CAERLEON: The Priory Hotel

SAT 6TH JUL, 2013 10.15am

A Panel of Speakers as follows:

10.15 introduction

10.30 Godfrey Brangham
Godfrey is a lifelong collector of Machen's work. He is secretary of the Friends of Arthur Machen and occasional editor of the society's journal Faunus. He edited Machen's second wife Purefoy's memoirs "Where Memory Slept" and co-edited "The Day's Portion" and "Selected Letters", Godfrey is retired and lives in Usk. The title of his talk will be 'The Day's Portion'.

11.15 Catherine Fisher
Catherine was born in Newport. She won the Cardiff International Poetry Prize in 1990, and her novel The Oracle was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. Incarceron was The Times Children's Book of the Year in 2007. Her most recent novel is The Obsidian Mirror, published in 2012.

Catherine regularly gives readings to groups of all ages. She leads sessions for teachers and librarians and is an experienced broadcaster and adjudicator. In October 2011 she was announced by Literature Wales as the first ever Young People's Laureate for Wales. Catherine is a Fellow of the Welsh Academy. The title of her talk will be 'Machen's Gwent - A Country Hardly to Be Known'.

12.00 The Revd. Mark Lawson Jones
Mark was born in the Usk Valley and grew up in Gwent. After a bit of a roller-coaster ride, he ended up joining the Church in Wales. Over the past decade or so, he has worked in parishes in the valleys, rural areas and the city. He is currently the Team Rector in East Cardiff.

His first book Why Was the Partridge in the Pear Tree investigates the history of Christmas music, carols and traditions. His second book The Little Book of Wales is a sideways look at easily overlooked aspects of Welsh history and culture. He is a co-founder of a small publisher 'The Three Impostors', who annotated and republished Arthur Machen's autobiography Far Off Things early in 2013.

The Rev'd Mark is fascinated by the relationship between people and the landscape around them and the links between religion, myth and mysticism. The title of his talk will be 'The Exciting Adventures of Arthur Machen and his Search for the Holy Grail'

2.00 Gwilym Games
Gwilym has been editor of the periodical Machenalia for the Friends of Arthur Machen since 2005. He is the author of numerous articles on all aspects of Machen's life and work. Gwilym has been fascinated by Machen's beautiful prose since he was a youth and, like Machen, he was brought up in Gwent within sight of the mystic tumulus of Twm Barlwm.

In 2011 he edited a limited hardback edition of Faunus which contained three long-lost stories by Arthur Machen that he rediscovered. They had not been republished anywhere since their first appearance during the Great War. He recently provided support for the Library of Wales Machen paperbacks (2010) and for the new Penguin edition of The White People and Other Weird Stories (2012).

Gwilym is a Chartered Librarian, and he currently holds a post as a Local Studies Librarian at Swansea Central Library. He is also a resident DJ at the Dead of Night club in Swansea, and provides music for what may be the only regular Steampunk music hall in the UK: Coppernaught.

2.45 Merlin Coverley
Merlin is a writer and bookseller. He is the author of five books: London Writing (2005); Psychogeography (2006); Occult London (2008); Utopia (2010) and The Art of Wandering (2012). Merlin has a particular interest in Machen's relationship with London and with the role of walking in his work. He lives in London. The title of his talk will be 'Arthur Machen and the art of wandering'

3.30 Robert Kingham
Robert is a Londoner who has escaped from the vortex of London only once: to study English Literature at Cardiff University. Robert is interested in the interaction between people and cities, indulging his love of storytelling through leading many on historical pub crawls, giving talks and performances imbued with image and music, some in collaboration with the Museum of London.

Between all this, Robert likes nothing better than to relax by being a chartered management consultancy surveyor. The title of his talk will be 'The thin veil of London'