The Seren Poetry Podcast

Welcome to The Seren Poetry Podcast, a series of conversations and readings with Seren poets.

In this episode we talk to Nerys Williams about her explosive third collection ‘Republic’. ‘Republic’ opens a window on life in rural west Wales during the 1980s and 90s when arts and culture boomed. English and Welsh-language post-punk bands, politics, feminism and family life are thrown together on the page as the poet questions what constitutes a republic?  

Nerys Williams’s first collection ‘Sound Archive’ (Seren) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and won the Irish Strong First Collection Prize. In 2017 she was a Government of Wales-Literature Wales poet in residence at Passa Porta, Brussels as part of the Literature of Loss programme. That same year her second collection ‘Cabaret’ was published by New Dublin Press. Nerys is an Associate Professor in poetry and poetics University College Dublin, a Fulbright alumnus and is originally from Carmarthenshire. She lives in Kells, Co. Meath, Ireland.

‘Republic’ is available in bookshops nationwide or from the Seren website https://www.serenbooks.com/book/republic/ 

Find out more about the ‘Republic’ playlist on the Seren website https://www.serenbooks.com/2023/02/guest-post-listening-to-republic-nerys-williams/ or listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/playlist/010HvnjFmyrCIqIhCofOUF. 

The podcast is presented by Rhian Edwards  

The interviewer is Sarah Johnson  

The interview recordings are by Sarah Johnson.

Production, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory of Alternative Stories https://alternativestories.com/

You can find out more about Nerys Williams by visiting her website http://www.neryswilliams.com/about-us/ or following her on X: @achifsain 

Other books by Nerys Williams

‘Sound Archive’ https://www.serenbooks.com/book/sound-archive/ 

Find out more about Seren and purchase books featured in this podcast by visiting the Seren website here https://www.serenbooks.com/ 

Follow Seren on social media  

Twitter https://twitter.com/SerenBooks 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/serenbooks/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SerenBooks 

Contact them by email at [email protected] 

This podcast is produced by Alternative Stories, a spoken word production company specialising in literary podcasts and radio programmes. To find out more about Alternative Stories, follow or hire them please follow the links below 

https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories 

Contact them by email at [email protected]  

We hope you enjoyed the last episode of Season 2. If you’ve enjoyed listening along, don’t forget to also revisit Season 1 wherever you get your podcasts. 

The Seren Poetry Podcast will return! Subscribe in your favourite podcast app to have all future editions delivered to your podcast feed the moment they are released.  

Welcome to Season Two of the Seren Poetry Podcast. 

The Seren Poetry Podcast is a podcast dedicated to poetry and poets.  In our second series we’ll speak to 6 Seren poets and hear them read their work.  We’ll talk influences, writing techniques and inspiration.  Focussing on recent Seren collections, we’ll go in-depth with our poets on the themes they have chosen to write about and the people, events and other elements that have influenced them. 

Our full podcast featuring Nerys Williams and her collection Republic will be out on Thursday 21st December  You can already listen to our interviews with Rhiannon Hooson, Rachael Clyne, Glyn Edwards , Judy Brown and Vanessa Lampert  in our podcast feed.  

Subscribe now  by searching "The Seren Poetry Podcast" in your favourite podcast app to be alerted when new editions are released. 

You can listen to the complete series one of the Seren Poetry Podcast now on all podcast platforms and find out more about Seren by visiting our website at   https://www.serenbooks.com/

Welcome to The Seren Poetry Podcast, a series of conversations and readings with Seren poets.

In this episode, we talk to Vanessa Lampert about her debut collection Say It With Me which explores themes of family, the everyday and loss. She discusses how writing can be an act of remembrance when living with grief, and how certain animals can be symbols of hope. 

Vanessa Lampert is an acupuncturist and poet from Oxfordshire. She has an MA in Writing Poetry from Newcastle University and Poetry School London. Since graduating in 2019 she has won the Café Writers prize, the Edward Thomas prize, the Sentinel prize and the Ver Poetry prize twice and come second in the Fish, Yeovil, Oxford Brookes, Ware and Kent & Sussex prizes. She has been placed in many other competitions including commendations in the Bridport, Troubadour, Alpine Fellowship and Daily Telegraph prizes. She was commended in the National Poetry Competition 2020 and listed in 2021. 

