{"id":9077,"date":"2026-02-08T14:29:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T14:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?page_id=9077"},"modified":"2026-03-09T14:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T14:03:10","slug":"2026-saturday-3-30pm-alex-johnson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?page_id=9077","title":{"rendered":"2026 Saturday – 3.30pm Alex Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

My Year of Reading Welshly with Alex Johnson<\/span><\/p>

in conversation with Mike Parker<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Date:\u00a0 Saturday 13th June 2026<\/strong><\/p>

Venue:\u00a0 Montgomery Town Hall<\/strong><\/p>

Time:\u00a0 3.30-4.15pm<\/strong><\/p>

Tickets:\u00a0 \u00a39.00<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What happens when an Englishman from the Welsh Marches decides to read a book from or about Wales every week for a year? This is your chance to find out.<\/p>

Join Alex Johnson as he takes us through the eclectic collection of novels, poetry and non-fiction from the last century – written in English or translated from Welsh – that he chose to help him understand Welsh literature and culture.<\/p>

From classics such as Under Milk Wood<\/em> and Ivor the Engine<\/em>, through to Manon Steffan Ros\u2019s The Blue Book of Nebo<\/em>, explore how Alex found both a distinctive Welsh voice and so many universal themes.<\/p>

In conversation with Festival favourite, Mike Parker, it\u2019s your chance to see if he chose your<\/em> favourite \u2013 and maybe take the Reading Welshly Challenge yourself.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/strong>Alex Johnson<\/strong> is a writer, journalist, half-decent snooker player and amateurish letterpress printer. After 15 years as part of The Independent<\/em> newspaper\u2019s online team he is now the Online Editor of Fine Books & Collections<\/em> magazine, and contributes a regular column to the Idler<\/em> magazine. Alex is the author of various books about books including Book Towns<\/em>, Improbable Libraries<\/em>, A Book of Book Lists<\/em>, Rooms of Their Own<\/em>, Shelf Life<\/em> and 2025\u2019s My Year of Reading Welshly<\/em>. He lives in St Albans.<\/p>

Mike Parker<\/strong> is the bestselling author of On the Red Hill<\/em> and All the Wide Border<\/em> as well other books including Map Addict<\/em> and The Wild Rover<\/em>. He was also the co-author of the first five editions of the Rough Guide to Wales<\/em>.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Born and bred in the Midlands, Mike now lives near Machynlleth, identifying as Cymro o ddewis – a Welshman by choice.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Back to programme listing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0 My Year of Reading Welshly with Alex Johnson in conversation with Mike Parker Date:\u00a0 Saturday 13th June 2026 Venue:\u00a0 Montgomery Town Hall Time:\u00a0 3.30-4.15pm Tickets:\u00a0 \u00a39.00 What happens when an Englishman from the Welsh Marches decides to read a book from or about Wales every week for a year? This is your chance to …<\/p>\n

2026 Saturday – 3.30pm Alex Johnson<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9077","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nMonty Lit Fest 2026: My Year of Reading Welshly with Alex Johnson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out what happens when an Englishman from the Welsh Marches decides to read a book from or about Wales every week for a year.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?page_id=9077\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2026 Saturday - 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