Authors Tyler Keevil and Eluned Gramich told the Hay Festival about their experiences writing fiction that is very much grounded in Wales.
Keevil, who is from Canada, but has moved to mid-Wales believes a sense of place was key in his novella Last Seen Leaving which is a gripping account of the disappearance of a local man.
Gramich who has lived in Wales, England, Germany and Japan and is now based in Aberystwyth drew inspiration for her latest story, The Lion and the Star from the protests to create a Welsh language television channel.
In an act of creative imagination she writes about a lone demonstrator climbing a television mast to register his protest, and acknowledges that although the incident was based on a particular person, there were mass protests in Wales in the 1970s which ultimately led to the creation of S4C.
Explaining the creative protest to panel chair Dylan Moore, the 2018 Creative Wales Hay Festival International Fellow, Keevil said writers were magpies who use language and place to help create “flashes of lyricism” in their work.
If you missed this you might like to go to event 237 Marwolaeth Heddwch (The Death of Peace) on Wednesday, 30 May at 2.30pm