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Aber: Essays on Aberystwyth

Aber: Essays on Aberystwyth

by KeithMorris (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2008

    $3.38
Synopsis

A striking photographic full-colour hardback book to celebrate a seaside and university town, considered to be one of the most iconic towns in Wales. Authors well known for their associations with Aberystwyth - John Barnie, Catrin Dafydd, Fflur Dafydd, Andrew Green, Mary Lloyd Jones and Gerald Morgan - contribute short essays to accompany Keith Morris's witty images.

$3.38

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1 in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 83
 Publisher: Gomer Press
Published: 14 Jul 2008
ISBN 10: 184323940X
ISBN 13: 9781843239406

Media Reviews
This hardback book contains six essays about Aberystwyth, mid Wales, accompanied by a wealth of local photographs taken by Aberystwyth photographer, Keith Morris. All the contributors live, or have lived, in or near the town. First, Frontier Town by John Barnie, looks at the seashore, from the mouth of the Ystwyth river to the beach at Clarach and the sands of Ynyslas. Accompanied by local zoologist Willie Sinclair, he searches the tidal pools for the variety of seaweed and teeming sea creatures. He explores Tan-y-bwlch with botanist Arthur Chater, finding a wide range of familiar and rare coastal plants. Bird life of the area is included and the essay considers the development of the town and coast over thousands of years. In Carmine and Madder, Mary Lloyd Jones, the well-known artist, looks at the social and cultural aspects of the town, the choice and variety of which she feels is a very well-kept secret. She describes the numerous architectural gems to be found in Aberystwyth the houses, libraries and bookshops as well as the buildings of the University and the crowning splendour of the National Library on the hill. As a painter she looks at the hinterland and considers the future in this fast-changing world. Catrin Dafydd brings the youth and humour of student life to Foodie Aber. It is an enjoyable and informative romp through the eating places of the town, many of which are off the beaten track, and is a nostalgic reminder of the joys of student life in a town set so far from the glitter and bustle of city life. In the beginning . . . by Gerald Morgan, is a discourse on the early history of the town, in particular the burgesses who rented the first plots or burgages in Aberystwyth. He found them in a fascinating document which lists 112 burgesses in 1301. The burgesses names are an intriguing mix of Welsh and English Christian names, origins, occupations, parents names, nicknames, attributes (like Richard Careless) or status. Six were women. The writers interest in and enthusiasm for trying to deduce the truth behind the bare facts of a list of names comes across and is inspiring and exciting. Fflur Dafydds Making Waves will resonate in the hearts of those who came to Aberystwyth, lived the unique student life there and left, never to lose the haunting memories of the small, insular town. She describes the nightlife of the young, the exuberance of those liberated from the ties of home and the impossibility of recapturing that time by returning. The last essay Knowledge Capital is by Andrew Green, Librarian of the National Library of Wales. It is his personal experience of life in Aberystwyth as a callow youth and many years later returning to the town as Librarian. He describes the good and the less satisfactory aspects of the town and, in an informative and enlightening essay will give readers, especially those unfamiliar with the area, an insight into life in a remote western edge of the UK. The essays are interspersed throughout with original large, small and detailed photographs of the town and its environs. The book is a reminiscence of Aberystwyth compressed into 83 colourful pages. Beryl Thomas It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. -- Welsh Books Council
Author Bio
Born in Aberystwyth in 1958, Keith Morris studied Geography, Economics and Urban Planning at university before becoming a freelance photographer in the early 1980's. Apart from his time in education and a brief flirtation with life in California in the mid 80's he has spent all his life in Aberystwyth, living in the house once owned by his grandfather. He has worked for a wide range of cultural and social organisations in Wales over the last thirty or so years, covering music, theatre, film, television, journalism, portraiture, public relations and weddings. He is a regular contributor to television and radio programmes in Wales, in Welsh and English, commenting on and reviewing photography and theatre. His own personal work includes a project to photograph all of his namesakes in Wales, a series of classical black and white nudes and the lifelong mission to document his life, and that of his family, in Aberystwyth. He is a regular contributor to many photography agencies and libraries in the UK, Europe and the USA, specialising in Welsh and Wales-related environmental, social and political subjects. The transformation of photography by the digital revolution has made it possible for him to continue to live and work in his home town while being able to get his images bought by users all around the globe.