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Welsh spoken word artist Mab Jones has been named as the first ever poet in residence at the in Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire.

Mab Jones

The garden first became aware of Mab's poetry after she penned a poem about one of their more unusual plants, the Chilean Puya - or if you prefer the Latin.

I had a quick chat with Mab earlier today, ahead of her performance at the Cheltenham Poetry Festival.

She explained that she visited the garden recently and saw the plant, which has taken 11 years to flower. She said that the plant 'fascinated' her and she wrote as a response to it.

Her relationship with the garden has developed since. "I went to the garden a few times, met people who worked there and it grew out of that. So it kind of grew organically, and now it's blossoming!"

The year-long residency means that Mab will be at the National Botanic Garden for three days each month, combining workshops, performances and readings. Although Mab is primarily a performance poet, she's keen to use the residency as an opportunity to formulate a collection of poetry.

She said:"I want to write my first collection, so even though I'm a stage poet I want to try and write some page poetry there. But they like the fact that I'm a performance poet - I perform a lot, I like meeting people and engaging people. I'll do a few performances there to show what work I've done and , so people can see what I'm getting up to."

Mab has also recently returned from Japan, where she was the special guest at the Kansai St David's Society festival in Osaka, which celebrates Wales and Welsh culture.

For the event Mab, who is most at home in performing comic poetry, chose a more traditional Welsh angle to perform for the festival.

"I did a one hour show, a poetry re-telling of the tales of the Mabinogion which I haven't shown here, so I'd like to do that at some point in the garden. Also I had six local artists do illustrations for them and I'd like their work to be shown, as they were so generous doing that."

In addition to her residency role Mab will be at Abergavenny Library for next Monday, will be involved in the Teen Poetry Slam - compering the event and mentoring the team that goes through to the final in Bristol in June - plus will be appearing at the Latitude and festivals later in the year.

Mab is also involved with the first All Wales Comic Verse competition, tied in with the , and will judge the event alongside other judges including Radio Wales presenter Roy Noble, Goff Morgan and Siriol Jenkins.

This weekend, though, Mab will kick-start her poet in residence role at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. She will perform on Saturday and Sunday at 2pm in the great glasshouse and will be running workshops across the two days for anybody who wants to try their hand at poetry.

Mab Jones will perform inside the great glasshouse this weekend. Photo: National Botanic Garden of Wales

David Hardy of the National Botanic Garden said: "There has long been a link between poetry and nature, resulting in some of the greatest verse ever written. As an award-winning performance poet, Mab will also be using her charm and wit to engage with visitors, and encourage a love both of nature and of poetry. We are happy to give her a home in which to do that."

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