Ö÷²¥´óÐã

Welsh comedian Rob Brydon has been speaking to Roy Noble on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Wales ahead of the start of his new series The Trip on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two.

Take a listen to the interview:

The Trip is a six part comedy series which follows the journey of odd couple Brydon and Steve Coogan on an improvised tour of the north of England. The story may be fictional but the characters are based on loose versions of themselves in a kind of way.

Coogan, a food critic, is commissioned by the food supplement of a Sunday newspaper to review half a dozen restaurants and plans a business-mixed-with-pleasure trip with his girlfriend. However, she ends the relationship, which leads to Coogan reluctantly inviting along the only person he can think of who will be available - his friend Brydon.

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan in The Trip © Ö÷²¥´óÐã/Revolution/Phil Fisk

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan in The Trip © Ö÷²¥´óÐã/Revolution/Phil Fisk

Over the course of six meals at six different restaurants in and around the Lake District, Lancashire and the Yorkshire Dales, the ultimate odd couple find themselves debating the big questions of life over a series of culinary delights.

The series is directed by Michael Winterbottom and builds on the success of previous collaborations between the comedy pair such as A Cock And Bull Story and 24 Hour Party People. A feature length film of the series was recently shown at the London Film Festival.

The Trip starts on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two Wales on Monday 1 November at 10pm.

The Trip director Michael Winterbottom. Photo: Ö÷²¥´óÐã/Revolution/Phil Fisk

A while back I wrote a blog on the Welsh representatives at this year's BFI London Film Festival. Well lo and behold, I missed one out - apologies all round.

Submarine is the debut feature film by Richard Ayoade - otherwise known as office oddball Moss from - and is based on the novel of the same name by Swansea-born writer . It is produced by in association with Red Hour Films - the production company headed by Hollywood superstar Ben Stiller.

Craig Roberts is a 19-year-old newcomer from Maesycymmer in Caerphilly, and plays the title role of Oliver Tate in Submarine. In the film he has two aims: one is to stop his mother (Sally Hawkins) from leaving his father (Noah Taylor), the other is to lose his virginity to his classmate/girlfriend Jordana.

Craig Roberts as Oliver and Yasmin Paige as Jordana in Submarine. Photo © www.image.net

Yasmin Paige - who has previously starred in Ö÷²¥´óÐã series The Sarah Jane Adventures - plays Jordana in this coming of age comedy, while other stars include Paddy Considine and Gemma Chan.

Submarine had its world premiere at the earlier this year before enjoying its British premiere at the London festival last week.

The Telegraph's David Gritten has written a brilliant review of the film, in which he says "Richard Ayoade’s Submarine feels like the most refreshing, urgent and original debut the British film industry has seen in years."

He also praises Roberts, saying of his performance, "15 year old Oliver (Craig Roberts) [is] a clever, smallish, lugubrious schoolboy in a duffel coat, whose unchanging deadpan expression inescapably recalls Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate."

Read more about Submarine on website and on the site. And read the on the Telegraph website.

A rare collection of Ivor The Engine episodes, which have not been seen since the 1960s, has been unearthed in Kent.

The 24 reels were found at the back of the converted pigshed in Blean, Kent, where Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate created their much-loved children's animated films. Postgate's son, Dan, said the episodes could be released once they had been converted into a digital format.

Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate with creations Mr. Pogle, Tog and Pippin

Ivor The Engine was created by Postgate and Firmin's Smallfilms television company. It was made in black and white for Associated Rediffusion and first broadcast in 1959, but was remade in colour for the Ö÷²¥´óÐã in 1975.

It told the story of Ivor, a sometimes disobedient small green locomotive who worked for the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited, although he dreamed of singing with the Grumbley and District Choral Society. In time he became first bass of the choir and transported the members from place to place.

His driver was Edwin Jones, known as Jones the Steam, who enjoyed fishing and daydreaming. Ivor's other friends included stationmaster Dai Station, portly choirmaster Evans the Song, fellow chorister Idris the Dragon, and fairground owner Morgan the Roundabout.

Smallfilms were also responsible for the creation of other television favourites Bagpuss, The Clangers, Noggin the Nog and The Pogles.

Read more on the story on Ö÷²¥´óÐã England News online, and read more about Ivor The Engine on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Arts site.

This year's takes on a twist as it aims to celebrate not just one Welsh writer with the surname Thomas but a whole host of worthy literary and broadcasting greats who share the name.

The annual festival runs from 27 October, the date of the poet's birth, until the date marking Dylan Thomas' death - 9 November.

Now in its 13th year, this time the festival will also celebrate the life and works of fellow poet and contemporary R.S. Thomas, Edward Thomas, Gwyn Thomas, Wynford Vaughan Thomas and John Ormond Thomas together with the contribution made by the wives of Dylan and R.S., Caitlin and Elsi respectively.

The festival opens on Wednesday with a discussion by Peter Hain on his new book about his personal friend Nelson Mandela, Mandela: The Story of a Universal Hero, while The Jen Wilson Ensemble will perform tracks from their new CD of Dylan Thomas-inspired compositions, Twelve Poems: The Dylan Thomas Jazz Suite.

R.S. Thomas, who died a decade ago, will be celebrated in a number of events at the festival - the first of which comes on Saturday 30 October with a showing of the film, The Man Who Went Into The West.

RS Thomas

Other events to mark the poet's life and work include a reading of some of his finest poetry, selected by author Othniel Smith and read by actor, writer and director Michael Kelligan.

On Saturday 6 November there is a one day R.S. Thomas 10th Anniversary Conference that will include talks, John Ormond's film on the Welsh poet, plus the poet's son Gwydion in conversation with Tony Brown of Bangor University's R.S. Thomas Archive and Study Centre.

Gwyn Thomas. Photo: Gwyn Thomas estate

Gwyn Thomas, the great Welsh storyteller and chronicler of the valleys, is another influential writer that will be celebrated at this year's festival.

The will present a script-in-hand production of Thomas' 1962 play The Keep, which premiered to great acclaim at the Royal Court Theatre.

(The next production by is inspired by his collection of novellas The Dark Philosophers - read more about it in a previous blog post.)

Other festival highlights will include former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion talking about his love of the work by Edward Thomas, who died at the end of World War One, plus a session involving the former National Poet of Wales Gwyneth Lewis with rising literary star Damian Furniss.

Meanwhile, Jon Tregenna has gathered a cast to perform a rehearsed reading of his play Buggerall, inspired of course by Thomas' Under Milk Wood; Peter Read presents his new play Time Passes - in which he plays Dylan's ghost, who looks back on a tragic yet comic life - and the Swansea Little Theatre Group present a production of Under Milk Wood.

This year's festival also includes a world first as a series of sketches drawn by artist Dodie Masterman and Dylan Thomas himself, during his famous North American lecture tour of 1950, will go on show.

A sketch by Dylan Thomas

The sketchbook features more than 30 sketches by Thomas and Masterman as well as sketches the two worked on together. Some of Masterman's sketches show Thomas reading a book and others include his doodles by the side of her drawings.

Dodie Masterman

Masterman's sketchbook lay undiscovered for more than half a century but was found by her son after she passed away last December, aged 91. Swansea's has now been given permission to put the sketchbook on display during this year’s festival and beyond.

For more information about what's on at the 2010 Dylan Thomas Festival visit , and browse the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Arts site for a wealth of information on Dylan Thomas.

A poet's life is never dull. Tuesday 19th October and I'll be in Betws-y-Coed with Ifor ap Glyn. He is a good poet, and very entertaining - but will anybody come to the gig?

The drive north from Ceredigion is glorious. Vast rain-clouds peel off the Irish Sea, sweeping east and leaving a clear blue sky. From the moment we turn inland at Aberystwyth, the mountains are red with bracken, trees turning gold, with the most intense rainbow I ever remember over the slate grey town of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The room in the Gwydyr Hotel awaits.

Dwynwen from Llanrwst sets out her stall of books for sale, the Academi banner is hung. We talk over high tea, egg and chips and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

The usual early birds don’t arrive. Fearing the worst, Ifor and I prepare for a change of plan. We abandon the lectern, draw comfortable chairs close, and wait. In the event we’re not a crowd but an intimate group, which has its own charm.

Ifor and I read a few poems a time, responding to each other, matching poem to poem. He has prepared translations to hand to the audience, and reads in Welsh and in English, weaving between the two as nimbly as a sheepdog.

One curious fact: I am exhausted! It takes far more energy to communicate poetry to a few in a big room than to light the spark with a full house of adults, or an audience of 2000 teenagers.

Thursday 21st October - off to Builth Wells to read at the Wyeside Centre with Paul Henry. I am as confident in Paul as I was in Ifor, but success lies with the audience. They can make or break the magic, so I’m nervous.

Again, the drive is beautiful, 60 miles through red mountains even rosier in the light of a low sun, with sudden visions of yellow – a golden tree, a sunlit slope. Is there a lovelier season to travel through Wales?

I need not have worried. It turns out to be a great evening. Builth is a town with a heart, a feeling of community, and the Royal Welsh has established a habit of gathering. In the excellent High School poetry is valued in English and in Welsh.

The venue is warm, arty, purposeful, and as we arrive people are gathering in the bar. The little theatre space is comfortably full. People have come from Hereford, Presteigne, Cardiff. Paul is funny, warm, and moving too, and the lovely audience makes the magic happen.

Phew! What a relief! There’s a long and winding road to go before Christmas.

Gillian Clarke
National Poet of Wales

Gillian Clarke is blogging for the Ö÷²¥´óÐã during her seven-date poetry tour of Wales, which runs until 10 December 2010. For more information on the visit the Academi website.

A young Welsh photographer from Cardiff has picked up the Take a view - Young Landscape Photographer of the Year 2010 award.

ÌýBreakfast view, Cardiff by Taliesin Coombes. Image courtesy of the artist

Sixteen year old Taliesin Coombes - a pupil at Howell's School in Cardiff - won the award for his image of a steam train approaching Cardiff Station as seen from a cafe window.

Coombes has been taking photographs since he was 11, and has a special interest in steam trains. Another of his images depicting a steam engine, entitled Travelling, Machynlleth, won a commendation in the youth class.

The Take a view - Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards were set up by Charlie Waite, one of Britain's best-loved landscape photographers, to provide an ongoing platform for capturing images that best symbolise our land and our times, which will stand as a record for the future.

Other Welsh images gained commendations in the awards, including Graham Colling's image of Llyn Ogwen and Tryfan in Snowdonia; Krzysztof Ligeza's 'Ants', Brecon Beacons; Graham Eaton's shot Penmon dawn, Anglesey and Paul Robinson's photograph Castell y Gwynt, Glyder Fach, Snowdonia.

Llyn Ogwen and Tryfan, Snowdonia by Graham Colling. Image courtesy of the artist

Castell y Gwynt, Glyder Fach, Snowdonia by Paul Robinson. Image courtesy of the artist

Over 100 of the winning and commended images will be on show at the from 22 November until 16 January 2011.

For more information visit the .

In a separate competition, another Cardiff-based photographer has also won a prestigious award. Andy Rouse won the Gerald Durrell award for Endangered Wildlife in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 award for his picture of a tigress stalking her prey in India moments before she charged a herd of deer.

Rouse beat more than 40,000 entries in the competition run by Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wildlife Magazine and London's Natural History Museum. Read more on the story on the the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales News website.

If you're stuck for ideas on how to keep the kids entertained during half term week, here are a few suggestions to keep everyone busy next week.

The in Swansea have recently announced their autumn/winter programme of events, and there are a few half term activities planned for children.

These half term workshops are Halloween inspired, one of which is Halloween Masks and Thriller Disco with artist Lucy Lilley - in which youngsters aged 5-10 years old can create a witch, goblin, fairy or vampire mask using recycled materials and then dance away the afternoon in the disco.

A girl at a previous workshop at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery

Also at the gallery, Ragdoll Monsters with artist Arwen Roberts brings out the creative side of children aged 6-12 years, as they learn to weave a scary monster using recycled fabrics and textiles. Booking is essential for the workshops so please to avoid disappointment.

Don't forget to check out what the seven different museums in Wales, , have on at the moment.

Arts highlights include the recently opened new gallery space and the Elizabeth Fritsch display of ceramics at the National Museum in Cardiff; a ; while at the there's an exhibition of Julia Griffiths Jones' work and Warp and Weft 2 - a display of the work of weavers from Wales and England.

For further ideas on what to do in the half term holiday, take a look on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Nature and Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales History blogs.

The inaugural year of ' productions continues apace, and their eighth offering brings alive the dark comic tales of Gwyn Thomas, the great Welsh storyteller and chronicler of the valleys.

The cast of The Dark Philosophers. Photo: Gareth Phillips

Gwyn Thomas. Photo: Gwyn Thomas estate

National Theatre Wales are collaborating with theatre company for The Dark Philosophers. The production is inspired by the 1946 collection of three novellas of the same name by Thomas, one of the most distinctive Welsh voices of the last century.

Thomas was born in Cymmer in the Rhondda in 1913, the son of a coal miner and the youngest of 12 children. His mother died when he was just six years old, but despite living in poverty his academic excellence led to a scholarship at Oxford University where he studied Spanish.

Thomas struggled to establish himself as a writer after he graduated and during the Depression he lectured part-time in England.

He returned to Wales in 1940 where he taught as a school teacher first in Cardigan and then Barry, where he worked for 20 years. He became a full time writer in 1962.

During the course of his prolific writing career he published collections of stories, novels including The Alone to the Alone, All Things Betray Thee and The World Cannot Hear You, stage plays, volumes of essays and his autobiography, A Few Selected Exits.

The cast with the director of The Dark Philosophers. Photo: Gareth Phillips

The play will be directed by Paul Hunter, the co-founder and co-artistic director of Told by an Idiot. The cast includes actors Alex Beckett, David Charles, Nia Davies, Ryan Hacker, Daniel Hawksford, Bettrys Jones, Glyn Pritchard and Laura Rogers

The Dark Philosophers runs at in Newport from Thursday 11 to Saturday 13 November and at in Wrexham on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 November.

