National Poet of Wales Hanan Issa joins Monty Lit Fest favourites Mike Parker and Sioned Wiliam for a whistle-stop tour of borders, both on the map and in our heads and hearts.  

As Montgomeryshire well knows, a border is a place of contested identity and sometimes tension, but also one of coming together, of mutual support, strength and celebration.  The session will feature Hanan’s collection My Body Can House Two Hearts, Mike’s book All the Wide Border, and more besides.

Hanan Issa is a Welsh-Iraqi poet, filmmaker, and artist. Her publications include her poetry collection My Body Can House Two Hearts, Welsh Plural: Essays on the Future of Wales and her children’s poetry anthology And I Hear Dragons. Her winning monologue With Her Back Straight was performed as part of the Hijabi Monologues. She is part of the writers’ room for Channel 4’s award-winning series We Are Lady Parts. Her short film The Golden Apple – a Ffilm Cymru/ BBC Wales commission – is available on iPlayer. She was the 2023 Hay International Fellow and is the current National Poet of Wales.

Mike Parker is the bestselling author of On the Red Hill and All the Wide Border as well other books including Map Addict and The Wild Rover. He was also the co-author of the first five editions of the Rough Guide to Wales.  He has written and presented several series of travelogues for ITV Wales, has worked on numerous other TV and radio programmes, and occasionally performs as a stand-up comedian and actor.  Born and bred in the Midlands, Mike now lives near Machynlleth, identifying as Cymro o ddewis – a Welshman by choice.

Sioned Wiliam comes from Barry. She is the author of the novels, Dal i Fynd, Chwynnu, Cicio’r Bar and Y Gwyliau and is currently working on her fitfh, 60-Rhywbeth.  Sioned began her television and radio career at the BBC, before becoming an independent producer. Her credits include Tonight with Jonathan Ross, Game On, Big Train and Yonderland. She also produced iDot and exec produced Rhestr Nadolig Wil for Boom/S4C. She has been nominated for a Bafta award three times and has won a British Comedy Award and a Bronze Rose at Montreux. She was also a Commissioning Editor for ITV and BBC Radio 4 and spent last year as the interim CEO of S4C.