Drift: Winner of the Wales Book of the Year

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Did you set out to make this kind of non-judgemental compassion in adversity (and its opposite) the key message in the book? A truly beautiful and haunting novel, and an incredible feat of storytelling' DONAL RYAN, author of FROM A LOW AND QUIET SEA 'A tender, unusual and gorgeously wrought love story' RACHEL JOYCE, author of THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY'In times of war, Lewis finds resilience, redemption and hope. I do love magic realism but here I don’t think it entirely worked because I couldn’t suspend my disbelief even though I wanted to. Lewis switches narrative perspectives with ease and the various subplots are woven skilfully together. It is impossible not to be drawn into the writing, which contains so much atmosphere that it fills your imagination long after you've finished it.

Her breakthrough novel Martha, Jac a Sianco (2004) is widely regarded as a modern classic of Welsh literature, and sits on the Welsh curriculum. The hauntingly atmospheric English-language debut from the acclaimed Welsh author: a love story between a young Welsh woman and a Syrian mapmaker, rich with magic, mystery and the wonder of the sea. I felt it was more of a young adult novel and I wasn't quite convinced by the Syrian aspect of the story - perhaps as a campaigner for Syria I am more likely to be critical than other readers. At the heart of this shimmering marvel of a book sits an unexpected relationship, a brief, intense love affair between highly unusual lovers whose lives drift together like sea-wrack. I liked the setting and the characters in this book, drawn with a lyrical style which was lovely to read.The Creative Non-fiction Award was won by Gareth Evans-Jones for Cylchu Cymru (Y Lolfa), while Gwenllian Ellis took home The Golwg360 Barn y Bobl Award for Sgen i’m Syniad – Snogs, Secs, Sens (Y Lolfa).

The clandestine camp where Hamza is being held is preparing drones to be shipped overseas, a soldierless way of waging war from the skies. I was so invested in the characters worlds, and the balance that Lewis captures of being cloistered by a small village existence, while also freed by a world at the mercy of the coast. Not far away Nefyn tries to heal Hamza’s battered body, cutting his hair (in an incredibly tender ritual) whilst slowly nursing him back to health and sharing with him her trove of beachcombed treasures – ‘the shells, herring-gull skulls, brittle stars and egg cases split and gaping. I’ve known Gwen a long time and she knows my work in Welsh very well, and that was a great starting point.And it’s that slipping away that hurts the most when this emotional hand-grenade of a book deftly pulls out the pin, as briny waters claim their own and a lone man sets sail. The small fishing village with its army living almost on top of them is claustrophobic,giving the wide expanse of the sea a greater feeling of freedom. The novel rides the wave (sic) of magical realism without perhaps fully conjuring that transcendent space. In earlier years I used to paint a lot, and I sold a few of my paintings, and I would love to get back into that too, but at the moment I haven’t got any creativity left after I’ve been writing all day.