Sanctuary

Overview

Sanctuary is—urgent. The pandemic has made people crave it; political crises are denying it to millions; the earth is no longer our haven. Even our minds & bodies are not refuges we can rely on. Angela Graham & 5 other poets from Wales & Northern Ireland explore Sanctuary from the inside, asking how we can save the earth, ourselves, and others?

Reviews

"In this wonderful collaborative collection there is work that variously provokes, soothes, challenges and affirms. Together, the poems provide a meditation on the meaning of 'sanctuary' at a time when the word's relevance to our lives feels increasingly urgent. A vital and illuminating publication." —Moyra Donaldson "My own family were refugees from Hungary in 1956… Sanctuary is primarily physical but it … offers a spiritual place of safety too. It is a token of generosity from the giver and a source of inner comfort for the receiver... The collection is full of moving, serious poems and individual voices. This too is sanctuary." —George Szirtes "A necessary and urgent response to the world's increasing crises…" —Robert Minhinnick "An urgent publication in times like these. Unfortunately, it is also urgent because sanctuary becomes a necessity for those who have to flee from their dwelling place. Seeking refuge, asylum and shelter from the fragility of their homeland is indeed their last hope of survival. Never was there more of a need --- a need for the grace and goodness of strangers…" —Menna Elfyn

Author Biography

Angela Graham is a distinguished producer for TV. She was Development Producer on the BBC series The Story of Wales presented by Huw Edwards (2 BAFTA Cymru Awards). She was producer and co-writer of the Oscar entrant cinema feature Branwen (6 BAFTA Cymru nominations and Best Film at the Celtic Media Festival). Her short story collection A City Burning (Seren 2020) was longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. Her poems have been published widely in journals such as The North, Poetry Wales, The Interpreter's House, and often anthologised, most recently in Local Wonders (Dedalus Press), and Words From The Brink and A470 (Arachne Press).