The Green Hollow

by Owen Sheers

In 1966 a coal slag heap collapsed on a school in south Wales, killing 144 people, most of them children. Poet Owen Sheers has given voice to those who still live in Aberfan, the pit village in which tragedy struck, and using their collective memories has created a striking work of poetic power.Sheers set out to paint a portrait not just of what happened, but also of what was lost. What was Aberfan like in 1966? What were the interests of the people, the social life, the sporting obsessions, the bands of the day? What was the deeper history of the place? Why had it become the mining village it was, and what had it been before the discovery of coal under its soil? Perhaps most significantly, what was Aberfan like today?The Green Hollow is a historical story with a deeply urgent contemporary a story of what can happen when a community is run by a corporation. It is also a story known along generational rather than geographic borders. Based on the BBC One production, The Green Hollow is a beautifully rendered picture of a time and place - and a life-altering event whose effects are felt to this day.

Genres: Poetry

Kindle Edition

Published April 3, 2018

About the author

OWEN SHEERS is a poet, author and playwright. His first novel, Resistance, was translated into ten languages and adapted into a film. The Dust Diaries, his Zimbabwean nonfiction narrative, won the Wales Book of the Year Award. His awards for poetry and drama include the Somerset Maugham Award for Skirrid Hill, the Hay Festival Medal for Poetry and Wales Book of the Year Award for Pink Mist, and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award for his play The Two Worlds of Charlie F. His most recent novel is I Saw a Man, which was shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger. He lives in Wales with his wife and daughter. He has been a New York Public Library Cullman Fellow and is currently Professor in Creativity at Swansea University.

Reviews

[Alyson Edenborough · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to pick up a signed copy of this book at the Hay Festival recently and I will treasure it for the rest of my life. The Aberfan disaster happened 8 years before I was born, less than a mile from where I grew up. Whilst my family weren’t directly affected by the tragedy, it was strangely present. Everybody knew somebody who was affected or had a story, my grandfather dug in the rescue attempt and my School was involved in designing a memorial for the 25th anniversary. I have watched many dramatisations and documentaries, usually in tears, but this poem made the disaster more real to me, now as a mother, than anything I have watched or read before. The lines spoken by the mother Myfanwy stopped me in my tracks: “And that’s how they went. Out a hundred doors for their last days. And that’s how we said our last goodbyes, with all the luxury of easy time.” Beautifully heartbreaking. Missed the dramatisation of this which was broadcast for the 50th anniversary, but will look it up, and more by Owen Shears.

[Simona Voica · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Seconds later, the darkness came in,
as if all the eyes in all the world,
had chosen then to blink."

[gabby .__. · Rating 4 out of 5]

surprising and moving. the narrative and the way it was presented and constructed on the page was so striking, and while i find some of the rhymes a little trite, the most moving bits were where language was plain. a surprising gem from the sjw library.

[Roisin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Created for the 50th anniversary, The Green Hollow is a fascinating poem from award winner Owen Shears, about the Aberfan coal disaster, in Wales, near Merthyr Tydfil, killing 144 people, most of them children. Coal waste was left on a mountain slope that was next to a village. Rain and underground springs that emerged made this waste an accident waiting to happen.

Shears doesn't present a sentimental poem, but one that charts the series of events that took place. What is really good about it is that, from the interviews that he did, you hear the voices of the kids that survived, the men and women that rescued and helped the community, that came together in grief. The letters voicing the concerns of locals sent to the National Coal Board, will stir uncomfortable feelings about this event. Like Grenfell in London decades later, it could have been avoided. Read and hear about the lives of these people, what happened after, their fears and hopes.

[Jill Bowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an absolute fu¢king disaster!!! It never should have happened, yet it did.
This book is excellent - but it’s also a screenplay for a BBC movie about the people (the children, the survivors) of Aberfan when disaster struck. It can be seen in its entirety on YouTube. There is also a documentary filmed in the late 70s (remember, this occurred in October 1966) talking to the people, the parents, the now teens, that were caught up in it.
The miners began a men’s choir called Ynysowen Men’s Voice Choir. They can be found on YouTube as well.

I’ll return to watch The Green Hollow on YouTube. I can’t right now. 😢

[Rhys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im in tears, every south walian should read this beautiful but harrowing piece of work.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is so original and so so so interesting. owen sheers is amazing

[Annie Tallis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fucking brilliant and haunting.

[Paul Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful. Brought me to tears at the end x

[Helen Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and heartbreaking!

[Mollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘What still haunts me the most is how it was staring us in the face. Not just the thing itself but even the word - Tip. Pit, turned inside out’

This is a haunting piece of poetry. Even though it was made for the screen I actually found reading it more moving than watching the TV drama because of the parts that were missed & bits rearranged. I think the way this is laid out really allows you to see the scope of the tragedy and the continued strength & resilience of the people of Aberfan.

Would highly recommend to both those with little or no knowledge of the disaster & those who are more familiar with it as I think it covers all bases in a truly beautiful and affecting way.

[SallyandBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing historical fiction written as a long poem/verse. Owen Sheers seems to have a way with words that touches my soul. I highly recommend that as I did to read it on one sitting so that you get the impact Sheers was looking for.