Will Parker's monumental The Four Branches of the Mabinogi: Celtic Myth and Medieval Reality is now slated for May. We're just about to begin proofing, then typesetting. Galleys should go out by the beginning of March. Anyone who can prove that are likely to review the book for a reputable Celtic of Medieval studies journal, or for some other influential publication, can request a copy of the galley proofs by writing to andrew@bardic-press.com .

Tuesday is St. Dwynwen's Day. This was the Welsh equivalent of St. Valentine's Day, and there seems to be some effort to revive it. icwales has a page from which you can send a St. dwynwen's day card to your beloved: http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/ecards/

St. Dwynwen turned her lover, Marlon Gwynedd, to ice!

A question has come in from Lesley-Anne Stone, " I am currently studying the play Siwan in A-level welsh and was wondering if there are any english versions of the play. Either in the form of books,
audio or film."

Yes, I know of three translations of Siwan: Joseph Clancy's translation in The Plays of Saunders Lewis, Vol. 1(Christopher Davies, 1985), retitled "The King of England's Daughter," Emyr Humphreys' translation in Presenting Saunders Lewis (University of Wales Press, 1983), and Sion Eirian's translation. Sion's version is, as far as I know, unpublished, but it was used (and probably commissioned) for a BBC radio play that was broadcast ten or so years ago. Sian Phillips played Siwan, and the play may have been renamed.

I've just done a quick Google search on Siwan, and Sian Phillips also played Siwan in "1960 Starred opposite Peter O'Toole in "Siwan", a BBC production about the arranged marriage between the title character, the daughter of King John and a Welsh prince." http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/celeb/186966

Hope this helps.

How Like a Winter Hath My Absence Been

While I had the nagging feeling that I haven't posted for a while, I was startled to see that I have only posted once since July! I shall probably post a few times in the next week or so, but perhaps once a month is a more realistic objective. Part of the difficulty is that we have been working on non-Celtic materials. Bardic Press has just published The Gospel of Thomas and Christian Wisdom, a brilliant scholarly work by Stevan Davies.
See http://www.bardic-press.com/thomas/thomindex.htm

Fritz Peters;' trilogy about Gurdjieff, Boyhood with Gurdjieff/Gurdjieff Remembered/Balanced Man is just coming out in hardcover with a preface by Henry Miller. See http://www.bardic-press.com

Still to appear is our edition of Omar Khayyam, and our Hafiz book, New Nightingale, New Rose, is still selling steadily. We have Hafiz pages at http://www.bardic-press.com/hafiz/hafizindex.htm

We also have a new Hafiz book planned.