I must have been living under a rock because I only heard about Folding Rock a fortnight ago. It’s a magazine showcasing new writing from Wales and beyond, has been going for a year and recently published its fourth issue.
I quickly subscribed to the magazine and then bought a ticket to its first birthday party and the launch of Issue 4 hosted by Griffin Books, the Wales Independent Bookshop of the Year, in Penarth Pier Pavilion on Wednesday evening.
There was a real buzz to the room and I could sense the excitement about what Folding Rock is trying to do here: it has ambitions to become the Welsh equivalent of England’s Granta, Scotland’s The Gutter Press and Ireland’s Stinging Fly. By primarily championing Welsh writing (and how you interpret that is left up to you) Folding Rock aims to help new and emerging writers from Wales and beyond have a platform for their work, whether short fiction, non-fiction or literary review.
To give us a taste of how that works in practice, there were readings from contributors to each of the four issues of the magazine: A Room Above A Shop author Anthony Shapland read from Sometimes We Speak (Issue 001), which is on the Folding Rock website for anyone wanting to try before you buy; Maya Jordan read a brilliant piece on The Etymology of a Friendship, which defined words while telling her tale, before reading an extract from her new book, Chopsy, and Sophie Buchaillard (Assimilation, This Is Not Who We Are and Painting Over the Cracks) read from her inspirational piece Light Expectations on the impact of a great teacher (Issue 002); Long Going author Sophie Calon helped us continue to soar with the skylark, Gosia Buzzanca (There She Goes, My Beautiful World) had us fangirling to Taylor Swift and Sylvia Plath and Mel Eagles took us back to the 80s in memories of blanket islands and music (Issue 003); and, last but by no means least, Jade E. Bradford read an extract from Falling Down (Issue 004) on the perfidious nature of gossip and how it takes root.
Folding Rock sounds as if it’s going to be an ambitious and feisty champion of Welsh writing and a great platform from which new and emerging writers can find their place alongside more established voices in the literary landscape of Wales and beyond. Thanks to the day job, I’ve only managed to read the editorials and a couple of pieces from Issue 001 but from what I’ve heard at the launch this week and read so far I’m excited about this latest magazine from Wales, the scope and ambition, but most of all, its creativity. I can’t wait to read more and am already thinking about what I can submit to it.
Folding Rock magazine is published three times a year with help from the Books Council of Wales. It is edited by Kathryn Tann and Robert Harries and you can find out more about subscribing or submitting to it here.
All the above-mentioned authors’ books are available from Griffin Books, either in person or through their website.
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