Poetry Wales

Founded in 1965, Poetry Wales is a triannual magazine with an international reputation for excellent poems, features and reviews from Wales and beyond. Emerging from a rich bilingual culture, Poetry Wales explores the diverse perspectives of Welsh poetry in English and its international relationships.

Its interest in translation, and in local and national identities in a global context, are at the forefront of some of the most exciting developments in poetry today. The magazine is open to tradition and experiment, publishing poetry from a wide range of approaches. Against this background of dynamic contrast, it offers a lively and informed critical context for the best contemporary poetry.

 – from ‘Zimbabwe’ by Andrew Manyika, Poetry Wales 60.1

The submissions prompt for this issue was ‘Wave’, inspired by the stories and human history of Tiger Bay in Wales’ capital city Cardiff, so named because of the ripples in the water resembling the big cat’s stripes. Once the heart of coal exportation, Tiger Bay was also an epicentre of immigration into Wales, making it one of the oldest and most diverse multicultural communities in the UK[1]. Poems drawn from and evocative of the Bay’s rich history fill this issue, alongside features including a crossborder conversation between contributing editors Des Mannay and Fahad Al-Amoudi with Nigerian-American poet and essayist I.S. Jones.

[1] https://www.tigerbay.org.uk