‘Say it With Me’ is available in bookshops nationwide or from the Seren website https://www.serenbooks.com/book/say-it-with-me/

The podcast is presented by Rhian Edwards  

The interviewer is Sarah Johnson  

The interview recordings are by Sarah Johnson.

Production, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory of Alternative Stories 

You can find out more about Vanessa Lampert by visiting her website https://vanessalampert.me or by following her on social media:  

X: @nessalampert

Instagram: @vanessa_lampert_2018 

Other books by Vanessa Lampert:

‘On Long Loan’ (Live Cannon) https://www.livecanon.co.uk/store/product/on-long-loan-vanessa-lampert 

Find out more about Seren and purchase books featured in this podcast by visiting the Seren website here https://www.serenbooks.com/ 

Follow Seren on social media  

Twitter https://twitter.com/SerenBooks 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/serenbooks/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SerenBooks 

Contact them by email at [email protected] 

This podcast is produced by Alternative Stories, a spoken word production company specialising in literary podcasts and radio programmes. To find out more about Alternative Stories, follow or hire them please follow the links below 

https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories 

Contact them by email at [email protected]  

Please join us next week for a conversation with poet Nerys Williams about her collection ‘Republic’. Subscribe in your favourite podcast app to have all future editions delivered to your podcast feed the moment they are released.  

Welcome to Season Two of the Seren Poetry Podcast. 

The Seren Poetry Podcast is a podcast dedicated to poetry and poets.  In our second series we’ll speak to 6 Seren poets and hear them read their work.  We’ll talk influences, writing techniques and inspiration.  Focussing on recent Seren collections, we’ll go in-depth with our poets on the themes they have chosen to write about and the people, events and other elements that have influenced them. 

Our fifth podcast of season three which will feature a full-length interview with Judy Brown will be out on Thursday 14th December and we'll bring you one further interview with a Seren poet in the series.  You can already listen to our interviews with Rhiannon Hooson, Rachael Clyne, Glyn Edwards  and Judy Brown in our podcast feed.  

Subscribe now  by searching "The Seren Poetry Podcast" in your favourite podcast app to be alerted when new editions are released. 

You can listen to the complete series one of the Seren Poetry Podcast now on all podcast platforms and find out more about Seren by visiting our website at   https://www.serenbooks.com/

Welcome to The Seren Poetry Podcast, a series of conversations and readings with Seren poets.

In this edition we talk to Judy Brown about her third collection ‘Lairs’. Describing it as the ‘angriest’ of her three books so far, Judy discusses the lair as a place of restriction or a confined space, her residency at Exeter University’s Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, and other underlying themes from the book such as ‘pivotal change’.

Judy Brown is an award-winning poet who has published 3 full collections with Seren and a pamphlet ‘Pillars of Salt’ with Templar Poetry. Judy’s first poetry collection, ‘Loudness’ (2011), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the Fenton Aldeburgh Prize. Her second collection, ‘Crowd Sensations’ (2016) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the Ledbury Forte Second Collection Prize. Her third collection ‘Lairs’ was published in 2022. Judy now works as a freelance tutor and mentor and gives Poetry Surgeries in London and online for the Poetry Society.

‘Lairs’ is available in bookshops nationwide or from the Seren website https://www.serenbooks.com/book/lairs/ 

The podcast is presented by Rhian Edwards  

The interviewer is Sarah Johnson  

The interview recordings are by Sarah Johnson.

Production, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory of Alternative Stories 

You can find out more about Judy Brown by visiting her website https://judybrownpoems.wordpress.com or following her on social media  @JudyBrown__

Find out more about Seren and purchase books featured in this podcast by visiting the Seren website here https://www.serenbooks.com/ 

Follow Seren on social media  

X https://twitter.com/SerenBooks 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/serenbooks/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SerenBooks 

Contact them by email at [email protected] 

Other books by Judy Brown

‘Pillars of Salt’ (Templar Poetry) https://templarpoetry.com/products/pillars-of-salt-by-judy-brown 

‘Loudness’https://www.serenbooks.com/book/loudness/ 

‘Crowd Sensations’ https://www.serenbooks.com/book/crowd-sensations/ 

This podcast is produced by Alternative Stories, a spoken word production company specialising in literary podcasts and radio programmes. To find out more about Alternative Stories, follow or hire them please follow the links below 

https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories 

Contact them by email at [email protected]  

Please join us next week for a conversation with poet Vanessa Lampert about her debut collection ‘Say it With Me’. Subscribe in your favourite podcast app to have all future editions delivered to your podcast feed the moment they are released.  

Welcome to Season Two of the Seren Poetry Podcast. 

The Seren Poetry Podcast is a podcast dedicated to poetry and poets.  In our second series we’ll speak to 6 Seren poets and hear them read their work.  We’ll talk influences, writing techniques and inspiration.  Focussing on recent Seren collections, we’ll go in-depth with our poets on the themes they have chosen to write about and the people, events and other elements that have influenced them. 

Our fourth podcast of season three which will feature a full-length interview with Judy Brown  and will be out on Thursday 7th December and we'll bring you two further interviews with Seren poets in the series.  You can already listen to our interviews with Rhiannon Hooson, Rachael Clyne and Glyn Edwards in our podcast feed.  

Subscribe now  by searching "The Seren Poetry Podcast" in your favourite podcast app to be alerted when new editions are released. 

You can listen to the complete series one of the Seren Poetry Podcast now on all podcast platforms and find out more about Seren by visiting our website at   https://www.serenbooks.com/

Welcome to The Seren Poetry Podcast, a series of conversations and readings with Seren poets.

In this episode we speak to North Wales-based poet Glyn Edwards about his collection, ‘In Orbit’ which is a sustained narrative of love, loss and longing. Using a variety of innovative forms, the collection explores grief and how we come to terms with losing someone close to us. The natural world offers sustenance and a new perspective in the face of intense emotions as a man struggles to come to terms with news of a beloved teacher’s death.   

Glyn Edwards is a PhD researcher in ecopoetry at Bangor University. His first poetry collection ’Vertebrae’ was published by the Lonely Press. He co-edits Modron, a journal for environmental writing, and the Wild Words feature for North Wales Wildlife Trust. He is a former winner and trustee of the Terry Hetherington Award for Welsh young writers and works as a teacher in North Wales.

‘In Orbit’ is available in bookshops nationwide or from the Seren website https://www.serenbooks.com/book/in-orbit/ 

The podcast is presented by Rhian Edwards  

The interviewer is Sarah Johnson  

The interview recordings are by Sarah Johnson.

Production, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory of Alternative Stories 

You can find out more about Glyn Edwards by visiting his website https://www.glynedwardspoet.co.uk or following him on social media @glynfedwards

Other books by Glyn Edwards:

‘Vertebrae’ (The Lonely Crowd) https://thelonelycrowd.org/vertebrae-by-glyn-edwards/ 

Find out more about Seren and purchase books featured in this podcast by visiting the Seren website here https://www.serenbooks.com/ 

Follow Seren on social media  

Twitter https://twitter.com/SerenBooks 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/serenbooks/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SerenBooks 

Contact them by email at [email protected] 

This podcast is produced by Alternative Stories, a spoken word production company specialising in literary podcasts and radio programmes. To find out more about Alternative Stories, follow or hire them please follow the links below  
 https://alternativestories.com/

Contact them by email at [email protected]  

Please join us next week for a conversation with poet Judy Brown about her collection ‘Lairs’. Subscribe in your favourite podcast app to have all future editions delivered to your podcast feed the moment they are released.  

Welcome to Season Two of the Seren Poetry Podcast. 

