What is it with Welsh?

Sunday, 13th September, 3:30pm. Doors at 3:00pm

The Assembly Rooms, Presteigne

An unforgettable session of humour, history and hwyl (Welsh for 'fun' but also, curiously, for 'sail') where we will range through the centuries exploring the only former Roman colony to keep its own language,  the tragic fate of the lost letter K, discover which English king was really called Harri ab Edmwnt ab Owain and how a lovebite changed the world. Also five cracking new insults which could change your life and how come a nation full of Jones’ has no J in its alphabet. Red splodges in rocks may also be explained and how Matthew Arnold gets us hot under the collar and a secret the Empress Maria Theresa wanted to learn. From the mists of time to 90s floor-fillers, Myfanwy Alexander (born a Jones, of course) gives an unusual take on an idiosyncratic culture.

Award-winning writer and broadcaster Myfanwy Alexander has just published her seventh novel. She won a Sony Radio Comedy Award for the long-running Radio Wales series 'The LL Files,' adapted her own novel 'Bloody Eisteddfod' into the first ever co-production between BBC Radio 4 and Radio Cymru and is half of the Wales team on Radio 4's 'Round Britain Quiz.' She is the mother to six remarkable daughters and will never divulge the whereabouts of the lake where she goes swimming.  She is the Chair of the Montgomeryshire Literary Festival, is trying to learn how to write poetry and teaches a rather boisterous Welsh evening class - a class we hope to bring to Presteigne.

Tickets - £8

Available at The Workhouse Gallery, Presteigne or online at:  https://wegottickets.com/f/24578