For more information .

Calling all budding writers with an interest in Welsh nature and the outdoors: take a look on our Wales Nature blog where James McLaren has written about Natur Cymru's latest writing competition.

The challenge is to write 1,000 words on a subject of topical environmental or wildlife interest in Wales that inspires you. The first prize is £500 donated by , and the runner up will receive a place on the nature writing course at , the National Writers’ Centre.

Read more about it on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Nature blog.

Michael Sheen will portray one of William Shakespeare's greatest protagonists next year as he takes on the role of Hamlet at the .

Ahead of this, Sheen presents a programme on the great Dane on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Four this Saturday, in which he looks back at classic productions of the play and the many different interpretations of the role.

Ìý

A glut of young actors have recently played Hamlet, from former Time Lord David Tennant to the recent performances by Rory Kinnear at the National Theatre in London and John Simm at the Sheffield Crucible (under artistic director Daniel Evans).

In the radio programme Sheen asks why Shakespeare's play remains relevant for 21st century audiences. He is joined by other famous Hamlets, who reflect on the challenges of bringing something fresh and unexpected to some of the most famous lines in English literature.

Playing the Dane broadcasts on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4 on Saturday 23 October at 8pm, and again on Monday 25 October at 3pm.

Following the inaugural season of The Box at , the second season promises a lot more film action for your money. Though having said that, this unusual exhibition is free anyway - so really, you're quids in already.

I digress. The Box, if you haven't already heard about it, is a new way in presenting, and watching, film. Situated in the main arts centre foyer, the viewing box normally includes five or six different artists' work each season, with one shown per day on a rotating basis. If you're a regular visitor to the centre you could conceivably watch all the works over time.

However, season two - which began yesterday - features an exciting 26 short films - each just 90 seconds long - and are part of , an international film competition run by Watershed in Bristol. Also on show is the film Dominoes, by Station House Opera, which shows the creation of a moving sculpture of 10,000 concrete blocks travelling through London.

Still taken from Dominoes by Station House Opera

A Pleasing Terror, two ghost stories that were written in the early 20th century by , are performed on film by Robert Lloyd Parry, while Mandy Pritchard's film Between Ourselves presents the differing views of a cross section of people in a south Wales community.

Eve Ropek, the exhibitions curator at the centre, told the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Arts blog: "At this winter time of year the Arts Centre is full of busy people attending events, buying Christmas things, rushing everywhere; so I chose films which can grab the attention of the viewer quickly and also reveal their purpose quite fast.

"The 90 second films are a revelation; I think people will be hooked by the ingenuity and variety of these. The film of the sculptural event Dominoes lasts quite a long time but you can dip in and out at any point - the people I've shown it to so far want to keep watching, it's basically the record of a very beautiful kinetic sculpture.

Robert Lloyd Parry tells the ghost stories of M.R. James in A Pleasing Terror

"Robert Lloyd Parry performs a couple of full length ghost stories, they're classic tales by M.R. James which many people will know; if you can't stay long you'll still take away the creepy nature and descriptive prose. And Mandy Pritchard, who is an artist from south Wales, shows a composite piece, a 'vox pop' of people from Monmouthshire, which is like overhearing lots of little conversations."

She added: "Having the box means we can consistently show more, and different kinds of, artists' films - and since so many artists are choosing to work with video this is a good thing."

Season two of The Box runs until Saturday 22 January 2011. For more on the exhibition, and to view a full list of the films on show, visit the .

If you are an artist and you're interested in taking part in future seasons, contact Eve Ropek on etr@aber.ac.uk.

Tour of the troubadours! The phrase has a Medieval ring that gives me a little romantic kick, though my horse is a car and the old cart tracks are the A-roads and M4 that take me criss-crossing my country over the borders of language.

I'm leaving home a few days at a time, gigging with some of my favourite poets. I chose them because they're all fine poets, brilliant readers and communicators. Goodbye bad old days when I'd sneak a look at my watch as another poet took a sip of beer before losing his page then mumbling his latest epic, already well over his time announcing, 'Just one more.'

This tour, I determined, would be professional, choreographed. First event, the Abergavenny Food Festival, with Carol Ann Duffy at the Queen's Hotel. Would it go well? Would a food festival audience come for poetry? The Poet Laureate has long experience of reading in Wales, impressed by our deep-rooted poetry tradition. But I want more than tradition. I want to reach our potential audience with the best poets, excellent readings in full venues, and tonight to be the start of it.

Advance ticket sales are good. Crowds gather in the Queen's Hotel. The ballroom is dazzling. The chandeliers are upside-down ice-cream cones, melting. Abergavenny does us proud. A sell-out! Carol Ann reads from The World's Wife to a delighted crowd. I choose food-poems. The response is warm, the applause long. Afterwards the bookshop does a brisk trade as we sit signing and meeting the audience. Carol Ann takes it for granted - 'Typical Welsh gig,' she says.

Next, I sing for my supper and more at the Bell at Skenfrith. Pure delight! Our room looks across the bridge over the Monnow to England. The food is local, the chef passionate, the vegetables from their beautiful organic garden. I'm obliged to interrupt the lunch-guests in each dining area with a reading, but they seem to appreciate a food-poem between courses. 'Your poem made me cry,' someone said!

The next one will be at Betws-y-Coed with Ifor ap Glyn, who was wonderful with American audiences in Washington DC last year. This one's Welsh and English. Cross fingers for a good house. I want poetry to be a universal pleasure, the food of love and other human passions. I want it to surprise people as if they were children again, brought to laughter and tears by words.

Gillian Clarke
National Poet of Wales

Gillian Clarke is blogging for the Ö÷²¥´óÐã during her seven-date poetry tour of Wales, which runs until 10 December 2010. For more information on the tour visit the .

Welsh photographer Terry Morris is best known for his celebrity portraiture work and especially his 2006 collection Cool Cymru, which starred the likes of Ioan Gruffudd, Charlotte Church, Bryn Terfel, Rhys Ifans, Dame Shirley Bassey and many more Welsh stars.

Terry Morris. Photo courtesy of the photographer

Now the Llanelli-based photographer has taken on a voluntary role with Carmarthenshire County Council as an arts ambassador.

Morris will work with the council to develop arts-based projects across the region, promote arts and culture with the aim of establishing Carmarthen as a pioneer of art development and will act as a link between arts and crafts groups, individuals and the local authority.

.

is set to bring work by renowned artists and to the Llandudno gallery over the next 18 months.

The works on display will be taken from , a new collection of modern and contemporary art held by and for the nation. These exhibitions will be the first presentations from Artist Rooms to be shown in north Wales.

Penobscot © Alex Katz, DACS, London/VAGA, New York 2010.
ARTIST ROOMS, Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Acquired jointly through the d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund, 2008

A selection of work by American artist Katz will be shown at Mostyn from 20 November until 12 March 2011, while November 2011 will see the gallery host an exhibition of significant works by German painter, sculptor and installation artist Kiefer.

