#siân hughes

[writerly-ramblings]

Books Read in August:

1). This Other Eden (Paul Harding)

2). Pitch Dark (Renata Adler)

3). The Peppered Moth (Margaret Drabble)

4). Blood & Cord: Writers on Early Parenthood (ed. Abi Curtis)

5). Study for Obedience (Sarah Bernstein)

6). After Sappho (Selby Wynn Schwartz)

7). Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative and Fate (Daniel Mendelsohn)

8). Pearl (Siân Hughes)

9). Home (Toni Morrison)

10). Wandering Souls (Cecile Pin)

11). How to Build a Boat (Elaine Feeney)

12). Western Lane (Chetna Maroo)

13). Old God’s Time (Sebastian Barry)

[hayleylovesjessica]

When I was doing my master's-level seminar work in grad school over 20 years ago, I took a couple medieval lit seminars, and I wrote a seminar paper on the anonymous 14th-century poem Pearl (presumably by the same poet who also wrote Patience, Cleanness, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight). So, when I saw that there was a new novel in part about Pearl, I had to pick it up.

[lilianeruyters]

Siân Hughes || Pearl

Booker Prize Longlist 2023 Pearl is a beautiful novel about a young woman trying to come to terms with her mother’s disappearance when she was still a young child. What I loved most was the subtle shift at the end: from searching for the unhappiness that made her mother leave her family she starts to realise that until that day all was evidence of happiness. Pearl is the long road it takes to…

[notmorbid]

pearl.

dialogue prompts from pearl by siân hughes.

what were you afraid of?

no one deserves to be judged on the worst five minutes of their life.

the house is full of secrets.

i know this one.

i'm not going to your stupid haunted house.

how can you not know how to light a fire?

you never wanted me for myself.

try summoning something useful, like a pizza delivery.

you were right. i was wrong.

it's not you. it's nothing to do with you.

it never felt right. it was never the right time.

have you got anything on your feet?

i want to say goodbye.

you're not well enough to go anywhere.

i'll forgive you, eventually.

there are words that only mothers say.

would you like me to do a drawing for you?

you're good, i can see. kind.

grief takes the kindhearted the hardest.

go home by nine, or they all take their clothes off.

i've never met an actual pagan before.

sometimes i think i've lived my life as an observer.

it's the summer solstice. wear your best undies.

it turns out all those clichés and bad pop songs were right.

'jaunty' is not a sexy word.

are you comfortable with posing?

is that your natural hair color, or did something go wrong with the dye?

you already know my name. it's on my card.

why do you even care?

it's hard work trying to pin all your love on a peg that's trying to prove a point.

i was too young and stupid to know when to back off.

i couldn't bear how happy you looked.

i think you're a bit ill.

i know i have to run away, but i'm too tired for running.

i've spent my life wishing i knew better.

there's no way i'm leaving you alone for a minute.

it hurts me to see how much you love ____.

i can go from reality to invention in a heartbeat.

every human has a trip switch.

i don't know how many times i have written this, how many versions there are.

will the devil be there waiting for me?

you've finally run out of excuses.

i didn't like it much, but i didn't mind much.

parents are supposed to be organized. good at getting out of bed.

what if no one is to blame?

it's hard to take credit for anything good.

that's fun for old people.

you're like a vengeful wraith.

just don't expect me to be where you left me.

go inside. this is not going to get any better.

stay for a cold drink, at least.

it must have been lonely.

i used to light fires inside here for fun.

you'll have to find your own way out.

the worst thing is when you've forgotten, and then you remember.

there's supposed to be magic in naming someone.

the undead are not known for their mercy.

it's not much of a funeral, is it?

everyone always wanted to know why i was so unhappy.

how could you forget me?

there's nothing the matter with your heart. it's not broken.

[martha-anne]

Sketchbook pages from inside a cafe on a hot day.

I was alternating between drawing these, and reading Siân Hughes' 'Pearl', which I thought was great.

[fictionkinfessions]

Orchids Are Sprouting From the Floorboards and My Father's Accent by Kaveh Akbar, Accident Report in the Tall, Tall Weeds by Ada Limón, and (Requiem) At My Funeral There Will Be No Flowers by zeeskeit.

if books count then I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness by Clair Vaye Watkins, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Oceon Vuong, Echo Maker by Richard Powers and Pearl by Siân Hughes.

they're all very tragic, and kinda surreal, and beautiful, and flowery, and metaphoric. i like then becuase that's was both of my canons were kinda like.

