IT’S a little known fact, but Aberystwyth is home to a publishing phenomenon.

Nestled amongst the trees, in one of those metal buildings at the arts centre, is a small but perfectly formed independent women’s press that is the longest-standing organisation of its kind in the UK.

Long after Virago succumbed to the behemoth that is Penguin Random House and the demise of The Women’s Press, Gwasg Honno Press is still actively publishing and promoting the writing of contemporary and classic women writers in and from Wales. With the support of the Welsh Books Council, Honno publishes seven to 10 new titles each year, including English and Welsh language classics.

It continues to win prizes and plaudits from reviewers and readers at home and abroad: its titles have won awards from the Crime Writer’s Association, Wales Book of the Year and even on one glorious occasion the Erotic Awards Publication of the Year.

Thirty years ago a few women passionate about Welsh women’s writing got together, Luned Meredith, Rosanne Reeves and others sat around a kitchen table in Cardiff and began to work out how they might raise funds to provide opportunities for women writers in Wales,

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