Parthian Books
@parthianbooks.bsky.social
A Carnival of Voices in independent publishing. Our titles reflect a diverse and contemporary Wales that cast a keen eye on the wider world.
Delve into the darker worlds of fiction this November with two gripping debuts; Truth Like Water by Carys Shannon, and Witsh by Mari Ellis Dunning from @honnopress.bsky.social.
November 11, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Delve into the darker worlds of fiction this November with two gripping debuts; Truth Like Water by Carys Shannon, and Witsh by Mari Ellis Dunning from @honnopress.bsky.social.
"Truth Like Water deserves to be high up on best-novel-of-2025 lists; Carys Shannon is definitely an author to watch."
A big thank you to Buzz Magazine for this fantastic review.
www.buzzmag.co.uk/truth-like-w...
A big thank you to Buzz Magazine for this fantastic review.
www.buzzmag.co.uk/truth-like-w...
Gower author CARYS SHANNON offers twists and mystery with her debut novel
Truth Like Water deserves to be high up on best-novel-of-2025 lists; debut novelist Carys Shannon is definitely an author to watch.
www.buzzmag.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 1:13 PM
"Truth Like Water deserves to be high up on best-novel-of-2025 lists; Carys Shannon is definitely an author to watch."
A big thank you to Buzz Magazine for this fantastic review.
www.buzzmag.co.uk/truth-like-w...
A big thank you to Buzz Magazine for this fantastic review.
www.buzzmag.co.uk/truth-like-w...
Join Carys Shannon on her debut book tour with events and signings held throughout the month.
"Suspenseful and suffused in the uncanny power of the ever-shifting tides of a Welsh estuary, Carys Shannon’s Truth Like Water is a first-rate mystery novel” – Joanne Owen, @lovereadinguk.bsky.social
"Suspenseful and suffused in the uncanny power of the ever-shifting tides of a Welsh estuary, Carys Shannon’s Truth Like Water is a first-rate mystery novel” – Joanne Owen, @lovereadinguk.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Join Carys Shannon on her debut book tour with events and signings held throughout the month.
"Suspenseful and suffused in the uncanny power of the ever-shifting tides of a Welsh estuary, Carys Shannon’s Truth Like Water is a first-rate mystery novel” – Joanne Owen, @lovereadinguk.bsky.social
"Suspenseful and suffused in the uncanny power of the ever-shifting tides of a Welsh estuary, Carys Shannon’s Truth Like Water is a first-rate mystery novel” – Joanne Owen, @lovereadinguk.bsky.social
"I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish....Finch deploys the right amount of irreverence and respect to tell his stories."
Thanks to Desmond Clifford, @nation.cymru for this lovely review of The Literary Business. Read in full below
nation.cymru/culture/the-...
Thanks to Desmond Clifford, @nation.cymru for this lovely review of The Literary Business. Read in full below
nation.cymru/culture/the-...
The Literary Business by Peter Finch
Desmond Clifford Peter Finch is a poet because he’s a poet. No one told him to, he passed no exam, entered no guild. He’s a poet because he is, and now he’s been at it for as long as Tom Jones has bee...
nation.cymru
November 5, 2025 at 10:58 AM
"I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish....Finch deploys the right amount of irreverence and respect to tell his stories."
Thanks to Desmond Clifford, @nation.cymru for this lovely review of The Literary Business. Read in full below
nation.cymru/culture/the-...
Thanks to Desmond Clifford, @nation.cymru for this lovely review of The Literary Business. Read in full below
nation.cymru/culture/the-...
"I didn’t become aware of my Welshness, or how that is expressed in my writing, until I left Wales. Only when I was more than a thousand miles away, living in Andalucía and teaching English, did I start to understand all the ways in which it expressed itself."
nation.cymru/culture/on-b...
nation.cymru/culture/on-b...
On Being a Writer in Wales: Carys Shannon
Carys Shannon “Where were you going when I saw you coming back?” is one of the phrases I heard when growing up in Wales. I’ve begun to argue that it is one of the best philosophical questions that ex...
nation.cymru
November 4, 2025 at 5:11 PM
"I didn’t become aware of my Welshness, or how that is expressed in my writing, until I left Wales. Only when I was more than a thousand miles away, living in Andalucía and teaching English, did I start to understand all the ways in which it expressed itself."
nation.cymru/culture/on-b...
nation.cymru/culture/on-b...
