Real Swansea Two

The Real Series

by Nigel Jenkins

Nigel Jenkins has given his hometown the Real treatment once already, but there was so much to say about Wales’ second city (though for many its first) that he’s back with Real Swansea Two. This time, his subjects in the ‘ugly, lovely city’ include death, sex and drugs, theatre, ancient trackways, the changing shopping centre, and much, much more. With characteristic insight, humour and an eye for the odd and unusual, Jenkins explores Morriston, the Hafod, Llangyfelach and Blackpill, and ponders iconic buildings such as Mumbles lighthouse, the Meridian Tower and the Guildhall.

From the legendary Macabre Café and the Grand Theatre to brothels and the Welsh School of Architectural Glass, from Waunarlwydd to Salubrious Passage, all Swansea life is here, celebrated in stylish prose and pin-sharp poetry.

220 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

About the author

Nigel Jenkins (1949-2014) was an Anglo-Welsh poet from South Wales. He was also known as a playwright, writer of prose (especially of psychogeography), and an editor. He passed away in 2014 of cancer.

He was brought up in the Gower. During his life, Jenkins was a journalist in the English Midlands before then travelling extensively. He studied film and literature at Essex University and was a winner of the Arts Council’s Young Poets Prize in 1974.

He returned to Wales and was a lecturer at Swansea University and director of the creative writing programme there.

In 2002, Jenkins published the first ever haiku collection from a Welsh publisher.

In 2008, he co-edited (with historian John Davies), The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales (published by the University of Wales Press).

Notable works:
-Gwalia in Khasia (1995)
-Blue: 101 Haiku, Senryu and Tanka (2002)
-The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales (co-ed., 2008)