However, there are a few visual treats currently exhibiting at Mostyn that really should prompt a visit if you haven't yet made it to the recently refurbished and extended gallery space.

Tim Davies has recently been announced as Wales' representative artist at the from June to November 2011. His touring exhibition by the , Between A Rock And A Hard Place, is at Mostyn until 6 November 2010.

Bridges 2009, postcard by Tim Davies. Image courtesy the artist.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place includes a range of different media, such as photography and film installation, as well as a continuation of the artist's interest in postcards.

Meanwhile, Joanna Kirk painstakingly uses her fingers to blend colour and build layers in creating large-scale pastel paintings. The exhibition Miles To Go Before I Sleep shows work that she made between 2006 and 2010, and a number of the landscapes have been drawn from locations in north Wales including Nant-y-Coed, Llanberis and Llanfairfechan.

Image from Joanna Kirk's exhibition Miles To Go Before I Sleep - pastel on paper on board. Image courtesy the artist

Joanna Kirk will discuss her work at a special Artists Talking event at 2pm tomorrow, Saturday 16 October, at Mostyn - .

Plus, tomorrow will be the last day to see the unique exhibition Junkyard Museum of Awkward Things, by the the self-styled artist Junkman From Afrika.

The Junkman From Afrika. Photo: Peter Telfer

The artist has spent three months in residence at Mostyn constructing the Junkyard Museum, and it is the first time it has been seen outside of Nigeria.

The exhibition has been constructed with discarded items and materials, which the Junkman has found locally, and it highlights the differing cultural attitudes towards consumption and the possession of objects.

Browse the for further information on what's on - and what's coming up - at the gallery.

Welsh-born has been one of the leading ceramicists in Britain since the 1970s.

An example of Elizabeth Fritsch's work. Image courtesy the artist and National Museum, Cardiff

This year she celebrates her 70th birthday, and to mark the occasion the is hosting an exhibition of her work that spans the whole of her career.

The exhibition, Dynamic Structures: Painted Vessels by Elizabeth Fritsch, shows a range of the artist's most significant early works through to recently made pieces, including objects that have never before been exhibited.

Fritsch has selected and arranged the works thematically herself. The pieces on display at the museum will reflect the subjects that have influenced her most, such as music, mathematics, geology, mythology, and the history of art.

Fritsch graduated from the Royal College of Art in the early 1970s where she worked under , having previously studied the piano and harp at the Royal Academy of Music. She established a workshop in London in 1985.

Her distinctive style is based on her own particular hand-building technique and a unique approach to colour and painting in three dimensions. Her flattened ‘2½-dimensional’ forms, which create visual illusions and play with different optics, established her reputation as a unique artist.

Dynamic Structures: Painted Vessels by Elizabeth Fritsch runs at National Museum in Cardiff until 2 January 2011.

Let us know your thoughts on Elizabeth Fritsch's work if you visit the exhibition in the coming months.

The is now underway in England's biggest city, yet there is a small slice of Welsh representation among the many visual delights on show.

Firstly, is the exciting new project by Welsh director Marc Evans, best known for his psychological thriller My Little Eye. It will be screened at the festival under the New British Cinema banner.

Patagonia stars a wealth of Welsh talent including the Bafta Cymru award winning Nia Roberts, Brothers And Sisters star Matthew Rhys, Matthew Gravelle and Rhys Parry Jones. The film also sees the acting début of Welsh songstress Duffy, and is set for release in cinemas in March 2011.

The film explores the cultural and linguistic connection between Patagonia and Wales through the stories of two women - one looking for her past, the other for her future.

Nia Roberts and Matthew Rhys in Patagonia

In Cardiff, actress Gwen (Roberts) and her photographer boyfriend Rhys (Gravelle) are having relationship problems. As he embarks on a project photographing Patagonian churches, Gwen accompanies him on the trip that will make or break their relationship - especially as she falls for their guide in south America - the young, handsome and carefree Welsh Patagonian Mateo (Rhys).

Meanwhile in Patagonia, elderly Argentinian native Cerys (Marta Lubos) cons her introverted young neighbour Alejandro (Nahuel Perez Biscayart) into accompanying her on a pilgrimage to her ancestral homeland. Initially a reluctant chaperone, he begins to appreciate the old woman and her motives, eventually enjoying the journey, particularly after he meets Welsh student Sissy (Duffy).

Also in the New British Cinema categeory of films at the festival is The Trip. Michael Winterbottom directs funnymen Steve Coogan and Baglan's finest Rob Brydon in what is billed as "a beautifully improvised comic road trip through the north of England".

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan in The Trip. Photo: Ö÷²¥´óÐã/Revolution

The Trip will take the form of a six-part series on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two this autumn, but for the purpose of the film festival it has had the feature length treatment.

The comedians play "loose versions of themselves" in the comedy drama, which sees Coogan commissioned by The Observer newspaper to take a road trip through the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District to review some of the regions' most notable restaurants. He asks Brydon - never one to turn down a free lunch - to accompany him as a last minute stand-in when his girlfriend bails from the tour.

The odd couple find themselves debating the big questions of life over a series of culinary delights and almost inevitably, find themselves bickering like a pair of toddlers.

The runs until 28 October. Read more about the festival, including the launch with British actors Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan, on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã News website.

has closed its doors in readiness for a £700,000 revamp that will transform the Victorian building.

The theatre will benefit from a new box office, toilets, community room, office space and an open cafe/bar on the ground floor. The refurbishment will also give disabled access to all floors.

In April this year former Monty Python star Terry Jones, who was born in Colwyn Bay, to refurbish the theatre space.

For more on the story visit the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales north west Wales website.

In an interview featured in the latest edition of the , Welsh comedian Rob Brydon is praised by the veteran of the talk show, Sir Michael Parkinson.

Rob Brydon currently hosts The Rob Brydon Show, which to date has featured guests such as David Walliams, Sir Terry Wogan, James Corden and Stephen Fry.

Parkinson opens the Radio Times article with the gambit, "the trouble with the talk show is everyone fancies their chances". Yet while celebs such as Graham Norton and Paul O'Grady come in for criticism, the former king of the talk show praises the variety of Brydon's new show on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two.

Rob Brydon with Ronnie Corbett and Paloma Faith, guests on this week's episode of The Rob Brydon Show. Photo: Ö÷²¥´óÐã/Talkback Thames

In the article Parkinson comments: "The other night I watched The Rob Brydon Show and thought it was terrific. It was a mongrel mix of talk and variety but as an interviewer Rob displayed a rare gift in comedians - the ability to ask a question and listen to the answer.

"What is more he has a likeable presence and an intelligence which allowed him and his production team to understand what others have not grasped: the essential point that while the show must appear to be spontaneous, it must be planned and constructed to the last detail."

This next episode of the show can be seen on Friday 15 October on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two Wales at 10pm, and will feature television favourite Ronnie Corbett, comedian Lucy Porter and music from Paloma Faith.

