3 Review(s)

The Real Series moves to west Wales as poet, past resident and frequent visitor Tony Curtis roams around south Pembrokeshire. On his tour round this half-county Curtis takes in many contrasts, from Pembrokeshire's new potatoes to the oil refineries of Angle, from farmworkers to immigrant artists, from the excited tourism of Folly Farm and Oakwood Park to the tranquility of Bosherston Ponds and timeless beauty of Broadhaven beach. 60 black-and-white photographs help plot the way. In keeping with the series Curtis views his area through the eyes of a local and as a visitor, digging into his own Pembrokeshire backstory - and deeper into its history - but also keenly observing the Pembrokeshire of the new century. The mix of new and old, of memoir, anecdote and history gives us new insights into the patterns and vivacity of life in one of the most beautiful places in Britain. Tony Curtis is the prize-winning author of a dozen collections of poetry, his latest being Heaven's Gate (Seren, 2001). Formerly Chairman of the Welsh Academy of Writers, his awards include an Eric Gregory Award, the UK National Poetry Competition, the Greenwich Festival Poetry Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize and a Cholmondeley Award. He is also the editor of a variety of anthologies, including The Poetry of Pembrokeshire (Seren, 1995). He has written extensively about Pembrokeshire in his own poetry and written about a number of visual artists working there. In 2001 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.