Tell us about yourself and your creative background
I'm from Belfast and I came to live in Cardiff in 1981. The first job that I got in Cardiff was with HTV, the ITV company in Wales, working as a researcher on what they called ‘socially purposive programmes’, essentially using television as an educational and community-building tool. I ended up working for all the terrestrial broadcasters at different points in my career, making more than 100 documentaries and factual programmes, producing and co-writing a feature film which was the UK’s entry to the foreign language Oscars in its year.
All the way through my broadcasting career, I’ve been very aware of the importance of policy in broadcasting and from the late eighties on, I've been very involved in policy development. I chaired the Campaign for Quality Television in Wales for about ten years, and then in more recent years I was the chair of the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) Media Policy Group. The IWA recently awarded me a Fellowship which recognises a major contribution to ‘making a better Wales’. In 2017, I chaired the Institute of Welsh Affairs, Cardiff Media Summit, and the next day I took a complete break from broadcasting, receiving a grant from Literature Wales to finish a collection of short stories. I didn’t take the break because I was fed up with the media, but because I think sometimes you do have to focus entirely on one thing.
So, what’s your Creative First?
My Creative First is getting my first book of poetry published, a collection of poetry called Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere. It’s a bit unusual because when I had the idea of writing about the theme of Sanctuary, I felt immediately that I didn't want to do it on my own because sanctuary, by its nature, involves at least two people; somebody must be providing the sanctuary for another person to come to. I thought this collection ought to embody that welcoming and hosting aspect of sanctuary too. As I live in Wales for part of the year, and in Northern Ireland for the other part, I thought I should look for two poets in each place, each of whom has experience of some aspect of sanctuary.
In Wales, I found Mahyar, an Iranian who now lives here, and Phil Cope, a photographer and writer himself. Then in Northern Ireland, I found Viviana Fiorentino, an economic migrant from Italy and Csilla Toldy, who fled communist Hungry for Northern Ireland. They each agreed to write a poem collaboratively with me, which is also a bit unusual because I could have simply asked them to donate a poem, but I thought, no, let's really try and open up to each other and it turned out to be a very happy experience for all of us. I asked the poet Glen Wilson, who won the the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing in 2017, if he would be my mentor, he agreed and contributed a poem to the collection. It took around 18 months to pull it all together, and it was published by Seren in 2022.
What was the biggest challenge you faced?
I think for me the biggest challenge was not the writing but it was understanding how to get published. From my work in broadcasting, I understood how to get a commission, but the process of getting published is so different. There’s so much competition and so many voices seeking representation, that aspect isn’t easy. But I've always believed if you do the work and make it as good as it can be, hopefully it will be recognised at some point. Fortunately, Seren took my first book, the short story collection A City Burning, immediately, so I was very lucky in that respect.
I did my best to get individual stories published before trying to find a publisher for my short story collection. I worked really hard on submitting work for publication, on submitting poems for publication, writing articles for newspapers and reviewing other people's work, which I think is a very good thing to do. Close engagement with somebody else's work always means one learns something and it's a way of getting to know other writers.
Can you share tips for others who would like to publish their poetry?
- Make the work as good as you can make it, everything else follows from that.
- Put yourself in the potential publisher's shoes and read your work as though you are a stranger to it. Ask yourself ‘Who will want to read this work?’, ‘What will they gain from reading this?’
- Be generous, work with other writers and make it a group experience, ask for feedback on what you’ve written and provide feedback when asked. This will make it far more enjoyable and valuable.
Why choose Cardiff for your creative first?
Cardiff is a thread running through my work, I’ve felt connected to it for a long time, and I've always found it to be a very amenable, lively city. I’m a member of the Writers Guild, and I’ve always liked the sense of community that brings, connecting me to other writers in the city. Going to writers groups in Cardiff helped me realise that I could become a published poet, just from sensing people’s reactions in the room, and from their feedback and advice.
Cardiff is a great place. It's a great size. It's not too big. You can get to know people. I’ve also written a couple of poems about Cardiff because I'm very enthusiastic about the place!
Find out more about Angela's poetry collection, Sanctuary.
Creative Firsts feature
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