There's more on the story on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã website.

's festival of literary innovation, , is fast approaching - and it has in store an eclectic line-up of events across a variety of venues in Cardiff Bay.

Before the main events in this bilingual literary festival start from Monday 25 October, two smaller warm-up events are planned to whet the appetite.

Poet and actor Thaer Al-Shayei hosts Poems & Pints today, Wednesday 13 October, at the Cardiff Central Library, in an evening that will showcase Cardiff's emerging and already established poetic talent.

Simon Murray. Photo: Martin LeSanto Smith

The poetry theme continues as the launch a new anthology of contemporary black British poetry, Red, tomorrow. Poets Maya Chowdhry, Simon Murray, Monika-Akila Richards and Daljit Nagra will read and discuss their poems at this free event at the .

Byron Vincent. Photo: Academi

BayLit begins properly on Monday 25 October with two workshops, Behind the Zine and Augmented Reality, while a Welsh language event in the evening discusses S4C's major new drama and the issues involved in dramatising a nation's history. Director Gethin Scourfield and one of the stars of the drama, Ryland Teifi, are set to attend.

Wednesday 27 hosts one of the most exciting events on the line-up. TXT2BayLit hopes to combine texting, performance, poetry and psych-pop, with hip hop artist Rufus Mufasa, poet Liam Johnson and fellow artists Ceri Elen, Hannah Silva, Byron Vincent, Aneirin Karadog and Colorama all set to appear. Plus, audience members will be able to contribute their literary snippets during the evening via text.

Meanwhile, Thursday 28 sees Welsh authors Gwyneth Lewis, Owen Sheers, Russell Celyn Jones and Niall Griffiths come together to discuss their works as part of ' series New Stories from the Mabinogion, modern reworkings of the medieval Welsh tales.

The four titles in Seren's New Stories From The Mabinogion series. Images courtesy Seren Books.

Highlights on Saturday 30 October include a breakfast event - Getting Up - that sees Kate McAll, the executive producer for radio drama at Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales, and author Siân Preece discuss the misunderstanding that surrounds the genre of short story collections.

Another morning event entitled Enter Stage Left, this time in the Welsh language, sees playwright Dafydd James - the writer of Llwyth, which ran at earlier this year - give an introduction to writing for the theatre.

In the afternoon Bright Young Things authors Susie Wild, Tyler Keevil and JP Smythe talk about their new novels - the results of s hunt for fresh new literary talent.

Rhys Trimble. Photo courtesy Academi

There are also two cool-down events to round off the festival in early November. Theatre practitioner Gerald Tyler, trumpeter Tomos Williams and writer Jon Gower get together to discuss the work of Jim Perrin - with visual accompaniment provided by film director Grant Gee.

While The Welsh Underground sees discussion from editors John Goodby and Andrew Duncan, guest readings from Rhys Trimble, David Greenslade and Graham Hartill, while Peter Finch performs 500 Cobbings.

For a full list of what's going on at the festival, take a look at the BayLit website - - and contact for further details and information.

Read the rest of this entry

Magnus Mork from Norway has scooped the prestigious , the Cardiff-based International Gay and Lesbian Short Film Prize, for his film The Samaritan.

Still taken from Magnus Mork's Iris Prize winning film, The Samaritan

Director Magnus Mork

The Iris Prize Festival was held over 6-9 October, with 30 shortlisted films for the Iris Prize being screened as well as seven of the latest gay and lesbian feature films, all of which enjoyed their UK premières at the festival.

Mork's The Samaritan focuses on the relationship between Knut, a middle-aged lonely man in desperate need of company, and Mirza - an illegal immigrant in need of any help he can get. The film touches upon the limits between taking care of and taking advantage of; being used or abused.

Rebecca Matthews, chair of the Iris Prize jury, commented: "The jury felt that The Samaritan demonstrated deft and nuanced filmmaking: it told such a big, urgent story of real relevance in a small film.

"It was so beautifully shot, and through the filmmaker's masterly technique took us as viewers on a journey through place, people and characters and allowed us to creep into inscrutable corners.

"It is a film about human fears, trust, betrayal and also about political and social machinations told through an intimate personal encounter. We want to see much, much more from this director."

It was also announced that the festival's award for best feature film was won by Nana Neul for My Friend From Faro, which carries a £1,000 cash prize and is selected by the Friends of Iris.

The Leader of Cardiff Council, Rodney Berman, announced that the Best UK Short was won by director Ana Moreno for her film Mosa. She will now be invited to be a member of the 2011 Iris Prize International Jury as a guest of the festival.

Production still from Ana Moreno's Mosa, which won the Best UK Short prize

All of the film makers who travelled to Wales were hosted by the Friends of Iris, individuals who open their homes to the makers of the 30 shortlisted films from as far a field as India, Israel, and the United States.

Learn more on the Iris Prize Festival on .

Welsh actor Rhys Ifans can currently be seen in cinemas playing the role of Howard Marks' Mr Nice. But the actor will go from nice to nasty in a new Hollywood blockbuster as he's been announced as a villain in the forthcoming Spider-Man film.

Rhys Ifans in Mr Nice (© E1 Entertainment Films/The Press Association)

Ifans will take on the role of the as-yet-unnamed villain in the film opposite fellow British actor Andrew Garfield, who will star as the eponymous arachnid-esque hero.

Marc Webb has been lined up to direct the , while Emma Stone will play love interest Gwen Stacy.

Read more about the film on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã News website.

Michael Sheen is set to star in the film adaptation of Owen Sheers' début novel Resistance, with Sheers having co-written the screenplay with director Amit Gupta.

Michael Sheen

According to the , the film is due to be shot around Abergavenny, Sheers' home town.

Richard Holmes and Amanda Faber will produce the film, BAFTA Cymru Award winner Richard Staniforth will act as executive producer, and Oscar-winning Rachel Portman is to score the adaptation. Other actors involved with the project include Andrea Riseborough, who has recently starred in Made In Dagenham, and Tom Wlaschiha - who appeared in recent Ö÷²¥´óÐã drama The Deep.

Sheers' Resistance opens in wartime 1944 and describes an alternative history. After the fall of Russia and the failed D-Day landings, a German counter-attack lands on British soil. Within a month, half of Britain is occupied.

In the Welsh border valley of Olchon, the women of the small farming community wake one morning to find their husbands gone. As the isolated, all-female community wait for news a German patrol after arrives in their valley on a mystery mission. During the severe winter that follows, both groups are forced into co-operation.

Owen Sheers. Photo © Charlotte Medlicott

Development support for the project was led by Film Agency Wales, Munich-based distributor Square One and the MEDIA fund in Europe.

Gupta, Sheers, Faber and Holmes commented: "We're delighted with the consistent, intelligent and focused support we've had from the team at the Film Agency. From script to casting they've been truly helpful partners."

Additional links

The latest production in ' incredibly successful inaugural year is Love Steals Us From Loneliness, written by one of Wales' foremost playwrights Gary Owen.