-- a semi canon kunkuzushi fictive

#sunflop

x

[kwebtv]

Dominic Guard as Huw Morgan, Sue Jones-Davies as Angharad Morgan, Mike Gwilym as Owen Morgan, Siân Phillips as Beth Morgan, Stanley Baker as Gwilym Morgan, Keith Drinkel as lanto Morgan, Nerys Hughes as Bronwen Morgan and Norman comer as Ifor Morgan in "How Green Was My Valley"

[jd-heyman]

Hello Smarties, It's Your Book Wag!

Self-Serving Political Memoirs are not Brat. Plus: Anne Applebaum, Dinaw Mengestu, Shalom Auslander, Siân Hughes, and More ...

Dear Wags,

July 2024 will go down in history as an epic month. In a handful of days, there’s been both an assassination attempt on the GOP presidential nominee and a shuffle at the top of the Democratic ticket. Somewhere in the middle of that mayhem, 39-year-old MAGA wunderkind J.D. Vance became Donald Trump’s running mate.

That was no surprise, but it got me thinking about political memoirs. We’re used to politicians promoting themselves through biographies. Kamala Harris published The Truths We Hold in 2019. Joe Biden produced two in recent years —Promises to Keep (2021) and Promise Me, Dad (2017). Barack Obama established himself as a generational leader with Dreams from My Father (1995). Trump, a reality star, not a reader, has passed on this publishing ritual—unless you count The Art of the Deal (1987) as his manifesto.

Read more - https://jdheyman.substack.com/p/hello-smarties-its-your-book-wag-2fe

[l8in]

Ten months after the arrest of Neil Foden, parents and governors still have little confidence in cyngor Gwynedd council to stop any future abuse.

At last weeks Education and Economy Committee, the representative for Arfon's parents and governors expressed her concerns and asked for an 'interactive infographic' to be made to ensure that everyone knew how to report abuse. But the safeguarding procedures are well known - it is written on the back of many staff key cards. The policies have not failed rather the officers whose job it is to ensure childrens safety have failed...

It is a concern that the governor's rep has little confidence that things have improved. She may be aware of the new governing body that has been appointed at Ysgol Friars and one wonders if she has confidence in them also.

The new chair of the governors is councillor Dafydd Meurig. Other members appointed by the council are Elin Walker Jones, Gareth Mark Parry, John Wyn Williams and R Medwyn Hughes - https://www.ysgolfriars.cymru/en/the-governing-body

Councillor Medwyn Hughes sat on the previous board and his re-appointment does not inspire confidence. Nor does the appointment of Elin Walker Jones, the present cabinet member for children, who has remained silent on the SS department's revelation earlier this year of historic complaints from 2013/14 concerning the Arfon social workers team.

Dafydd Meurig, was the deputy leader of the council and also cabinet member for the Adult SS department when they were being hauled over the coals by the Ombudsman for Wales for maladministration and bad behaviour towards the disabled under the last administration. One case featured in the PSOW's human rights casebook - it was that bad.

This case should have come before full council and a review undertaken of the social worker(s), their manager and the care home involved. Meurig did not present it to full council...

The public outrage prompted the Plaid MS for Arfon, Siân Gwenllian, to ask questions of the council. https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-council-review-vehicle-policy-19777848

Over a year later, there had been no update from Gwynedd council nor the MS... Local elections were held and Plaid Cymru increased their majority. After the election, the leader of the council shuffled his Cabinet and Dafydd Meurig was replaced by Dilwyn Morgan, who was the former Cabinet member for children and families. 

Morgan's tenure was also overshadowed by controversy. The PSOW finding maladministration and bad behaviour by his department also. A reminder that Dilwyn Morgan refused to answer questions of the Care Scrutiny Committee after one 'damning' PSOW investigation. It is also claimed that Morgan failed to take action against the senior safeguarding officer after allegations he misled councillors and the public.

In the reshuffle, Dafydd Meurig became Cabinet member for the Enviroment.

In September, 2023, the MS for Arfon was sent an email asking for an update on the vehicle misuse and mentions Gwynedd social workers using the cars for 'extra curricular activity'. 

