Following the announcement of the longlist of the Wales Book of the Year 2010, we've got a brand new photo gallery of images taken on the night of the event in Bangor.
Kindly provided by , the Welsh literature agency that administers the annual prize with funding from the , the photographs capture the judges, longlisted authors and guests that attended the launch of this year's prize.
Browse the gallery and find out more about the prize and who made it onto the longlist.
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The winning photographs from this year's National Photographic Portrait Commission are now on show at the , Cardiff.
Striking portraits of one of Britian's leading scientists Steve Jones, by Tom Pope, and Welsh band Super Furry Animals, by Sophie Keyworth, will be on display at the museum until July.
Steve Jones - Talking Evolution by Tom Pope.
The National Photographic Portrait Commission is an annual competition led by the museum in conjunction with the National Portrait Gallery. A committee selects two or three winners from the applicants and commissions a new portrait from them for the national collection.
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This Friday marks the inaugural at Swansea's . The lecture will explore Richard Burton the scholar, and celebrates the launch of Swansea University's Richard Burton Centre for the Study of Wales.
Professor Chris Williams. Photo courtesy of Swansea University.
Professor Chris Williams, who will give the lecture, is the director of the centre at the University's School of Arts and Humanities.He has been researching Burton's personal diaries and journals following their donation to the university.
He estimates it will take a year to prepare the journals for publication and hopes the diaries will be published in 2012. They will be published in their entirety, complete with scholarly notes and an introduction that will set the story in context.
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The is set to host one of Wales' most important Welsh-language book festivals this weekend. The Bedwen Lyfrau Book Festival is an annual event organized by Cwlwm Cyhoeddwyr Cymru, the Welsh-language publishers' association.
Events begin on Friday as Gari Wyn, Wyn Melville and Myrddin ap Dafydd are all set to launch new books and will talk on their experiences as entrepreneurs. Cân i Gymru winner Tomos Wyn will also provide musical entertainment.
Saturday will see plenty of activities for youngsters as well as adults as Sali Mali and Heini from S4C's Cyw are due to appear. Novelists including Sonia Edwards, Sian Owen and Haf Llywelyn will talk on portraying rural life in modern novels while further events include a nature walk, a talk by the National Library of Wales' Ifor ap Dafydd and the presentation of the lifetime achievement award for services to the book industry in Wales.
Find out more about the timetable of events on the .
Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ blog, you will need to sign in to your ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iD account. If you don't have a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ sites and services using a single login.
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Welsh author Tiffany Murray has been shortlisted for the UK's only prize for comic fiction, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize.
Also among the five authors up for the award is Malcom
Pryce, who sets his quirky noir detective novels in the Welsh town of Aberystwyth.
Tiffany Murray © Fritz Fryer / Malcolm Pryce © David Mitchell
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The new Doctor Who and his companion are set to host two concerts in July as part of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Proms.
Actors Matt Smith (the Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) will introduce the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ National Orchestra of Wales' performances with the London Philharmonic Choir on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 July. The orchestra is due to perform five proms, including the two Doctor Who Proms.
Browse our Doctor Who in Wales locations guide and visit the official Doctor Who website.
The director of one of Europe's largest arts centres is to take over as the chief executive of the .
Mark Taylor, currently at the helm of the in London, will step into Judith Isherwood's shoes as she moves on from her role at the iconic arts venue in the heart of Cardiff Bay. He is set to take up the post in August.
on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales News site.
A new Welsh film comedy, made in just a three-week period in Cardiff on what the company describes as a 'micro-budget', has enjoyed an impressive world première at the Atlanta Film Festival.
Off-beat comedy is the feature début of writer and director Paul Howard Allen. It follows two hapless psychology students as they each desperately attempt to write 5,000 word essays in the space of 12 hours, in a bid to not fail their degrees.
Photo from Big Font. Large Spacing featuring James Kristian and Gareth Aldon. Courtesy 33Story Productions.
That gut-wrenching feeling as the realisation dawns that you've forgotten about a vital piece of work is surely something many students past and present can relate to. I know I certainly can.
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The countdown for the National Eisteddfod of Wales, Blaenau Gwent and the Heads of the Valleys (to give its full title) has begun. With only 100 days left until the festivities start, the Eisteddfod organisers are laying thousands of flags in and around the town in order to remind Ebbw Vale's inhabitants
You might not think of Ebbw Vale as having a large Welsh language community but as Richard Davies, Chair of the Work Committee, told the , he has high hopes for the festival:
"Over the years the inhabitants of the area might have lost the Welsh language, but the tide is turning - and the arrival and support of the National Eisteddfod, along with the hard work of a number of organisations, has made a substantial difference locally."(translated from the Welsh language).
Guto Brychan, Maes B organiser, announced the full line up of the Maes B event last night live on
C2 Radio Cymru. They included some of the scene's most up and coming acts, as well as some familiar names.
The Eisteddfod is looking for local and Wales wide support in order to make this the best festival yet. So get involved!
