Jane Blank

My husband, Jem and I travelled by train from Caerdydd to London, then on to Paris. From there we stayed in Verona for a week  and then took the train through to Naples where Joseph Panormo, the main protagonist of my fourth novel ‘The Cello’ was born in 1768. We were leaving the north behind.  To a certain extent, leaving the money and the tourists behind. Verona, like Florence, is enchanting, packed full of marvels from the Roman era, through the wonderful Medieval and el

In the beginning... It can begin anywhere: A face; a place; a photograph; a conversation; a found story running through the generations; a media article; a friend’s testimony. At first it’s just a tingle in the mind, but then you test it, start to dig. Initially it’s fragile – don’t even talk about it! Start scribbling the odd phrase or paragraph in a rough notebook, don’t put pressure on the delicate idea by capturing it on file. Carrying the idea around with you, does it st

Introducing Joseph Panormo 1768 - 1837 A long time since I blogged. A long time in the creative wilderness. So, what have I been doing...

Falcondale, an Italianate villa built by the Harford family of Blaise Castle, Bristol in 1821 and now a Country House Hotel, can perhaps...

Dwi wedi bod: in a graveyard; at the top of Cwm Einion with a lead mine; on a farm; in the National Library; at the Eisteddfod and in a...

Upstairs at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, in a glass case, lies the Nanteos Cup. Broken and brittle it's nothing but a...

lmbolc and Candlemas celebrations in Tregaron. Even for those of us who now live in towns, insulated from the dark of winter by street...

Hilary Mantel - what a loss this year and Dr Alan Kent, a dear friend in his 50s. Cornish scholar, dramatist, novelist and poet, we were...

Dear Friends, Do come if you can, and bring a friend! My latest book, Nanteos: The Dipping Pool was published in September 2020 with a...

Last weekend, a small team put on a big-hearted literary festival in the historic village or Eglwysfach in the north of Ceredigion. The...