Regular contributor and accompanying illustrator to the work of Simon Smith, Cerys Rees, has been busy collaborating again with the writer, Simone Mansell Broome, illustrating two new books, quite literally hot off the printing press- “A Cwtch in Kyrenia “ and “Falafels, some Frogs and a Ferret” – Simone’s new memoir.
“The tedium of a holiday abroad, the longueurs between anticipated excursions and the vaguely disappointing nature of the trip themselves, but these negative spaces between events are not wasted time for Simone. She has built a limpid journal of personal responses from unlikely juxtapositions of elements found therein; a neck tattoo, green oranges, moulting cats, Di Caprio lookalikes….the writing resonates with intelligence. A human odyssey for our brave new ‘blue passport’ age.”
Glenn Ibbitson
Join Simone Mansell Broome at The Seagull, Cardigan on April 12th at 6pm, for an evening of poetry and writing performances: Notions of Hiraeth.
A Cwtch in Kyrenia and Falafels, some Frogs and a Ferret available here: simonemansellbroome.com
Cerys Rees
I’m Cerys, an Illustrator living in Llandeilo with my two children, a whippet, a terrier, two aloof cats and 6 Bantam chickens. I was born in Merthyr Tydfil, brought up in Swansea, attended Gorseinon College and then Leeds University. When I’m not drawing animals, I can be found hiking in the hills, scaling mountains, buried in a book or assuming a yoga position in the living room, much to the amusement of the menagerie. The attention seeking cats in particular think ‘downward dog’ is an opportunity to waft their bushy tail around my face. I also enjoy making concoctions in the kitchen, though I tend to inflict regular volumes of said culinary discovery on the family when I have mastered a dish. A recent trip to Budapest meant Smoked Paprika, the elixir of any decent Goulash, went in EVERYTHING for a short period thereafter.
Simone Mansell Broome
The good thing about the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 is that Simone has reclaimed much more of her time for writing from her life on the family’s small organic farm, (where guests came pre-pandemic to glamp, camp, attend workshops, eat great food and, sometimes, get married).
This last year she has written more poetry, been involved in a collaboration with an M.A. student at the University of Bucharest on the translation of 50 of Simone’s earlier poems, written commissioned pieces for ITV Sport and written a blog about life in West Wales during the pandemic – which she has just published (Nov ’22) as a book ‘Pause – 12 months of going Nowhere’.
She has also written and published her first children’s book ‘Valletta and the Year of Changes’.
