rich and varied anthology. More than just a showcase for the range and reach of Welsh writing in two equal languages, this is a water-map that catches the whole of Wales, its history and landscapes, its diversity and fine connections, in its glittering net.
Philip Gross, author of
A Fold in the River, Troeon/Turnings and The Water Table
What a breath-taking rolling watery wonderful ride of a book! With a chorus of diverse voices, it honors these vital lifelines in all their fragility and strength, urging a deeper sense of urgency for their protection as concerns over our polluted waterways intensify. A powerful tribute and a call to action.
Deb Alma, The Emergency Poet
Follow Afonydd with an interactive map: https://arachnepress.com/books/poetry/afonydd/afonydd-interactive-map/
Arachne Press published Afonydd: Poems for Welsh Rivers /Cerddi Afonydd Cymru in May 2025 | Paperback: 978-1-913665-97-5, 110 pages, 198 × 129 mm
Ebook: 978-1-913665-98-2, Mobi/ePub
Also available on Amazon for about $10.
Please submit the Poems for Welsh Rivers Registration Form below to receive the ZOOM link.