Anthony Shapland talks to Cynan Jones

A Room Above a Shop is set in South Wales during the decade of Section 28. Against the backdrop of the HIV/AIDS crisis and all its accompanying moral judgement, this is a resonant love story about two men working together in an ironmonger’s shop and sharing a room upstairs. It’s a life they’d never imagined possible and one that risks everything if their public performance were to slip.

Anthony Shapland grew up in the Rhymney Valley. A writer, artist and filmmaker who blends documentary and fiction, he is co-founder of g39, an artist-led space in Cardiff. He talks to Welsh author Cynan Jones about his debut novel and his short fiction Feathertongue, broadcast by Radio 4 this spring.