National poet of Wales Gillian Clarke has written a sonnet entitled Blue Sky Thinking, inspired by the recent ban on air travel in the UK due to the volcanic ash cloud emitted by Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano.
in which she recites the sonnet and tells ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales presenter Rhun ap Iorwerth that at no time since she was born has she seen the skies over Wales so untouched by the sight and sound of planes.
Photograph of Gillian Clarke courtesy of Academi/Owain Llyr
A new comedy festival showcasing the best up and coming talent as well as already established comedians opens in mid Wales town Machynlleth this Friday.
The will see headliners such as Jon Richardson, Tudur Owen, Robin Ince, Peep Show star Isy Suttie and three man sketch group The Pappy's perform over the three days.
Photograph of sketch group Pappy's, courtesy of Machynlleth Comedy Festival.
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Welsh literature agency are set to announce the longlist of the Wales Book of the Year 2010 at an event in Bangor this evening.
The annual literary prizes, worth £10,000 to the winners, are awarded to authors of the best books of the year in both the English and Welsh language.
The winners of the prizes in 2009 were Deborah Kay Davies for her novel Grace, Tamar and Lazslo the Beautiful and William Owen Roberts for the Welsh language Petrograd. Browse a collection of photographs from last year's prize.
The English language judging panel for the 2010 prize are poet and lecturer Ian Gregson, writer James Hawes and broadcaster Sara Edwards. The Welsh language judges are John Gwilym Jones, Aled Lewis Evans and Branwen Gwyn.
Calling all Doctor Who fans! We've recently created a new interactive map that lets you explore some of the locations in Wales where the iconic sci-fi programme has been filmed.
Did you know that Rhossili in Gower was the setting for New New York as seen by the Doctor and Rose Tyler when they arrived on New Earth in the year five billion and twenty-three?
Or that the scenes from 1967 episode The Abominable Snowmen, featuring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor set in 'Tibet', were actually filmed in the beautiful Nant Ffrancon Pass in Gwynedd? This classic episode featured the terrifying Abominable Snowmen or Yetis, and the production photo below shows 'Yeti' Reg Whitehead meeting the Gwynedd locals:
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Rob Brydon is set to star in a new ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two series called The Trip with Steve Coogan. The Welsh comedian has recently been filming in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales for the show, in which he and Coogan play 'loose versions of [themselves] touring around The Lakes and reviewing restaurants'.
The Trip is directed by Michael Winterbottom and is due to air later this year. Read more on the story on .
A play dramatising the life of Polish artist Josef Herman and his time spent in Ystradgynlais is to open in Swansea.
Photograph of Josef Herman © Bernard Mitchell
Herman is fondly remembered for his depictions of the Welsh mining community of Ystradgynlais. Having originally visited the Swansea Valley town for a holiday in 1944, he was to make it his home for the next 11 years until 1955.
The Secret of Belonging by Michael Waters opens at the on 22 April.
More information is on the .
Nicola Heywood Thomas talks to Jonathan Pryce and looks at the latest productions by and in this week's ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales Arts Show.
Welsh star of stage and screen Pryce has been starring in the West End as tramp Davies in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker. The show, directed by Christopher Morahan, comes to an end on 17 April after a 14 week run at having previously been staged at the in Liverpool.
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As reported by the , the in Washington DC has been forced to close an exhibition of art on loan from Wales worth an estimated £325m due to issues with a new air conditioning system.
Pieces on loan from the , which include classics by Cézanne, Monet, Renior, Turner, Manet, Pisarro and van Goch, were due to be displayed by the gallery until 25 April.
The exhibition will now continue on its tour of the US and will open at a gallery in Albuquerque, New Mexico, next month. Read more on the story on .
Welsh comedian, writer, broadcaster and Monty Python star Terry Jones returned to his hometown Colwyn Bay yesterday to back the proposed revamp of .
Jones revealed that as part of the Colwyn County Council-led plans, the theatre will benefit from a new cafe, bar, improved lifts and access ramp, meeting room, office and new modern exterior.
The star returned to Colwyn Bay to make the announcement about the theatre, of which he is a patron, before a special screening of the classic Monty Python film The Life Of Brian.
presents a provocative new Welsh language play, the first production since the closure of the theatre building in Cardiff for the planned redevelopment of the site.
Llwyth, Tribe in English, is written by Dafydd James and tells the story of a group of gay friends out on the town on the night of a rugby international match in Cardiff. The play follows the exploits of the group, and sees how loyalties are challenged when a new face joins the proceedings.
Photograph to accompany Sherman Cymru's production of Llwyth © Kirsten McTernan
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Welsh-based author Niall Griffiths will give a talk on his fiction and travel writing at the in Swansea on Friday 16 April.