Her office replied that Ms Gwenllian only asked about the Waste and Recycling department and passed on a message that she had received from Dafydd Meurig - A letter and email was sent to officers who had the right to take vehicles home as part of their working terms, on 29/03/2023. The letter stated that the consultation period has ended and that no officer from the Waste and Recycling service is now exempt from the new policy - 'Use of Council vehicles for commuting'. In accordance with the procedure, a period of notice must be given to staff and the period of 90 days has started on 31/03/2023 and ends on 29/06/2023. So by the end of June the exercise of using the council's vehicle for journeys between home and work will come to an end. 

At the time of the protest, there was a perception that some officers of all departments considered the vehicles their personal property to do with as they pleased - including using them for trysts away from the office. So it is surprising that the focus was on one department only. 

Perhaps Aled Gibbard, the former senior operational manager and now head of resources, should have dealt with the matter. He would have far more knowledge of the affair than any councillor. For how long has it been considered normal practice that officers use these vehicles (and the fuel) to commute between home and work? All staff or just senior officers?

Dafydd Meurig did not bring this case to full council, either...

To outsiders, the perception is that many senior managers within the council and schools are incompetent and that a toxic culture of cover up has allowed many to get away with actions and behaviours that would not be tolerated in the private sector. The attitude of many senior councillors only adds to this perception...

In other news, it is reported that cyngor Gwynedd have suspended two staff members at a school. A spokesperson said - We can confirm that two members of school staff in Gwynedd have been suspended from their posts and that the council is conducting internal investigations. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crgm8my77kno The school has not been named but it is reported that the council are conducting an internal investigation. There is no trust in those undertaking Gwynedd council's internal investigations and in light of Neil Foden it may be more appropriate for councillors to insist that officers of another LA to be tasked with investigating the matter.

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

Who has been nominated for a NTA Award?

The NTA longlist was unveiled on Tuesday 21st May.

New Drama

A Gentleman in Moscow

After The Flood

Baby Reindeer

Breathtaking

Coma

Criminal Record

Fallout

Fifteen-Love

Fool Me Once

Hijack

Interview with the Vampire

Mary & George

Masters of the Air

Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Murder Is Easy

One Day

Passenger

Red Eye

Renegade Nell

Shardlake

Shōgun

The Couple Next Door

The Long Shadow

The Marlow Murder Club

The Reckoning

The Sixth Commandment

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The Woman in the Wall

Wilderness

Wolf

Drama Performance

Adeel Akhtar, DS Sami Kierce, Fool Me Once

Aidan Turner, Glenn Lapthorn, Fifteen-Love

Ambika Mod, Emma Morley, One Day

Anna Próchniak, Gita, The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Anne Reid, Ann Moore-Martin, The Sixth Commandment

Arthur Hughes, Matthew Shardlake, Shardlake

Ashley Jensen, DI Ruth Calder, Shetland

Ashley Walters, Dushane Hill, Top Boy

Austin Butler, Major Gale 'Buck' Cleven, Masters of the Air

Brenda Blethyn, DCI Vera Stanhope, Vera

Callum Turner, Major John 'Bucky' Egan, Masters of the Air

Cliff Parisi, Fred Buckle, Call the Midwife

Cosmo Jarvis, John Blackthorne, Shōgun

Cush Jumbo, DS June Lenker, Criminal Record

Danielle Macdonald, Helen Chambers, The Tourist

Daryl McCormack, Detective Colman Akande, The Woman In The Wall

David Tennant, The Fourteenth Doctor, Doctor Who

David Jonsson, Luke Fitzwilliam, Murder Is Easy

Dominic West, Charles, Prince of Wales, The Crown

Eleanor Tomlinson, Evie, The Couple Next Door

Ella Lily Hyland, Justine Pearce, Fifteen-Love

Ella Purnell, Lucy MacLean, Fallout

Emilia Fox, Nikki Alexander, Silent Witness

Ewan McGregor, Count Alexander Rostov, A Gentleman in Moscow

Gary Oldman, Jackson Lamb, Slow Horses

Gemma Whelan, Detective Sergeant Sarah Collins, The Tower

Georgie Glen, Miss Millicent Higgins, Call the Midwife

Idris Elba, Sam Nelson, Hijack

Imelda Staunton, Queen Elizabeth II, The Crown

Jacob Anderson, Louis de Pointe du Lac, Interview with the Vampire

Jamie Dornan, Elliot Stanley, The Tourist

Jared Harris, Hari Seldon, Foundation

Jason Watkins, Simon, Coma

Jenna Coleman, Liv Taylor, Wilderness

Jennifer Aniston, Alex Levy, The Morning Show

Jeremy Allen White, Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto, The Bear