The Seren Poetry Podcast is a podcast dedicated to poetry and poets.  In our second series we’ll speak to 6 Seren poets and hear them read their work.  We’ll talk influences, writing techniques and inspiration.  Focussing on recent Seren collections, we’ll go in-depth with our poets on the themes they have chosen to write about and the people, events and other elements that have influenced them. 

Our third podcast of season three which will feature a full-length interview with Glyn Edwards  will be out on Thursday 30th November and we will have four further interviews with Seren poets in the series.  You can already listen to our interviews with Rhiannon Hooson and Rachael Clyne in our podcast feed.  

Subscribe now  by searching "The Seren Poetry Podcast" in your favourite podcast app to be alerted when new editions are released. 

You can listen to the complete series one of the Seren Poetry Podcast now on all podcast platforms and find out more about Seren by visiting our website at   https://www.serenbooks.com/

Welcome to The Seren Poetry Podcast, a series of conversations and readings with Seren poets.

In this episode we talk to Rachael Clyne about identity, belonging and self-acceptance, three central themes from her collection ‘You’ll Never Be Anyone Else’. Throughout the book, Rachel uses playful wit, and colourful imagery to explore Jewish and lesbian identity through various stages of life and consider what it takes to reconcile being different.  

Rachael Clyne is a poet from Glastonbury. Her work has been published in journals such as Iamb, Ink Sweat & Tears, Lighthouse, Rialto, Shearsman, and Tears in the Fence, and widely anthologized. Her debut collection ‘Singing at the Bone Tree’ (Indigo Dreams) won Indigo Dreams’ Geoff Stevens Award 2013. Her pamphlet, ‘Girl Golem’ (4word.org), explores her Jewish migrant heritage and sense of otherness. Rachael was a professional actor, then psychotherapist. Her passions are eco-issues and identity.  

‘You’ll Never be Anyone Else’ is available in bookshops nationwide or from the Seren website https://www.serenbooks.com/book/youll-never-be-anyone-else/ 

The podcast is presented by Rhian Edwards  

The interviewer is Sarah Johnson  

The interview recordings are by Sarah Johnson.

Production, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory of Alternative Stories 

You can find out more about Rachael Clyne on her website https://rachaelclyne.blogspot.com/  or by following her on social media:

X @RachaelClyne1

Other books by Rachael Clyne:

‘Girl Golem’ (4word.org) https://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/products/girl-golem-by-rachel-clyne 

‘Singing at the Bone Tree’ (Indigo Dreams) https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9781909357518 

Find out more about Seren and purchase books featured in this podcast by visiting the Seren website here https://www.serenbooks.com/ 

Follow Seren on social media  

Twitter https://twitter.com/SerenBooks 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/serenbooks/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SerenBooks 

Contact them by email at [email protected] 

This podcast is produced by Alternative Stories, a spoken word production company specialising in literary podcasts and radio programmes. To find out more about Alternative Stories, follow or hire them please follow the links below 

https://alternativestories.com/

Contact them by email at [email protected]  

Please join us next week for a conversation with poet Glyn Edwards about his collection ‘In Orbit’. Subscribe in your favourite podcast app to have all future editions delivered to your podcast feed the moment they are released.  

Welcome to Season Two of the Seren Poetry Podcast. 

The Seren Poetry Podcast is a podcast dedicated to poetry and poets.  In our second series we’ll speak to 6 Seren poets and hear them read their work.  We’ll talk influences, writing techniques and inspiration.  Focussing on recent Seren collections, we’ll go in-depth with our poets on the themes they have chosen to write about and the people, events and other elements that have influenced them. 

Our second podcast of season two which will feature a full-length interview with Rachael Clyne will be out on Thursday 23rd November and we will have four further interviews with Seren poets in the series.  You can already listen to our interview with Rhiannon Hooson in our podcast feed.  

Subscribe now  by searching "The Seren Poetry Podcast" in your favourite podcast app to be alerted when new editions are released. 

You can listen to the complete series one of the Seren Poetry Podcast now on all podcast platforms and find out more about Seren by visiting our website at   https://www.serenbooks.com/