Poet, author and trainee counsellor Rhian Elizabeth is the guest performer at Cardigan’s Cellar Bards on Friday, 9 October.

Originally from the Rhondda Valley and now living in Cardiff, Rhian Elizabeth will read from her latest poetry collection: ‘maybe i'll call gillian anderson’, and her previous volume, ‘girls etc’, which won the Wales Book Of The Year Poetry Award and the Nation Cymru People's Choice Award 2025.

Both published by Broken Sleep Books, ‘maybe i'll call gillian anderson’ is a raw, darkly funny, and deeply affecting collection that navigates the liminal spaces of love, loss, and reinvention.

With a voice that is both unguarded and sharply observant, Elizabeth crafts poems that move through heartbreak, motherhood, memory and self-destruction with biting wit and aching tenderness.

While in ‘girls etc’, Rhian Elizabeth showcases defiance alongside beauty and vulnerability. The language feels instinctual and the poems pulse and ripple with energy, their rhythms perfectly pitched as she writes of personal experience with an intensity and sharpness that challenges you to look closely.

Named by The Welsh Agenda as one of Wales’ Rising Stars, one of 30 people working to make Wales better over the next 30 years, Rhian Elizabeth is a previous Hay Festival Writer at Work and Writer in Residence at the Coracle International Literary Festival in Tranås, Sweden.

A previous winner of The Terry Hetherington Young Writers Award, her prose and poetry have been listed in various competitions and prizes and appeared in many magazines and anthologies worldwide, as well as being featured on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme. Debut novel, Six Pounds Eight Ounces, published in 2014 by Seren, was shortlisted for The International Rubery Book Award and her first poetry collection: the last polar bear on earth, was published in 2018 by Parthian Books.

Whether tracing the ghosts of past selves, confronting absence, or yearning for connection, Rhian Elizabeth’s writing refuses sentimentality, instead offering something braver, an intimacy that is as unsparing as it is humane.

The event, partly supported by Literature Wales’ Inspiring Communities Fund, will be hosted by Aberaeron poet Karen Gemma Brewer, with open mic slots available following Rhian Elizabeth’s performance.

“We welcome anyone who wants to share their spoken words with our audience, with new and experienced performers equally welcome,” said Karen Gemma.

“Just sign up at the door for a four minute spot, whether to read your own work or that of a favourite poet. We welcomes all forms of spoken word including poetry, rap, flash fiction, story-telling, episodes of longer fiction and non-fiction and even the occasional original song.”

Cellar Bards, held on the second Friday of the month, always has open mic spots available and often features a guest poet.

In November, Cellar Bards will host Swansea poet Peter Thabit Jones, founder and editor of The Seventh Quarry Press. There is a charge of £5 for entry, which includes a raffle, with book prizes donated by Cardigan based publisher Parthian.

Doors at the Cellar on Quay Street open at 7.30pm.