Reposted by Parthian Books
Well done to @parthianbooks.bsky.social for ensuring Alexander Cordell’s classic novel ‘Rape of the Fair Country’ is back in print 👏
October 30, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Well done to @parthianbooks.bsky.social for ensuring Alexander Cordell’s classic novel ‘Rape of the Fair Country’ is back in print 👏
Reposted by Parthian Books
Minnie Pallister now out in paperback. Lovely job...thanks @parthianbooks.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Minnie Pallister now out in paperback. Lovely job...thanks @parthianbooks.bsky.social
Reposted by Parthian Books
Lovely piece from fellow @parthianbooks.bsky.social author Eluned Gramich on our recent cultural trip to Osaka where she lived up to her name and brought much-needed rain to the city.
nation.cymru/culture/post...
nation.cymru/culture/post...
Postcard from Osaka
Eluned Gramich’s postcard is addressed to her five-year-old daughter, Angharad. It’s a strange coincidence that while I’m in Osaka, you’ll be dressing up in Japanese costume for Diwrnod Rhyngwladol (I...
nation.cymru
October 23, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Lovely piece from fellow @parthianbooks.bsky.social author Eluned Gramich on our recent cultural trip to Osaka where she lived up to her name and brought much-needed rain to the city.
nation.cymru/culture/post...
nation.cymru/culture/post...
Reposted by Parthian Books
Lord Gregory Mostyn, a frequent visitor to Japan and fluent Japanese speaker, kindly wrote the foreword to my book, 'The Transplantable Roots of Catharine Huws Nagashima: Encounters with the Welsh in Japan'. Thanks, Greg! @parthianbooks.bsky.social
nation.cymru/feature/meet...
nation.cymru/feature/meet...
Meet me at Shibuya Station
Lord Gregory Mostyn One day in 2015, we were tidying up the library in Mostyn Hall when I was astounded to come across an old, dusty photo album. It looked as if it had been almost hidden, and yet by...
nation.cymru
October 21, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Lord Gregory Mostyn, a frequent visitor to Japan and fluent Japanese speaker, kindly wrote the foreword to my book, 'The Transplantable Roots of Catharine Huws Nagashima: Encounters with the Welsh in Japan'. Thanks, Greg! @parthianbooks.bsky.social
nation.cymru/feature/meet...
nation.cymru/feature/meet...
Join us at @storyvillebooks.bsky.social this Thursday for the New Welsh Review and Parthian Books Autumn Party! With readings from issue contributors and special guest and Ponty local Crystal Jeans will also be reading from her brand-new essay collection Blueprints.
Kicking off at 7.15pm🍂
Kicking off at 7.15pm🍂
October 21, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Join us at @storyvillebooks.bsky.social this Thursday for the New Welsh Review and Parthian Books Autumn Party! With readings from issue contributors and special guest and Ponty local Crystal Jeans will also be reading from her brand-new essay collection Blueprints.
Kicking off at 7.15pm🍂
Kicking off at 7.15pm🍂
Roberto Pastore and Ben Rhys Palmer will be launching their joyful and deeply human poetry collections tonight at Waterstones Cardiff!
Get yourselves down there, doors at 18:30 to start at 19:00. @waterstones.bsky.social @benrhyspalmer.bsky.social
Get yourselves down there, doors at 18:30 to start at 19:00. @waterstones.bsky.social @benrhyspalmer.bsky.social
a cat wearing a hard hat is looking at a button with the word launch above it
ALT: a cat wearing a hard hat is looking at a button with the word launch above it
media.tenor.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Roberto Pastore and Ben Rhys Palmer will be launching their joyful and deeply human poetry collections tonight at Waterstones Cardiff!
Get yourselves down there, doors at 18:30 to start at 19:00. @waterstones.bsky.social @benrhyspalmer.bsky.social
Get yourselves down there, doors at 18:30 to start at 19:00. @waterstones.bsky.social @benrhyspalmer.bsky.social
Reposted by Parthian Books
I'm really enjoying Carys Shannon's debut novel Truth Like Water 🌊📸
Available now from @parthianbooks.bsky.social 👌🏼
Available now from @parthianbooks.bsky.social 👌🏼
October 14, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I'm really enjoying Carys Shannon's debut novel Truth Like Water 🌊📸
Available now from @parthianbooks.bsky.social 👌🏼
Available now from @parthianbooks.bsky.social 👌🏼
On the journey they were beaten, tortured and shackled beneath a waste pipe. The ship had dropped anchor in the middle of the bay of Hirado, a thriving trading post in the west of Japan, north of Nagasaki...
nation.cymru/feature/the-...
nation.cymru/feature/the-...