Jessica Gunning, Martha, Baby Reindeer

Jing Lusi, DC Hana Li, Red Eye

Joanne Froggatt, Dr Abbey Henderson, Breathtaking

Jonah Hauer-King, Lali, The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Julianne Moore, Mary Villiers, Mary & George

Kane Robinson, Gerald 'Sully' Sullivan, Top Boy

Katherine Kelly, Emily Jackson, The Long Shadow

Angela Van den Bogerd, Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Kris Marshall, Humphrey Goodman, Beyond Paradise

Leo Woodall, Dexter Mayhew, One Day

Lesley Sharp, DI Hannah Laing, Before We Die

Louisa Harland, Nell Jackson, Renegade Nell

Luke Newton, Colin Bridgerton, Bridgerton

Martin Short, Oliver Putnam, Only Murders in the Building

Michelle Keegan, Maya Stern, Fool Me Once

Monica Dolan, Jo Hamilton, Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Ncuti Gatwa, The Fifteenth Doctor, Doctor Who

Nicholas Galitzine, George Villiers, Mary & George

Nicholas Ralph, James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small

Nicola Coughlan, Penelope Featherington, Bridgerton

Nicola Walker, DI Annika Strandhed, Annika

Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Will, Wilderness

Paapa Essiedu, George, The Lazarus Project

Peter Capaldi, DCI Daniel Hegarty, Criminal Record

Ralf Little, DI Neville Parker, Death in Paradise

Reese Witherspoon, Bradley Jackson, The Morning Show

Richard Armitage, Dr Matthew Nolan, Red Eye

Joe Burkett, Fool Me Once

Richard Gadd, Donny Dunn, Baby Reindeer

Robert Carlyle, Robert Sutherland, COBRA: Rebellion

Ruth Wilson, Lorna Brady, The Woman In The Wall

Sam Heughan, Danny, The Couple Next Door

Sam Reid, Lestat de Lioncourt, Interview with the Vampire

Samantha Bond, Judith Potts, The Marlow Murder Club

Selena Gomez, Mabel Mora, Only Murders in the Building

Siân Brooke, Grace Ellis, Blue Lights

Sonequa Martin-Green, Captain Michael Burnham, Star Trek: Discovery

Sophie Rundle, PC Joanna Marshall, After The Flood

Steve Coogan, Jimmy Savile, The Reckoning

Steve Martin, Charles-Haden Savage, Only Murders in the Building

Suranne Jones, Amy Silva, Vigil

Timothy Spall, Peter Farquhar, The Sixth Commandment

Toby Jones, Alan Bates, Mr Bates vs The Post Office

DCS Dennis Hoban, The Long Shadow

Tom Hiddleston, Loki, Loki

Ukweli Roach, DI Jack Caffery, Wolf

Vicky McClure, Lana Washington, Trigger Point

Wunmi Mosaku, DI Riya Ajunwa, Passenger

https://www.nationaltvawards.com:80/terms

Shows and individuals are nominated in the longlist for the 2024 National Television Awards. This year is so competitive 😉

Posted 22nd May 2024

[misseyres]

march recap!

read: the myth of normal: trauma, illness, and healing in a toxic culture (gabor maté), identity: contemporary identity politics and the struggle for recognition (francis fukuyama), in ascension (martin macinnes), the marriage question: george eliot's double life (clare carlisle), beautiful world, where are you (sally rooney), small things like these (claire keegan), pearl (siân hughes), normal people (sally rooney)

watched: american fiction, mona lisa smile

new recipies: marbled banana bread, miso-chili marinated tofu, soy glazed chicken

new experiences: ate a lot of yummy food i had never tried before in london + stayed in a new area, new band concert, trying different brand of pointe shoes, studied at a new library, switched up my daily makeup routine, made a habit of buying flowers, bf & i went to an old fortress outside the city, did a trial work shift speaking swedish, went to the symphony here for the first time, started my new course

[qudachuk]

Taking a Middle English classic as its inspiration, this is a novel about a lasting grief that echoes through timeThe unidentified 14th-century “Pearl poet” left behind a single manuscript written in Cheshire dialect, containing Pearl, Gawain and the Green...

