contemporary poetry at its very best

OK! He's finally here!

Frank Olding is an archaeologist.  In addition to his work in museums and archaeology, he has a deep personal and political commitment to the language and culture of Wales.  He is a widely published poet and literary critic.  For two years he taught Welsh to adults for the Workers' Education Association and the University of Wales. For six years, he was Welsh-language editor of Poetry Wales and a member of the executive committee of Y Gymdeithas Gerdd Dafod (The Welsh Traditional Poetry Society).  He has edited and published anthologies of new Welsh-language poetry and was a member of the Glamorgan-Gwent team which won the Ymryson y Beirdd (team poetry competition) at the Newport National Eisteddfod in 1988.  As chairman of the Abergavenny Cymreigyddion Society (est. 1833!), he is active in the Welsh-language activities of Abergavenny and the surrounding district and has recently completed a commission from Prof. Hywel Teifi Edwards to write a history of the Welsh-language literary heritage of the Usk valley.

Frank's non-poetic publications include The Prehistoric Landscapes of the Eastern Black Mountains, The Folklore of Blaenau Gwent, and Vanished Abergavenny/Y Fenni Ddiflanedig.  In 2002, he wrote and presented the BBC 2 archaeology series Reading the Ruins.