I'm delighted to have received the following response to my book on Ruth Bidgood from the major critic of Welsh writing in English, Swansea University's Dr Daniel G. Williams:

'Ruth Bidgood is a poet of subtle complexities. It takes a particularly sensitive and incisive critic to do her work justice. Matthew Jarvis is such a critic and, in its attentiveness to language and environment, this volume in the Writers of Wales series is a major contribution to the study of Welsh poetry in English. Jarvis's superbly attentive readings should lead to a broader appreciation of Ruth Bidgood's distinctive contribution to Anglophone poetry.' 

My book on the fascinating mid-Wales poet Ruth Bidgood, in the landmark University of Wales Press 'Writers of Wales' series, has now been printed. My author's copy dropped through the letter-box this morning, and it does look very handsome - complete with a striking 1997 photograph of Ruth herself, by the marvellous Bernard Mitchell, on the front cover (see left). So, kudos to UWP for making such a good job of it.

If you'd like to buy a copy, you can find it online at the Welsh Book's Council's gwales.com (here) or on Amazon (here), though I guess it'll take a few days yet to arrive from the warehouse.

Professor Jane Aaron has been kind enough to say of the book that 'Bidgood’s achievement stands out clearly from its pages, which ring true, like her poems.'

The details of the PhD studentship for the Leverhulme-funded 'Devolved Vocies' project at Aberystwyth University have now been released. Please see the link here for full details, or here for a pdf of further particulars. Applications should, of course, be sent to:

Postgraduate Admissions Office
Aberystwyth University
Student Welcome Centre
Penglais Campus
Aberystwyth
SY23 3FB, UK

Applications may also be submitted by email to:
pg-admissions@aber.ac.uk

For general information about postgraduate study at Aberystwyth, see the University's Postgraduate Admissions web pages.

I'm delighted to say that I have recently been appointed to the Advisory Body of the National Library of Wales. It is a real privilege to serve on this fascinating group, which is dedicated to furthering the work of the Library as a key cultural institution. The NLW is also, of course, one of my favourite places - somewhere in which it is a pleasure to spend so much of my working life.