Niall Griffiths © Getty Images
Griffiths was born in Toxteth, Liverpool and is now based in Aberystwyth. His novels, which include Grits, Stump, Wreckage and Runt, have led to comparisons with Irvine Welsh. He also writes travel pieces, having recently worked with Peter Finch on guides Real Aberystwyth and Real Liverpool.
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Welsh authors Fflur Dafydd and Rachel Trezise were recently awarded the Max Boyce literary prize, following the Big Read 10 community project in Neath Port Talbot.
The project, funded by the Welsh Books Council, aimed to promote and raise the profile of reading and encouraged residents of Glynneath to choose their favourite books from both Welsh and English-language shortlists. Dafydd's Y Llyfrgell and Trezise's Dial M For Merthyr were judged the winning novels.
Singer and comedian Max Boyce presented the writers with their prizes in March 2010 at Glynneath library. It is hoped that in future years the prize will run across all Neath Port Talbot communities.
The nominations for the 19th Film, Television and Interactive Media Awards have been unveiled.
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Cymru Wales has secured 31 nominations in total for productions such as Torchwood - which leads the field with seven nods, Doctor Who, Crash, Merlin, Frontline Afghanistan, Scrum V and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Cardiff Singer of the World.
Photograph of Bafta Cymru awards in production
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Dame Shirley Bassey is set to grace the walls of London's , wellies and all, in a forthcoming exhibition of work by Venetia Dearden.
Dearden's portraits taken at the Glastonbury Festival will be on display for the first time in the exhibition that runs from 19 April until 26 September in the Bookshop Gallery.
Dame Shirley performed in a front of the mud-covered Glastonbury audience in 2007.
She wore a vibrant pink sequinned dress by Merthyr Tydfil born fashion designer Julien Macdonald - complete with matching feather boa and diamante encrusted wellington boots.
Venetia Dearden was born in Somerset in 1975 and has a long affinity with the music festival, having worked at and attended the event from a young age.
This will be the first solo museum display of her photographs.
(Photograph of Dame Shirley Bassey © Venetia Dearden)
As we mentioned yesterday, the fourth is taking place over the next couple of days. But it's almost impossible to mention the town without making some reference to one of its most famous literary icons, Dylan Thomas.
On his first visit in 1934 the poet called Laugharne "the strangest town in Wales". Yet it was the start of a lasting love.
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Friday 9 April sees the start of the fourth . The literary festival began life in 2007, having been conceived by organisers Richard Thomas and Welsh writer John Williams.
The festival has steadily grown in popularity over the years, helped by the fact that the event has previously pulled in big-name acts for such a small-scale event, including the likes of Patti Smith, Ray Davies and Rhys Ifans.
Highlights of this year's three-day line-up include Howard Marks, Roddy Doyle, Julian Cope, Fionn Regan, Nicky Wire, Nick Kent, Niall Griffiths, Peter Finch and Stuart Maconie.
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A collection of more than 200 personal belongings from Laura Ashley's family home, Rhydoldog House near Rhayader, will go under the hammer next week.
A collection of Laura Ashley's belongings which will be auctioned next week.
The fashion and fabric designer, who was born in Merthyr Tydfil, died in 1985. She had founded the clothes and home furnishings company with her husband, Sir Bernard Ashley, who died in February 2009.
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This week's ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales Arts Show features Malcolm Pryce, author of the popular and decidedly quirky series of crime fiction/noir detective novels based in Aberystwyth.
Photograph of Malcolm Pryce © David Mitchell
Nicola Heywood Thomas talks to the author (who was born in Shrewsbury and educated in Aberystwyth) about his novels, two of which have recently been dramatised for radio and are currently being broadcast on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales.
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Welsh actor Michael Sheen returned to his hometown of Port Talbot over the Easter weekend, and on his forthcoming involvement with .
Sheen, famous for roles in The Queen, Frost/Nixon and The Damned United, is working with National Theatre Wales in their first year of production. Together they aim to revive the tradition of the community Passion Play.
Michael Sheen will star in and direct the production, which will be written by Welsh poet Owen Sheers. The play is set to open in April 2011, and will be inspired by a year of story-gathering from local people. to see Michael speak on how people can get involved with the project.
The line-up for the 2010 Hay Festival has been announced, with an eclectic mix of speakers and guests ranging from political heavyweights to some of the literary world's brightest stars.
Photograph of the 2009 Hay Festival site © Finn Beales
The festival, in it's 23rd year, will run from 27 May to 6 June, and will feature popular authors such as 2009 Man Booker Prize-winner Hilary Mantel, Bill Bryson, Phillip Pullman, Martin Amis and Roddy Doyle.
Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf is set to appear, as is Welsh comedian and broadcaster Rob Brydon, while musical artists will include Christy Moore, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club and Laura Marling.
on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales News website and visit the for further information.
It's good to know that two more Welsh projects have got funding from the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Unlimited encourages collaborations and partnerships between disability arts organisations, disabled and deaf artists, producers and mainstream organisations to celebrate the inspiration of the Olympic & Paralympic Games.
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