The first Welchman in Japan
Susan Karen Burton In the summer of 1619, three sailors lay chained in the hold of Dutch sailing ship, The Angell. Captured in a sea battle between the Dutch and the English off the coast of Java, the...
nation.cymru
October 14, 2025 at 2:01 PM
On the journey they were beaten, tortured and shackled beneath a waste pipe. The ship had dropped anchor in the middle of the bay of Hirado, a thriving trading post in the west of Japan, north of Nagasaki...
nation.cymru/feature/the-...
nation.cymru/feature/the-...
Carly Holmes’ Love Letters on the River has been selected for the Wales Literature Exchange 2025 Non-fiction Bookshelf.
Selected annually by @cyfnewidfalen_waleslitexchange to champion Welsh literary works recommended for translation.
waleslitexchange.org/bookshelf/au...
Selected annually by @cyfnewidfalen_waleslitexchange to champion Welsh literary works recommended for translation.
waleslitexchange.org/bookshelf/au...
Autumn 2025 - Wales Lit Exchange
waleslitexchange.org
October 3, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Carly Holmes’ Love Letters on the River has been selected for the Wales Literature Exchange 2025 Non-fiction Bookshelf.
Selected annually by @cyfnewidfalen_waleslitexchange to champion Welsh literary works recommended for translation.
waleslitexchange.org/bookshelf/au...
Selected annually by @cyfnewidfalen_waleslitexchange to champion Welsh literary works recommended for translation.
waleslitexchange.org/bookshelf/au...
Reposted by Parthian Books
September 30, 2025 at 6:24 PM
TONIGHT at 6.30, at The Medical Society of London and online: a lecture on Welsh National Identity and the Second World War with Professor Martin Johnes, author of 'Wales: England's Colony?'.
www.cymmrodorion.org/talk/welsh-n...
www.cymmrodorion.org/talk/welsh-n...
Welsh National Identity and the Second World War - The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion
Professor Martin Johnes
www.cymmrodorion.org
September 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
TONIGHT at 6.30, at The Medical Society of London and online: a lecture on Welsh National Identity and the Second World War with Professor Martin Johnes, author of 'Wales: England's Colony?'.
www.cymmrodorion.org/talk/welsh-n...
www.cymmrodorion.org/talk/welsh-n...
Carys Shannon will be joining her editor Carly Holmes at Goldstone Books Carmarthen to discuss her atmospheric debut novel Truth Like Water.
Wednesday October 15th at 7pm. Free entry!
Wednesday October 15th at 7pm. Free entry!
September 25, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Carys Shannon will be joining her editor Carly Holmes at Goldstone Books Carmarthen to discuss her atmospheric debut novel Truth Like Water.
Wednesday October 15th at 7pm. Free entry!
Wednesday October 15th at 7pm. Free entry!
Reposted by Parthian Books
These are a few of my favourite things ...
@parthianbooks.bsky.social @hinterlandnf.bsky.social
hinterlandnonfiction.substack.com/p/the-non-fi...
@parthianbooks.bsky.social @hinterlandnf.bsky.social
hinterlandnonfiction.substack.com/p/the-non-fi...
The Non-fiction That Shapes Us: Susan Karen Burton
Hinterland authors reflect on the non-fiction that inspires their own writing.
hinterlandnonfiction.substack.com
September 17, 2025 at 11:44 AM
These are a few of my favourite things ...
@parthianbooks.bsky.social @hinterlandnf.bsky.social
hinterlandnonfiction.substack.com/p/the-non-fi...
@parthianbooks.bsky.social @hinterlandnf.bsky.social
hinterlandnonfiction.substack.com/p/the-non-fi...
Reposted by Parthian Books
Over on our Substack, a fantastic guest post by @drskburton.bsky.social about the non-fiction that inspires her work as an oral historian.
hinterlandnonfiction.substack.com/p/the-non-fi...
Susan's book The Transplantable Roots of Katharine Huws Nagashima is out now from @parthianbooks.bsky.social
hinterlandnonfiction.substack.com/p/the-non-fi...
Susan's book The Transplantable Roots of Katharine Huws Nagashima is out now from @parthianbooks.bsky.social
September 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Over on our Substack, a fantastic guest post by @drskburton.bsky.social about the non-fiction that inspires her work as an oral historian.
hinterlandnonfiction.substack.com/p/the-non-fi...
Susan's book The Transplantable Roots of Katharine Huws Nagashima is out now from @parthianbooks.bsky.social
hinterlandnonfiction.substack.com/p/the-non-fi...
