Scribbling and scratchin'
Dave Lewis has written content for various web sites for many years, including the now defunct BBC Wales Scrum V fanzine and four hugely successful rugby sites with Rivals.net. He has also written an infrequent newspaper column for the Pontypridd Observer. He has written poetry since his teens and been published in a number of literary magazines and web sites. He is currently working on a short story, prose and poetry book.
Rhys Davies Short Story Competition 2010
Dave was named as one of the runners-up in February 2010 for his short story "Onions", taken from his up and coming second book "Urban Birdsong". To see the list of winners - click here.
Judges adjudication:
"...the world of Onions is an enclosed one; specifically, a valleys curry-house at a weekend, in which we witness the clash of several disparate cultures, all of which the writer powerfully evokes with the briefest of sketches. The epiphanic moment at the story's close is expertly done: the headlights of a passing car beam into the restaurant, and 'the people were lit up, momentarily, clear as diamonds [and] Mohammed could see for the first time in his life'. A remarkably controlled piece of work."
- Stevie Davies & Niall Griffiths
Wales Book of the Year 2010
Dave has made the list of eligible writers for this prestigious prize - click here to see the full list of books.
Poetry book
In March 2009 Dave published his first book of poetry - Layer Cake - spanning the last 24 years. To buy this collection just click below:
Buy direct from the author by clicking the button below:
or buy "Layer Cake" from Amazon.co.uk (takes a little longer)
About:
"Dave Lewis is a poet, teacher, zoologist, web designer, global
traveller, husband, father, newspaper columnist, and so many other
things. He is a 21st Century Renaissance Man; a genuine multi-tasker; a
man who's life history and work reflects and documents so many of the
changes that effect us all today.
"His poetry is honest and direct. Each word is effective. Each word is
easily understood. Unlike so many others today, he writes from the heart
and soul, from raw emotion; he has drawn on his wide ranging knowledge
and experience to evolve a style, an elevated poetic diction, which
eschews artifice and ornate language. To do otherwise, to court
obscurity, to write for just a small coterie, would be for him to miss
the mark. Dave Lewis' poetry is for everyone, not just the metropolitan
intelligentsia, or Arts Council elite, or pseudo University academics.
"Although a true son of his native South Wales Valleys, his work moves
from the local, to the national, to the international; he aspires to a
universal discourse, beyond the here and now, and beyond class, or
localness, or country.
"His subject matter is both urban and naturalistic and reflects not only
a love of towns and cities but also his awareness and passion for the
wild landscapes that lie beyond - from the wet streets of his home town,
Pontypridd, and the sunlit switchbacks of San Francisco, to the lush,
green, Breconshire mountains, and the dry, arid, deserts of Kenya
"This excellent collection of Dave Lewis' work is highly recommended and
it should help establish poetry to its rightful place as a vital form of
artistic expression for everyone."
- John Evans
Sample poems from Layer Cake:
New work from Dave's second book:
Poetry magazines / webzines
Dave has been published in the following publications:
Inclement magazine, The Seventh Quarry, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Red Poets, The Beat, Monkey Kettle, Bolts of Silk, Ctrl+Alt+Del, Read This Magazine, Gloom Cupboard, Spark Bright, Treeblog, Square magazine, Bottom of the World, Open Mouse, Origami Condom, Buzzle.com, Tontine magazine
Poet of the Month
Dave has just been announced "Pure Poetry's - Poet of the Month" by Nick Fisk for April 2009.
Columns
Below are a list of newspaper, magazine and website columns. Most columns pop-up in a new window in Word format:
- Tweens (20/08/09)
- The Times They Are A Changin' (31/12/08)
- To Haka Or Not To Haka (02/12/08)
- Autumn Woe (20/11/08)
- The 5th Region (03/09/08)
- Tourism Ponty Style (20/06/08)
- Greening Our Towns (21/05/08)
- Pool For Thought (27/04/08)
- Land Glorious Land (27/04/08)
- Committees (08/03/08)
- Fishing For Success (11/11/07)
- The Master Plan (28/10/07)
- Johnny's Bike (11/11/07)
- Ducks In A Row (01/07/07)
- Pushing Ponty (01/05/07)
- Where Have All The Students Gone? Far, Far Away (24/01/07)
- Christmas Shopping (01/12/06)
- Wales, Wales, Wales (14/11/06)
- I Had A Dream (25/09/06)
- Halloween (22/09/06)
- Merging On The Ridiculous (08/01/04)
Listings
Academi website listing -
click here.
Poem Hunter -
click
here.
Press
Wales Online -
click here.
Free Press Release -
click here.
Pure Poetry -
click here.
Welsh Tartans -
click here.
