Mid-Wales writer Jemma L King brings the award-winning lyricism and insight of her latest poetry collection to Cardigan’s Cellar Bards.

Released by Cardigan based publisher Parthian, ‘Moon Base One’ is born from the most profound of human experiences; love, loss and the fight for life itself.

When Jemma learned that her unborn son faced life-threatening conditions, her world unravelled and in his first fragile months, she turned to poetry to make sense of the impossible. Her work asks what happens before we begin, and what happens when we meet our most significant endings?

With titles ranging from ‘3-month scan’ and ‘Arrival at Birmingham Children’s Hospital’ to ‘Blodeuwedd’ and ‘Plato’s Atlantis’, Jemma describes Moon Base One as “a meditation on survival, rebirth and the ever-unfolding mystery of what it means to be alive”.

Spanning centuries and continents, her collection moves through time and space from the ice fields of Antarctica to the Salem Witch Trials, from ancient Greek myths to the neon drenched visions of Andy Warhol and Alexander McQueen. It is a cosmic, deeply personal journey interrogating the boundaries of existence, the fragility of life and the fierce power of motherhood.

Jemma reminds us that even in our darkest moments, we remain part of something vast, luminous and filled with possibility.

A winner of the Terry Hetherington Young Welsh Writer of the Year Award, shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, Wales Book of the Year and The Sundress Prize for her critically acclaimed debut collection, ‘The Shape of a Forest’, Jemma was also honoured with a Scritture Giovani fellowship and successfully followed up with her second book, ‘The Undressed’, both published by Parthian.

‘Moon Base One’, Jemma's third solo collection, includes her poem ‘The Valley’, about the 1896 flooding of the Elan Valley to supply water to Birmingham, awarded the gold medal in the Cambrian Mountains Society poetry competition.

“Amongst the properties lost were Nantgwyllt House and Cwm Elan House which both had strong connections to Percy Bysshe Shelley,” she said/.

The poet has featured on the BBC, CBC, Sky TV, in the Guardian, and appeared at last year’s Gŵyl Lyfrau Aberaeron Book Festival. She has also read her work internationally, including at the March Hare festival in Canada and the Berlin Literature Festival.

Jemma continues to explore new poetic forms and themes and in addition to landing ‘Moon Base One’, will bring new work to the Cellar.

There will also be readings from The Cellar Bards’ newly released anthology, ‘Open Heart Microphone’, edited by Aberaeron poet Karen Gemma Brewer.

See Jemma at the Cellar on Quay Street, Cardigan on Friday, 8 May. Doors open at 7.30pm.

Entry is £5 on the door, including a free raffle, with open mic slots available for anyone who wants to share words with the audience.

Cellar Bards is held on the second Friday of the month and welcomes both new and experienced performers. Poetry, rap, flash fiction, story-telling, episodes of longer fiction and non-fiction are all accepted, just sign up at the door.