Susan's book The Transplantable Roots of Katharine Huws Nagashima is out now from @parthianbooks.bsky.social
Reposted by Parthian Books
In a lot of shock to have won the 2025 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition Thank you for this honour & for recognising my story. @parthianbooks.bsky.social @elaine-canning.bsky.social @swanseauni.bsky.social Congratulations all shortlistees. Can't wait to meet you & read your incredible stories ❤️❤️❤️
Keza O'Neill wins the 2025 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition
Keza O’Neill’s ‘The Man on the Train’ has been crowned the winner of the 2025 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition.
www.swansea.ac.uk
September 11, 2025 at 12:14 PM
In a lot of shock to have won the 2025 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition Thank you for this honour & for recognising my story. @parthianbooks.bsky.social @elaine-canning.bsky.social @swanseauni.bsky.social Congratulations all shortlistees. Can't wait to meet you & read your incredible stories ❤️❤️❤️
Reposted by Parthian Books
Trying to play it cool as usual, but I've got confetti coming out of my ears! Thrilled to be launching my debut collection, published by @parthianbooks.bsky.social, alongside Susie Wild and Roberto Pastore at Waterstones Cardiff on 16 October. www.waterstones.com/events/poetr...
Poetry Launch: Roberto Pastore and Ben Rhys Palmer | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones
Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Poetry Launch: Roberto Pastore and Ben Rhys Palmer today.
www.waterstones.com
September 5, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Trying to play it cool as usual, but I've got confetti coming out of my ears! Thrilled to be launching my debut collection, published by @parthianbooks.bsky.social, alongside Susie Wild and Roberto Pastore at Waterstones Cardiff on 16 October. www.waterstones.com/events/poetr...
Reposted by Parthian Books
This is such a welcome, life-affirming & diverse edition of BBCRadio4 The Verb. Top form delivery from @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social @lenniesaurus.bsky.social, Alex Wharton, @natholborow.bsky.social & Ian McMillan
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - The Verb, The Adverb at the Hay Festival 2025
Ian McMillan presents poets in performance for The Verb's performance wing, The Adverb.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 30, 2025 at 8:11 AM
This is such a welcome, life-affirming & diverse edition of BBCRadio4 The Verb. Top form delivery from @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social @lenniesaurus.bsky.social, Alex Wharton, @natholborow.bsky.social & Ian McMillan
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Tune in to The Adverb tonight at 9pm with Ian McMillan for their special @hayfestival.bsky.social recording. With Michael Rosen, Len Pennie, Alex Wharton and Natalie Ann Holborow.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - The Verb, The Adverb at the Hay Festival 2025
Ian McMillan presents poets in performance for The Verb's performance wing, The Adverb.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 29, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Tune in to The Adverb tonight at 9pm with Ian McMillan for their special @hayfestival.bsky.social recording. With Michael Rosen, Len Pennie, Alex Wharton and Natalie Ann Holborow.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by Parthian Books
One thing about moving house, among the books something pops out that you haven't touched for years. Enjoying these prose poems by Richard Gwyn, from his vagabond days around the Mediterranean. And this somewhat sobering collection from Ifor Thomas. Both from @parthianbooks.bsky.social
August 23, 2025 at 8:28 AM
One thing about moving house, among the books something pops out that you haven't touched for years. Enjoying these prose poems by Richard Gwyn, from his vagabond days around the Mediterranean. And this somewhat sobering collection from Ifor Thomas. Both from @parthianbooks.bsky.social
Reposted by Parthian Books
I am one of the 14 authors who chose to leave the Polari Prize, and I find myself frustrated and saddened at the way this entire story has been represented. 1/
John Boyne says LGBTQ+ fiction prize backlash brought him ‘close to the edge’
John Boyne says LGBTQ+ fiction prize backlash brought him ‘close to the edge’
Gender critical novelist urges writers to reenter prize they boycotted and may ask judges not to shortlist his novella
The gender critical Irish novelist John Boyne has said he has been brought “very close to the edge” by the backlash to his inclusion on the longlist for a literary prize for LGBTQ+ authors.
Ten authors and two judges withdrew from the Polari prize and more than 800 writers and publishing industry workers signed a petition calling on Polari to remove Boyne’s novella Earth from its longlist. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
August 15, 2025 at 9:58 AM
I am one of the 14 authors who chose to leave the Polari Prize, and I find myself frustrated and saddened at the way this entire story has been represented. 1/