The cast of National Theatre Wales production Love Steals Us From Loneliness: Katie Elin-Salt, Matthew Trevannion, Nia Roberts, Mark Sumner and Remy Beasley

Gary Owen. Photo: Kirsten McTernan

Love Steals Us From Loneliness follows a group of Bridgend teenagers as they drink together, explore their sexual identity and contemplate their future. One night everything changes, and we see how the events of adolescence irreversibly shape our adult lives.

Owen was born in Pembrokeshire in 1972 but moved with his family to Bridgend aged eight and a half. For this play he has turned his attention to the town where he spent his teens, asking what it’s like to be a teenager in Bridgend and elsewhere in Wales and the UK today.

The cast includes Bafta Cymru award-winner Nia Roberts, and fellow actors Remy Beasley, Katie Elin-Salt, Matthew Trevannion and Mark Sumner. It is directed by the artistic director of National Theatre Wales, John E McGrath.

Ahead of the production's run, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Cymru Wales filmed a documentary following Owen's challenge to make worthwhile drama about young love and tragic loss in a place buffeted by lurid tabloid headlines about a spate of teen suicides in the town.

Watch the documentary tonight, Monday 11 October, on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two Wales at 10pm.

Love Steals Us From Loneliness runs until Saturday 16 October at Hobo’s Rock Club and Live Music Venue in BridgendÌý - .

The long-awaited inaugural kicks off this weekend, with a whole host of hilarious people set to descend on Newport in south Wales.

Comedians on the line-up include Shappi Khorsandi, Jon Richardson, Wales' own Elis James, Ian Stone, the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, Tony Law, plus Paddy the Clown for the kids.

Plus there's a screening of on Sunday next, which we've talked about on the blog before. There's also a photo gallery on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Arts site of production stills from the film.

Shappi Khorsandi, one of the many comedians appearing at Comedy Port

For lots more information about who's on the comedy festival line-up, and what you can look forward to at the festival, visit the and keep up to date with .

, the film based on the best-selling autobiography of former drugs baron , starring Rhys Ifans as the Welsh Oxford-graduate charmer, is released in UK cinemas today.

Rhys Ifans and Chloë Sevigny as Howard and Judy Marks © E1 Entertainment Films/The Press Association

Howard Marks was born in Kenfig Hill in 1945. It was during his time at Oxford University, on a postgraduate philosophy course, that he first started dealing drugs and was soon after moving large quantities of hashish into Europe and America in the equipment of touring rock bands.

Though he returned to Kenfig Hill and began a career as a teacher, the world of drug trafficking was reopened to Marks after attending a friend's party in London - and he couldn't resist.

As noted on his website, , at the height of his career he was smuggling consignments of up to 30 tons from Pakistan and Thailand to America and Canada, and had contact with organisations as diverse as the CIA, MI6, the IRA and the Mafia.

During the 1980s, Marks had 43 aliases - one of which was Donald Nice - 89 phone lines and 25 companies trading throughout the world.

Rhys Ifans as Howard Marks © E1 Entertainment Films/The Press Association

He was eventually caught and sentenced to 25 years at Terre Haute Federal Penitentiary in 1988, but was released on parole in April 1995 for exemplary behaviour after serving seven years of his sentence. He wrote Mr Nice after his release, which quickly became a best-seller and has been translated into many languages.

DJ, and Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Music blogger, Bethan Elfyn attended a screening in Wales of the film - read her thoughts from the première in Cardiff. Plus there's a great story on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã website by entertainment correspondent Tim Masters on how the Mr Nice set was a 'no-smoke zone' while filming in Wales.

If you go to see the film over the coming weeks, do let us know your thoughts on it.

Related links

• Rhys Ifans biography on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Arts
• The Peth on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Music

John Cale's acclaimed Dyddiau Du/Dark Days, which represented Wales at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, gets its first showing in Wales from tomorrow.

The five-screen video installation is being shown at from Friday 8 October as part of the

John Cale standing in front of his video installation, 2009. Photography by Prudence Cuming © The British Council

The Venice Biennale is widely regarded as the world's most important international showcase for contemporary art. (Incidentally, the artist that will represent Wales at the 54th Venice Biennale of Art in 2011 has recently been announced as Swansea-based artist and lecturer Tim Davies.)

Cale, from Garnant, is acknowledged as one of the greatest music collaborators and producers to herald from Wales. After just six months of intensive work and preparation, he unveiled a specially commissioned audio-visual installation on 4 June 2009 at an evocative old brewery building on the island of Giudecca, Venice.

John Cale in Garnant. Photo © Bevis Bowden

The film and sound installation, which takes the form of four episodes in film lasting 46 minutes, was made in several locations across Wales - including Cale's former family home in Garnant - with the collaborations of a choir and young orchestral players.

Dyddiau Du/Dark Days is a reflection of Cale's personal relationship with Wales, the Welsh language and wider issue of communication, and the uniqueness of the bardic tradition of his home nation. Read more on Cale's installation on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Arts site.

Still taken from John Cale's Dyddiau Du/Dark Days: Dreaming In Vertigo

After its debut showing in Venice, Dark Days exhibited at the in Australia in January 2010 and a live version at the in Essen, Germany during July.

Dyddiau Du/Dark Days will be on display at the from Friday 8 October to Sunday 7 November, with screenings taking place daily from 10am-4pm.

Following its stint at the National Waterfront Museum, Dyddiau Du/Dark Days will be displayed during the summer of 2011 as part of the opening of the extended new art galleries at .

Additional information

• John Cale on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Music
• Wales at the Venice Biennale on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Arts

Read the rest of this entry

Today marks across the UK, and there are a number of different events planned to mark the day across Wales.

Take a look at the , see our pick of events below and let us know if you intend to mark the day - and what you'll be doing.

There's a free event at the in Swansea this evening featuring two of Wales' finest poets, and Richard James Jones. Paul Henry is set to launch his new collection, The Brittle Sea: New and Selected Poems, at the event. The reading begins at 7.30pm - contact the centre on 01792 463980 for more information.

As , will be holding their first Thursday Reading at in Cardiff this evening with Anne-Marie Fyfe and Christopher Meredith, starting from 7pm and costing just £2.

Also, tomorrow afternoon will see authors including Dafydd Pritchard, Lyn Lewis Dafis, Anwen Pierce and Martin Locock reading their poetry at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth from 1pm.

Jeremy Vine has been discussing poetry all week on his Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Two programme to coincide with National Poetry Day - you can listen again to episodes of his show on Ö÷²¥´óÐã iPlayer.

Meanwhile, young poets can visit the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's Poetry Pie website for rhyming games, songs to sing and lots more to make and do. Plus for the Welsh speakers among you, listen to some Welsh poems on the Bitesize TGAU website.

Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson in The Song of Lunch

And for the adults, don't miss the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two dramatisation of Christopher Reid's narrative poem The Song Of Lunch - starring Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson - tomorrow, Friday 8 October on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two at 9pm.

We've recently been sent word of some exciting news about burgeoning plans for a new creative hub for the centre of Swansea, which hopes to attract artists, designers and others from a whole host of creative industries to the city.

Now, I will admit that I've been rather slow on the uptake here, as earlier this year - April no less - in Swansea's High Street, The Strand and Kings Lane areas. It's based on a series of courtyards linking shops, offices, food and drink outlets and affordable apartments - as can be seen in these artist's impressions of the development.

Computer generated image of Swansea's High Street. Photo: iCreate Ltd / www.icreate3d.com

Computer generated image of Swansea's creative hub in the proposed Urban Village in the heart of the city. Photo: iCreate Ltd / www.icreate3d.com

The aim of the project is succinctly summed up on the website, and as I couldn't put it any better myself, here's the idea:

"The Swansea Creative Hub has very simple ambitions. Create a space that's minimal and flexible and allows for ease of communication. Put it in the heart of the city, make it accessible, interesting, open to all. Encourage people from all creative backgrounds to mix, merge and clash in equal measure. Then see what happens. What have we got to lose?"

As part of the project, will be performing their original production, 1977, in one of the very spaces that the Swansea Creative Hub aims to regenerate. For 10 days, between 20 and 30 October, the theatre group will take over the retail space at 229 High Street in Swansea.

Volcano's 1977 takes the audience to the set of Francis Ford Coppola's notoriously troubled, but epic, Vietnam War movie .

Production shot from Volcano Theatre's production 1977. Photo: Volcano Theatre

As Coppola, Martin Sheen and the crew go mad in the jungle, the show transports the audience to a very different event taking place on the other side of the world - a conference is gathering in Wales that aims to take the temperature of a "dying century". Among the thronging intellectuals there are two very particular young delegates. Their lives and stories unfold, with shattering consequences, against the twin backdrops of the conference rooms and Coppola's film.

Huw Williams, who is a driving force behind the project, commented, "Swansea Creative Hub is a bold, brainy and brilliant initiative to put Swansea at the heart of the Creative Industries in south Wales."

Learn more about this exciting regeneration project on the Swansea Creative Hub website, , and let us know your thoughts about the venture below.

Artist has been selected to represent - the world’s pre-eminent showcase for international art.

Davies is the head of fine art at , and already has an international reputation as an artist. He won the Fine Art Gold Medal at the National Eisteddfod in 2003 and was selected for in 2004. In 2008 he received a Major Creative Wales Award from the Arts Council of Wales.

Tim Davies (standing) with Swansea Met fine art students

Tom Rowland will curate the exhibition. He has previously collaborated with Davies and has featured the artist's work in London gallery showings in recent years.

Rowland said: "Tim Davies’ work makes a huge visual impact, and is admired for its ability to distil conceptual concerns with formal cohesion, in whichever medium he chooses for his pieces. He is a unique and committed artist who stands alone with his consistently robust installations, films and works on paper.

"Tim proposes to produce a unique exhibition for the Welsh Pavilion. He is able to react collaboratively with a given space and together we aim to design a show both visually stirring and professionally constructed."

The curated an exhibition of Davies' work in 2009, and he is currently exhibiting at the in Llandudno - until 6 November.

Dai Smith, Chair of the Arts Council, commented: "This will only be the 5th exhibition from Wales in this foremost international arena for the visual arts. Each one has had impact and demonstrated both distinctiveness and an ability to engage at the highest level in the now globalised visual art world.

"In a devolved Wales and even one facing enormous constraints, it will continue to be vital that the country’s creativity continues to register on the world stage."

The 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale will take place between June and November 2011. In 2009, Wales was represented by former Velvet Underground musician John Cale, and other previous artists include Richard Deacon, Merlin James, and Heather and Ivan Morison (2007); Peter Finnemore (2005); Bethan Huws and Cerith Wynn Evans (2003).

For more information on Wales at the Venice Biennale .

There are a few film-related stories connected with Wales flying about at the moment, so here's a quick round-up for you.

Firstly, this Friday sees the UK general release of starring Welsh actor Rhys Ifans. The film is based the best-selling autobiography of the former drugs baron Howard Marks, which he wrote after his release on parole in 1995 having served seven years in prison.

Rhys Ifans in Mr Nice (© E1 Entertainment Films/The Press Association)

There's a great story on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã website by entertainment correspondent Tim Masters on how the Mr Nice set was a 'no-smoke zone' while filming in Wales. Plus, read the blog entry from Bethan Elfyn on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Music website about her experience at the Welsh première of the film.

Meanwhile, a small part of Gwynedd has been receiving the Hollywood treatment recently. A-listers Thandie Newton (Crash, Mission Impossible II), Cillian Murphy - who recently starred in blockbuster Inception - and Billy Elliott star Jamie Bell have been filming the psychological thriller The Retreat in Talsarnau near Harlech.

Thandie Newton

The production team, who are filming at Plas Llandecwyn, a remote farmhouse near Talsarnau, arrived a couple of weeks ago and are due to stay until 15 October. on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Local north west Wales website.

And as reported by the Western Mail, Mickey Rourke has apparently met Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas over plans for the Hollywood star to play him in a film about his life as professional rugby’s first openly gay player. Read more about that on the .

will be holding their autumn this Saturday, 9 October, with plenty of exhibitors and stalls to keep visitors entertained in this biannual celebration of independent publishing.

Photo taken at a previous Ffotogallery Book Arts Fayre

Among the stalls will be a variety of exhibitors, including the , representatives from PogoBooks of Berlin, south Wales publishers and Manchester-based .

Plus the will also be at the event, showing a selection of their vast 1,400 strong archive of donated zines and artist books, which they receive from all over the world.

A previous Ffotogallery Book Arts Fayre

The team at Ffotogallery are keen to impress the open to all, free nature of this event - so turn up at Turner House, Plymouth Road in Penarth on Saturday, enjoy, and engage in a wealth of contemporary book arts and print practice from Wales and beyond.

Find out more on the fayre, including the full list of stallholders, on .

near Bangor will open its doors later this month for school groups and the general public to Meet a Masterpiece and learn about the art of portraiture.

The event at the castle has been organised as part of the , an international campaign that aims to use drawing to connect visitors with museum and gallery collections.

Penrhyn Castle. Photo courtesy National Trust

Meet a Masterpiece is a rare opportunity for an out-of-hours exploration of some of the castle's portraits, paying special attention to Catrina Hooghsaet by Rembrandt (read more about the painting).

Meet a Masterpiece week runs from Monday 11 October to Sunday 17 October 2010. School groups (Year 6 and above) will be able to arrange visits on school days (Monday to Friday, except Tuesday) and the general public days will take place on the weekend of 16 and 17 October.

Booking is essential, so for further information.

If you were thinking of competing for the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize or the Prose Medal at next year's National Eisteddfod in Wrexham, you have until 1 December to enter.

The Daniel Owen Memorial Prize is awarded for an unpublished novel of no fewer than 50,000 words, while the Prose Medal is given for a piece of creative prose titled Rebellion.

Jerry Hunter

This year's Prose Medal winner at Ebbw Vale was Jerry Hunter from Penygroes in Gwynedd. Not only was he the first American to win a major prize at the festival, but he was also the first foreigner to scoop a major prize. Watch his ceremony at our Eisteddfod site.

The 2010 Daniel Owen Memorial Prize went to Grace Jones of Felinheli, Gwynedd. She was a Prose Medal winner in 1988 as well as being triumphant in the National Eisteddfod's short story competition three times. See her prize giving ceremony.

Competition listings for the 2011 National Eisteddfod in Wrexham can be purchased from the .

If you missed any of the action from this year's Eisteddfod from Ebbw Vale you can watch ceremony highlights, results, guides and pictures from throughout the whole week on our Eisteddfod website.

If you've been living in a small dark cave of late this may be news to you to - but the 2010 Ryder Cup began in Newport today, albeit with a suspension in play due to heavy rain.

But what to do if you've made it to south Wales - or you're lucky enough to live there in the first place - and you're in no way inclined towards golf?

Newport Bridge

Well rest easy, as here are some art-inspired suggestions to while away the weekend in Newport and the surrounding area that don’t include mention of bunkers, dimpled white balls or anyone named after a large feline.

Newport Festival 2010

The Newport Festival has a whole host of events organised to celebrate the host city of the Ryder Cup. to see what's coming up over the weekend and for inspiration on what you can do in and around the city.

Over the weekend there will be a Ryder Cup Family Fanzone in John Frost Square, where you can watch the golfing action on a big screen but there will also be a young families arts area, light zone workshops and Newport Libraries storytelling sessions among other activities.

The Riverfront

Nestled, well, on the river front, the theatre has a number of exciting events coming up not just on the weekend but also after the world's biggest golfing competition has come to a close.

Photograph by Matt Wright © the artist and Ghosts in Armour 2010

The Ghosts in Armour visual arts exhibition opened last month but it runs until 23 October, so if you haven't seen it yet there’s still plenty of time left.

is Newport's annual dance festival, and includes workshops, performances, demonstrations and more.

There are dance workshops and youth theatre classes running from today, over the weekend and beyond at the Riverfront. Plus on Tuesday, the Jasmin Vardimon Company will be performing 7734, which examines man's inhumanity to man, while illuminating the human capacity for survival and the poetry of hope., and to prevent any wasted journeys.

Plus, starting from 9 October, Newport's comedy festival kicks off. A feast of funny people will be gracing the stage at the Riverfront and other venues across the city, including Shappi Khorsandi, Jon Richardson, Ian Stone, the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre and Elis James to name a few.

SuperDragons

Take a stroll through Newport city centre and you’ll soon come across one of these magnificent six foot, fibreglass dragon sculptures, which have been decorated and painted by local artists, community art groups and primary school children.

One of the SuperDragons in Newport. Photo: Toby Cameron

The dragons have been made by , and over 60 have been placed in Newport and the surrounding area in celebration of the Ryder Cup coming to the city.

about the sculptures on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Local South East Wales website, and on the SuperDragons website to track the fiery-mouthed beasts in and around Newport.

And if you venture in to the capital, why not check out some of the things we've blogged about recently, such as project/ten's new exhibition autumn#1, the seven new art galleries at the National Museum or the open weekend at the Wales Millennium Centre?

If we've missed any arts events happening this weekend in the south Wales area that you know about, do let us know below.

Additional information:

Read the rest of this entry

The has been urged by arts groups to spend £1m of unspent funding that it is considering using as a safety net against future cuts.

The organisation has said it will decide how to spend the money, which stems from leftover funds from an arts scheme that ended earlier this year, in December.

But some Welsh arts groups have urged the Arts Council to spend the money. Wiard Sterk, director of , which is closing down within the next two weeks, said: "It's a bit of a surprise to learn that the council has £1m left.

"I would hate to think of that money being kept back to deal with cuts - that is a very regressive approach for the arts."

Read the full story by Darren Waters on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales News website.

The next two installments in Seren Books' series New Stories From The Mabinogion are released this month. Authors and Niall Griffiths have penned modern day versions of the mystical Welsh tales.

The novels join those in the series already released by Owen Sheers (White Ravens) and Russell Celyn Jones (The Ninth Wave) in 2009.

The four titles in Seren's New Stories From The Mabinogion series. Images courtesy Seren Books.

The Mabinogion came to general literary prominence in the 19th century, when Lady Charlotte Guest published her translation of the medieval Welsh folk tales. They are preserved in written form in the White Book of Rhydderch (1300-1325) and the Red Book of Hergest (1375-1425). Portions of the stories were written as early as the second half of the 11th century, and some stories are much older still.

The Mabinogion consists of four branches: Pwyll Prince of Dyfed, Branwen Daughter of LlÅ·r, Manawydan Son of LlÅ·r, and Math son of Mathonwy; plus four individual tales: The Dream of Macsen Wledig, Llud and Llefelys, Culhwch and Olwen, and The Dream of Rhonabwy. Three Arthurian romances complete the Mabinogion: Owain, or The Lady of the Fountain, Peredur, son of Efrawg, and Geraint, son of Erbin, which is also known as Geraint and Enid.

Gwyneth Lewis. Photo: Tim Brett

Lewis' The Meat Tree is the retelling of the fourth branch, the final and most complex of the branches - Math son of Mathonwy.

Set in the future, the tale is told by the Inspector of Wrecks who has been called in to examine a deserted spaceship. The inspector, on the verge on retirement, brings all his experience into investigating the physical and virtual reality fields of the ship, as well as the three bodies found floating in the hull.

What he finds shakes him to the core and makes him question his beliefs about how the imagination creates how we live and the disasters that kill us.

Meanwhile, Niall Griffiths - known for his gritty novels such as Stump and Sheepshagger - tackles the retelling of the tale of The Dream of Rhonabwy in The Dreams of Max and Ronnie.

Iraq-bound squaddie Ronnie and his mates are the unlikely heroes in the book. Ronnie takes a drug and falls asleep for three nights in a hovel, where he dreams of watching an oddly familiar grinning man playing war games.

Niall Griffiths. Photo: Getty images

Griffiths complements the story with another Mabinogion tale, The Dream of Macsen Wledig. The eponymous emperor of Rome in the medieval text is translated by Griffiths into a modern day Max - a seedy south Walian owner of a nightclub called Rome who is intent on revenge attacks on a rival north Wales gang.

The series has already been lauded in the Guardian by critic Alfred Hickling: "Seren's series of new stories inspired by the Mabinogion may be the greatest service to the Welsh national epic since Lady Charlotte Guest published her translation of the medieval folk tales in the mid-19th century."

Praise indeed. You can , and learn more about Lady Charlotte Guest on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales History website.

Gwyneth Lewis' The Meat Tree is released on 1 October, while Niall Griffiths' The Dreams of Max and Ronnie is released on 15 October.

Seren, in conjunction with and as part of the , will be holding a Mabinogion Series Launch at St David's Hotel in Cardiff on Thursday 28 October. Find out more about the event, in which all four authors will discuss their works, .

Additional information

• The Mabinogion on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales History
• Early Welsh Literature on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Wales Arts