[lilianeruyters]

Siân Hughes || Pearl

Booker Prize Longlist 2023 Pearl is a beautiful novel about a young woman trying to come to terms with her mother’s disappearance when she was still a young child. What I loved most was the subtle shift at the end: from searching for the unhappiness that made her mother leave her family she starts to realise that until that day all was evidence of happiness. Pearl is the long road it takes to…

[killerscartv]

The Scold's Bridle (Full TV Miniseries) 1998

Mathilda Gillespie, an eccentric recluse known for her incredible meanness of nature, is found dead in her bathtub, her wrists slashed and her head locked inside a so-called 'scold's bridle', a rusted cage built with tongue clamps which was used as a torture device throughout the middle ages. The dead woman's only friend, Dr. Sarah Blakeney, becomes the prime suspect in her murder after police discover that she's been left a great deal of money in the will. To clear her name, Sarah delves deep into Mathilda's mysterious past, and subsequently unravels an intricate web of greed, abuse and depravity. Adapted for television by the BBC. It was directed by David Thacker from a screenplay written by Tony Bicât; producer Chris Parr, editor St John O'Rorke, music Junior Campbell. the cast included: Miranda Richardson as Dr. Sarah Blakeney Bob Peck as Detective Sergeant Cooper Douglas Hodge as Jack Blakeney Siân Phillips as Mathilda Gillespie Trudie Styler as Joanna Lascelles Paul Brooke as Duncan Orloff Virginia McKenna as Violet Orloff Beth Winslet as Ruth Lascelles Rosie Wiggins as Young Mathilda Gillespie John Duval as Sir William Cavendish Christine Moore as Jenny Spede Randal Herley as Dr. Cameron Nick Malinowski as Young Detective Constable Alan Williams as Bob Spede Rosemary Martin as Jane Merryman Tenniel Evans as Paul Merryman Oona Beeson as Polly Graham Miles Anderson as Detective Inspector Harmer Alan MacNaughtan as James Gillespie Hugh Bonneville as Tim Duggan

[weirdletter]

Gothic Studies, Volume 21,Issue 1: Werewolves and Wildness, edited by Sam George and Bill Hughes, Manchester University Press, May 2019. Info and free download: euppublishing.com.

The official journal of the International Gothic Association considers the field of Gothic studies from the eighteenth century to the present day. Gothic Studies opens a forum for dialogue and cultural criticism, and provides a specialist journal for scholars working in a field which is today taught or researched in academic institutions around the globe. The journal invites contributions from scholars working within any period of the Gothic; interdisciplinary scholarship is especially welcome, as are studies of works across the range of media, beyond the written word. Published on behalf of the International Gothic Association.

Contents: Notes on Contributors Introduction: Werewolves and Wildness – Sam George and Bill Hughes ‘Daddy, I'm falling for a monster’: Women, Sex, and Sacrifice in Contemporary Paranormal Romance – Sue Chaplin Full Moon Masculinities: Masculine Werewolves, Emotional Repression, and Violence in Young Adult Paranormal Romance Fiction – Tania Evans ‘One look and you recognize evil’: Lycan Terrorism, Monstrous Otherness, and the Banality of Evil in Benjamin Percy's Red Moon – Simon Marsden The Benevolent Medieval Werewolf in William of Palerne – Curtis Runstedler Wolves in the Wolds: Late Capitalism, the English Eerie, and the Weird Case of ‘Old Stinker’ the Hull Werewolf – Sam George Playgrounds in the Zombie Apocalypse: The Feral Child – Lisa Nevárez The Cinematic Representation of the Wild Child: Considering L'enfant sauvage (1970) – Michael Brodski Reviews: The Original Music from Dark Shadows, audio compact disc. Composed and directed by Robert Cobert – Josh Bedford and David Schiller Gothic Subjects: The Transformation of Individualism in American Fiction, 1790–1861. By Siân Silyn Roberts – Wayne Reed The Lovecraftian Poe: Essays on Influence, Reception, Interpretation and Transformation. Edited by Sean Moreland – Giorgia Hunt The Emergence of Pre-Cinema: Print Culture and the Optical Toy of the Literary Imagination. By Alberto Gabriele – Holly Gallagher