Culture highlight 2024: A mother’s pride and the Cocteau Twins

Llinos Dafydd

Welsh literature is at its best when it reflects the complexities of who we are, and two books this year have done that brilliantly: Gwenno Gwilym’s V + Fo and the anthology Cymry Balch Ifanc / Young Welsh Proud.

V + Fo, published by Gwasg y Bwthyn, is a breath of fresh air – a bilingual rom-com that dives into the messy realities of family, love, and co-parenting. It’s sharp, funny, and unfiltered, with characters and language that feel alive and real.

Personal

But Cymry Balch Ifanc, published by Gwasg Rily, feels personal.

It’s a collection of stories by young LGBTQIA+ people from across Wales, and among its contributors are two people I deeply admire.

Nia Morais writes with such honesty about navigating her Welsh, queer, and mixed-race identities. Then there’s my eldest child, Aeron.

Seeing my non-binary teen’s story in print was overwhelming in the best way. As a mam, I felt so proud, knowing their voice is part of something that will resonate with others. Their courage to live authentically in a world that too often demands labels and boxes is humbling.

One line in their piece stopped me in my tracks: “I want to be free to express my true self openly and joyfully.”

It’s a simple yet profound statement, and it’s what we all deserve. But for people like my child, it takes extraordinary strength to claim that freedom.

Leading the way

Books like these matter because they show the breadth of Welsh experiences. Our stories – whether messy, joyful, or painful – deserve to be heard. They don’t just reflect Wales as it is; they show us what it can be.

If you haven’t picked up V + Fo or Cymry Balch Ifanc / Young Welsh Proud, do.

They remind us that Welsh literature isn’t just keeping up – it’s leading the way.

Ant Heald

As an uncritically fanatical devotee of 80’s indie favourites, Cocteau Twins, I relished  their bass player Simon Raymonde’s long awaited memoir, published this autumn.

In One Ear  appeals to nostalgists of that musical era, but there is interest for a wider audience in the excavation of the legacy of his father, Ivor, who shaped the sound of the likes of Dusty Springfield and the Walker Brothers, and  and although this is no dirt-dishing bio there are telling anecdotes from Simon’s later career as head of the Bella Union record label, forging the careers of bands such as Midlake and Fleet Foxes.

Singular character

Will Hodgkinson’s Street Level Superstar has been a surprise bestseller given that its subject is a musician who emerged in the same 80s dream-pop scene as Cocteau Twins, but is even more obscure.

But this isn’t really a music book. The mononymous Lawrence, the titular would-be chart-topper, is a singular character, and this genre-bending  psychogeographic tragicomedy is a compelling exploration of creative obsession, thwarted ambition and suburban perambulation.

Illumination

There were some fabulous poetry collections from Welsh publishers this year, my favourites being Grahame Davies’ A Darker Way, filled with flashes of that ‘yes! – that’s exactly how it is’ illumination of otherwise murky and ineffable experience, while Rhian Elizabeth’s girls etc takes a cleaver to her experiences of motherhood and toxic relationships, cutting away thick slices of humour, exposing bones of trauma and regret, but at its core lies the marrow of resilience summed up in the collection’s final line: “and now i understand that it was all a blessing.”

The most surprising aspect of my cultural year, however, is that its highest peak was an art-form of which I am far from being an aficionado. I wouldn’t dream of playing opera at home, (indeed a warbling soprano will usually have me gunning for the ‘off’ button), so the decision to attend the Welsh National Opera (WNO) production of Puccini’s Il Trittico  at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre was in all honesty motivated more by a hope that like a couple of hours on the treadmill it might do me some good rather than from a sense of eager anticipation.

Lavishly staged

Yet this triptych of one-act operas, rarely performed in full, but beautifully and lavishly staged and performed, bowled me over with its sweeping and piercing evocations of the full gamut of laughter, love, and loss that lie at the heart of all human experience. The evening’s cultural worth was heightened by seeing how little monetary value is placed on the arts (despite clear evidence of economic returns on investment) as we entered the venue past orchestra and chorus members protesting against their numbers and earnings being slashed.

To see such an ambitious and world class Welsh-based institution on the financial ropes is worrying, particularly as WNO more than any other company takes opera beyond the stereotypical champagne set. We returned later in the season to see Rigoletto with friends who had never before been to an opera and they loved it.

So if, as I did for decades, you think you don’t like opera, make 2025 the year you see a WNO production, whether in Cardiff or on tour… While you still can.