Jim Perrin talks to the Wales Literature Exchange about his latest book West

Jim Perrin's 'Slate Country Fictions' is in the winter issue of New Welsh Review, out this week.

Jim Perrin from Wales Literature Exchange | Cyfn on Vimeo.

Film by Sara Penrhyn Jones

Jim Perrin's latest book, West, A Journey Through the Landscapes of Loss, was out in paperback from Atlantic this spring. His essay 'Slate Country Fictions, Outside Views of Wales' looks at three novels of the past sixty years which succeed to varying degrees in capturing 'the agricultural/industrial interface along the northern and western margins of Eryri: sheep-country; slate-country; Kate Roberts country.' The novels are Patrick O'Brian's Testimonies(1952), John Wain's A Winter in the Hills (1970), and Peter Ho Davies' The Welsh Girl(2007). You can read Jim Perrin's 'Slate Country Fictions' in the winter '11 issue of New Welsh Review, straight to your doormat this weekend if you subscribe or order from us direct, or in shops from 1 December.

Next author interview: Matthew Francis, whose long poem 'Things that Make the Heart Beat Faster', inspired by Shei Shōnagon (Japanese courtesan and recorder of The Pillow Book), is also in our winter issue. Things that Make the Heart Beat Faster is the title of Matthew's next poetry collection.