A WRITER born and raised in Newcastle Emlyn has had her first novel published.

Angela Johnson (nee Evans) has published ‘Arianwen’, a portrayal of rural life set in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire across the broad sweep of the 20th century.

Although it is her first published novel, Angela, a former pupil at Ysgol y Ddwylan and Llandysul Grammar School, is no stranger to the written word.

The retired English teacher, who now lives in Kent, was shortlisted for the Impress Prize for Fiction. She has also won, and been shortlisted, in poetry competitions after studying creative writing at the University of Kent.

“I have always wanted to write about my Welsh background and have childhood memories of people telling stories, and I remember vividly some of the interesting rural characters I met as a child,” said Angela.

“My childhood seemed to reverberate with story-telling.

“My grandad, who had a smallholding in Tanygroes and supported his income by trimming the hedgerows along the roadsides, loved stories and their narration.

“I also wanted to pay tribute to the Wales of my childhood: a time of such transition and change.

“I'm inspired by the Welsh landscape, and most of all, by the musical rhythms of the Welsh language, and, also I was inspired by an inspirational English teacher at Llandysul Grammar School between 1960 and 1966.”

Arianwen has been published by the recently established Llandeilo-based Black Bee Books. Further details of the book are available at www.amzn.to/3kHnJmg