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Wales Half Welsh
After years of near invisibility in contemporary fiction, overshadowed by the acclaimed offerings from Scotland and Ireland, Wales can now draw on a brilliant and diverse group of writers, from Trezza Azzopardi to James Hawes, and Niall Griffiths to Anna Davis. "Wales Half Welsh" is a vibrant and original collection, whose subjects range from childhood trauma to hipster thrills, but all of them share a pervasive sense of a dark, edgy world. So here they are: eleven new writers from Wales--a place that's catching up with its own distinctive history.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2004
1 person is currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
John Williams
17 books13 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
John L. Williams was born, lives and works in his hometown of Cardiff. He writes novels, short stories and screenplays set in a Cardiff that is changing fast. Williams celebrates the lives lived beneath the radar, the hustlers and grifters, hookers and guitar players, drug dealers and shoplifters, looking to make a crust or catch a break, looking for love. They are crime novels turned inside out. The police tried (unsuccessfully) to ban his Bloody Valentine (Harper Collins, 1994).
John has also published a number of non-fiction titles including his biographies of Black Power leader Michael X and Shirley Bassey. He currently writes for the Mail on Sunday and the Independent and is co-organiser of the Laugharne Festival. John has also worked for the NME and The Sunday Times, and has been a contributing editor of GQ magazine.
Selected Publications:
Non–fiction:
Into the Badlands (Paladin, 1991)
Bloody Valentine (HarperCollins, 1994)
Michael X: A Life in Black and White (Century, 2008)
Miss Shirley Bassey (Quercus, 2010)
Fiction:
Five Pubs, Two Bars and a Nightclub (Bloomsbury, 1999)
Cardiff Dead (Bloomsbury, 2000)
The Prince of Wales (Bloomsbury 2003)
Temperance Town (Bloomsbury, 2004)
The Cardiff Trilogy (Bloomsbury, 2006)
[http://www.literaturewales.org/writer...]
John L. Williams was born, lives and works in his hometown of Cardiff. He writes novels, short stories and screenplays set in a Cardiff that is changing fast. Williams celebrates the lives lived beneath the radar, the hustlers and grifters, hookers and guitar players, drug dealers and shoplifters, looking to make a crust or catch a break, looking for love. They are crime novels turned inside out. The police tried (unsuccessfully) to ban his Bloody Valentine (Harper Collins, 1994).
John has also published a number of non-fiction titles including his biographies of Black Power leader Michael X and Shirley Bassey. He currently writes for the Mail on Sunday and the Independent and is co-organiser of the Laugharne Festival. John has also worked for the NME and The Sunday Times, and has been a contributing editor of GQ magazine.
Selected Publications:
Non–fiction:
Into the Badlands (Paladin, 1991)
Bloody Valentine (HarperCollins, 1994)
Michael X: A Life in Black and White (Century, 2008)
Miss Shirley Bassey (Quercus, 2010)
Fiction:
Five Pubs, Two Bars and a Nightclub (Bloomsbury, 1999)
Cardiff Dead (Bloomsbury, 2000)
The Prince of Wales (Bloomsbury 2003)
Temperance Town (Bloomsbury, 2004)
The Cardiff Trilogy (Bloomsbury, 2006)
[http://www.literaturewales.org/writer...]
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 27, 2011
Wales Half Welsh, a collection of short stories by prominent Welsh authors edited by John Williams, is an anthology with a consistent level of quality. Williams' opening essay provides great insight into the nature of being Welsh, what it means within and outside of Wales, and how that national identity affects its literature and culture.
The stories themselves are, as mentioned, of an unusually high quality. Usually within such an anthology there are bound to be a handful of duds, but there was only one here which didn't resonate with me -Malcolm Pryce's "Human See, Human Do" was just a little too cutesy, a little too gimmicky for my liking. There were more than a few stories I loved: Sean Burke's "The Trials of Mahmood Mattan", which reimagines the story of a true crime that happened in Cardiff; Rachel Trezise's "Valley Lines", the tale of two outcasts meeting on their commute; Tessa Hadley's "The Enemy", of the contrasts between an idealistic youth and the responsibilities of adulthood; John Williams' "The Useful Idiot", another story of the haphazard political organization and action of youth and Niall Griffiths' "Fran and the Witch and Me", a haunting story that borders on invoking the supernatural; and Erica Wooff's "Inspiration", about looking at and trying to understand art.
Best of all, Wales Half Welsh has introduced me to half a dozen authors that I'm excited to read more from in the future.
The stories themselves are, as mentioned, of an unusually high quality. Usually within such an anthology there are bound to be a handful of duds, but there was only one here which didn't resonate with me -Malcolm Pryce's "Human See, Human Do" was just a little too cutesy, a little too gimmicky for my liking. There were more than a few stories I loved: Sean Burke's "The Trials of Mahmood Mattan", which reimagines the story of a true crime that happened in Cardiff; Rachel Trezise's "Valley Lines", the tale of two outcasts meeting on their commute; Tessa Hadley's "The Enemy", of the contrasts between an idealistic youth and the responsibilities of adulthood; John Williams' "The Useful Idiot", another story of the haphazard political organization and action of youth and Niall Griffiths' "Fran and the Witch and Me", a haunting story that borders on invoking the supernatural; and Erica Wooff's "Inspiration", about looking at and trying to understand art.
Best of all, Wales Half Welsh has introduced me to half a dozen authors that I'm excited to read more from in the future.
October 4, 2011
A collection of tales by authors from across Wales, both native born and naturalised non-natives, showing the diversity and similarities of life in Wales. The writing is unique in their styles and each shows a different aspect of Welsh life, from the struggle of just getting by to the injustice that permeated life on the edge of society. I found Sean Burke's tale 'The Trials of Mahmood Mattan' particularly poignant as, having heard the story growing up thinking it an urban myth, it was shocking and surprising to hear there is truth in it. The familiarity of many of the locations within each of the stories added to the realism of each and gave them a little extra oomph. A very interesting read that many a reader can enjoy, whether they're familiar with Wales or not.
August 4, 2019
Reading short stories collections is a long-term comittment I am never ready for. This took me way longer than I intended. All in all a beautiful introduction into Welsh writers out of whom I might read more in the future. Some stories were not worth the time but mostly I must say that I enjoyed it. Especially those of Niall Griffiths and John Williams. Robberies gone wrong, idiots claiming to be geniuses and romances with a bit of vinegar.
March 30, 2014
Overall I was pretty disappointed. As with all short story collections, some were stronger than others, but none really left me feeling like I'd really 'experienced' something, if that makes sense. I appreciated the thought behind this collection more than the actual work.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews