Cultural highlights 2025: A blaze of local fires – an extraordinary year for Welsh writing

Lily Baron, Book Space Cardiff

It has been a fantastic year for books! Here at Book Space Cardiff, we have a lot to say…

2025 is the year that we started our book club and have already had some wonderful and interesting discussions since the first meeting.

We started with Just A Little Dinner by Cécile Tlili, translated by Katherine Gregor. A personal favourite of mine from 2025. Our second meeting was a collaboration with The Secret Garden Cafe in Bute park and was The Lost Rainforests of Britain by Guy Shrubsole, chosen by Mel. Chapter 5 has a lot of interesting information about rainforests and their connection to Welsh folklore.

We then did On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, Translated by Barbara J. Haveland which might take the top spot for my favourites! I’m currently reading number 3 and have a proof copy of the 4th waiting for me to read over the holidays!

We finished on The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, which was on the Booker prize shortlist. First up next year is The Dance and the Fire by Daniel Saldaña París, translated by Christina MacSweeney and February’s book will be from a local Cardiff legend!

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We have had some fantastic events this year at Book Space Cardiff. There is a lot of great writing coming out of Wales at the moment.

Early this year we had a book stall at the launch of Folding Rock’s first issue, they have gone from strength to strength since. Some highlights from our events program have been Sophie Calon’s Long Going, Sabrin Hasbun’s Crossing, Gosia Buzzanca’s There She Goes, My Beautiful World, Natalie Holborow’s Wild Running, loads of events with Parthian authors, Ursula Martin for One Woman Walks Europe and so much more.

We also had book stalls at a We Are Not Number’s event in Chapter and a Hay After Hours event in the Wales Millenium Centre with loads of copies of Enshittification by Cory Doctorow.

I have a pile of books I am hoping to read while the shop is closed over the holidays (we’ll be back to our normal hours on the 3rd January) that includes some exciting Welsh books.

I’m particularly excited about Truth Like Water by Carys Shannon, Witsh by Mari Ellis Dunning, The Silence Project by Carole Hailey and Pulse by Cynan Jones.

Some of my personal faves this year have been On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, Translated by Barbara J. Haveland, Folding Rock, Crossing by Sabrin Hasbun, A Room Above A Shop by Anthony Shapland, Long Going by Sophie Calon, Just a Little Dinner by Cécile Tlili, translated by Katherine Gregor and The Wicked Lies of Habren Faire by Anna Fiteni.

I would also love to just show a list of our bestsellers for the whole year because I am thrilled with how many books on this list are Welsh in some way!

Bestsellers for the year

* = Welsh writing (the author is Welsh or based in Wales, it’s set in or about Wales or its published in Wales)

• […] by Fady Judah
• Enshittification by Cory Doctorow
• On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, Translated by Barbara J. Haveland
• We Are Not Numbers, edited by Ahmed Alnaouq
• *Crossing by Sabrin Hasbun
• *Folding Rock
• Just a Little Dinner by Cécile Tlili, translated by Katherine Gregor
• *A Room Above A Shop by Anthony Shapland
• *Look, Don’t Touch by layla-roxanne hill and Francesca Sobande
• The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits
• *Festival of the Ghost by João Morais
• *Teach Your Cat Welsh by Anne Cakebread
• *Imagine We Trade Bodies With Sheep by Duke Al
• *Truth Like Water by Carys Shannon
• The Orange and other poems by Wendy Cope
• *This Room is Impossible to Eat by Nicol Hochholczerova
• *Local Fires by Joshua Jones
• *The Mab Edited by Matt Brown and Eloise Williams
• The Lost Rainforests of Britain by Guy Shrubsole
• Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
• Orbital by Samantha Harvey
• Pachinko by Lee Min Jon
• *Long Going by Sophie Calon
• *Neon Roses by Rachel Dawson
• On Palestine by Noam Chomsky
• *The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies