‘The Road’ was published in New Welsh Review; ‘Life-Task’ was published in Getting Up, the anthology of finalists in the Academi Rhys Davies Short Story Competition 2010; ‘Snapshot’ won the Totally4Women Short Story Competition 2013; ‘All Through The Night’ was published in Crannóg magazine, which nominated it for the Pushcart Prize 2019, and was shortlisted in the Write By The Sea Short Story Competition 2018 alongside both ‘Safety First’ and ‘Coasteering’; ‘Above It All’ was published in The Lonely Crowd; ‘Acting Abby’ won the Bridgend Writers’ Circle Short Story Competition 2017; ‘Witness’, ‘Saint’ and ‘Saltem’ were published in Audio Arcadia’s Eclectic Mix 6; ‘An Ulster Psyche’ was published in Fortnight magazine; ‘The Sea Hospital’ was published in Horla.
A Literature Wales Writer’s Bursary supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Wales was received to develop this collection.
My thanks to publisher, Mick Felton, who patiently refined the collection and to the team at Seren Books for all their work.
Gwen Lloyd Davies, editor of New Welsh Review, gave her incomparable editorial attention to the first draft of this collection and set it on its way to further development.
I am especially grateful to Caroline and Patrick McIlroy who, at a key point, gave me a place in which to write; and to Phil Cope who championed my writing and who, with Julian Cason read some early drafts; also to the many friends in Northern Ireland whose hospitality sustained me: Áine Haughey Little, Peter McCann, Rosemary Thomas, Tina and Ian Enlander, RoseAnne and Stephen McCormick, Leigh and Clive Henderson, Marie and Maurice McHenry; and to Jon Gower, Laura Foakes, Damian Smyth, Dr Sharon Jones, Angeline King, Graham Reid and Kate Hamer for their particular support.
And my thanks to the very many people who encouraged and helped me; most of all to my husband, John Geraint and my children, Róisín, Anwen and Seán.