Shwmae!
Welcome back to Book Break.
Today we are going to Cardiff!
I've never even been to Wales at all before, but the whole country has such an amazing
literary history.
From the Mabinogion, those medieval Welsh stories believed by many to be the earliest
prose stories in all British literature, to the Book of Taliesin, a book of poems, some
of which may date all the way back to the 6th century.
Obviously now there's the Hay on Wye Festival, one of the most famous literary festivals
in the country, and Cardiff itself is the home city of authors from Roald Dahl to David
Nott to Jon Ronson.
But anyway, on with the tour.
So we're starting our tour here at the Millennium Centre, and this is Cardiff's Art Centre,
where you can go and watch theatre and musicals and comedy.
And this lovely quote up here from the poet Gwyneth Lewis.
So the Welsh bit translates as 'Creating truth like glass from inspiration's furnace', and
then there's also English next to it saying 'In these stones horizons sing'.
And the words are made out of stained glass, so this building is meant to reflect the industrial
past of Cardiff, and also the cultural ambitions of the centre.
And then right next door we have the Roald Dahl Plass.
Now Plass is actually the Norwegian word for square, because Roald Dahl's parents were
Norwegian.
And the unusual bowl shape of the square makes it perfect for open air performances, so it's
used as an amphitheatre.
So inside here is the Cardiff Story Museum, which is a really lovely museum which tells
the story of the city, all through the stories of people who lived and worked here throughout
the years.
Definitely worth a visit.
Now Cardiff is famous for its gorgeous shopping arcades, so we are now inside the Castle Arcade.
And the poet Gillian Clarke actually once wrote a whole poem called In a Cardiff Arcade.
You can find it in our book Off the Shelf, which is all about celebrating indie bookshops,
and the poem is about buying a book from a Cardiff arcade.
Now I don't know which arcade she actually wrote it about, but there is a lovely bookshop
in here called Troutmark, so let's go pay it a visit.
And you are also right across from Cardiff Castle, so you get a really lovely sense of
history in here.
So you can see behind me here the Cardiff Water Tower, with its amazing mural painted
by the artist Pete Fowler, all with pictures inspired by the Mabinogion, which are these
old Welsh stories first written down in the middle ages.
And Pete Fowler said that he loves the way that with myths, as they get passed down through
the generations, people interpret them in different ways and add their own stories,
and in the same way he hopes that people will look at his mural and make up their own stories
about it.
So this gorgeous library right behind me here on the perfectly named Library Street is where
the author Ken Follett first fell in love with reading.
I always love hearing those stories about where famous authors first got their inspiration,
and he said that his love for literature was sparked right here.
He actually said 'the library was vital to me, I owe my career to it', so that's pretty
amazing to be able to visit it.
So this building behind me used to be Mrs Pratchett's Sweet Shop, and this is where
Roald Dahl himself bought his sweets.
And it's mentioned in his autobiography Boy, he actually wrote 'the sweetshop in Llandaff
in the year 1923 was the very centre of our lives. Without it, there would have been little
to live for.'
So it's really sad that it's not still open anymore, but there's a whole chapter in Boy
about a prank that they once played, Roald Dahl and his friends, on the sweet shop owner,
by hiding a dead mouse in the shop.
And they were all caned as punishment.
But you can maybe see where he got his inspiration for the mouse in the sweet shop plot in The
Witches.
So those are just a few of the places we were able to visit on our flying tour of Cardiff,
but we'd love to know your suggestions for your favourite literary spots.
And do give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it, and leave us a dragon emoji below
in honour of Wales.
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Coming up next week, we're telling you all about all the jobs you can do in a publishing
house.
And in the meantime, you can always catch us over on Instagram @bookbreakuk.
See you next time!