Cynan Jones

A man heads into the snow to hunt down the bear that has been taking stock from farms in the valley. A father tries to make something go right for the son he no longer lives with. A partner is called to help when a cow's labour goes horribly wrong. A fierce storm threatens to bring down a tree on powerlines over a family's home. Fear, vulnerability, tension and resolve course through these arresting and indelible stories from one of the finest British writers at work today.

A man heads into the snow to hunt down the bear that has been taking stock from farms in the valley. A father tries to make something go right for the son he no longer lives with. A partner is called to help when a cow's labour goes horribly wrong. A fierce storm threatens to bring down a tree on powerlines over a family's home. Fear, vulnerability, tension and resolve course through these arresting and indelible stories from one of the finest British writers at work today.

First heard on BBC Radio 4. Water is commodified. The Water Train that serves the city increasingly at risk of sabotage. As news breaks that construction of a gigantic Ice Dock will displace more people than first thought, protestors take to the streets and the lives of several individuals begin to interlock. A nurse on the brink of an affair. A boy who follows a stray dog out of the city. A woman who lies dying. And her husband, a marksman: a man forged by his past and fearful of the future, who weighs in his hands the possibility of death against the possibility of life. From one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, Stillicide is a moving story of love and loss and the will to survive, and a powerful glimpse of the tangible future.

WINNER OF THE BBC NATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARD 2017 Out at sea, in a sudden storm, a man is struck by lightning. When he wakes, injured and adrift on a kayak, his memory of who he is and how he came to be there is all but shattered. Now he must pit himself against the pain and rely on his instincts to get back to shore, and to the woman he dimly senses waiting for his return. With its taut narrative and its wincingly visceral portrait of a man locked in an uneven struggle with the forces of nature, this is a powerful new work from one of the most distinctive voices in British fiction.

Exploring the terrain of rural Wales and its capacity for hidden stories, Hinterland: Ceredigion Landscapes focuses on the essential relationship between the internationally acclaimed TV-drama Hinterland and its setting in Ceredigion, Wales. Essays from the series creators, scriptwriter Cynan Jones and photographer David Wilson explore this relationship, along with a stunning new selection of landscape photography from around the county by David and photographs taken during production. Hinterland: Ceredigion Landscapes presents the narrative potential and stark, unspoilt beauty of Wales, showcasing the reasons its new prominence and popularity amongst international audiences and visitors.

Deep in rural Wales, a farmer is struggling through lambing season when he becomes aware that his land is being stalked by a badger-baiter who brings with him the stark threat of violence. Built of the interlocking fates of these two solitary men, this is a searing story of isolation and loss, from a writer of uncommon gifts.

Take three strangers who all want something more. The Polish shift worker struggling to get a foothold in the new country; a fisherman who needs to make good on a promise to his best friend; and the middle man, determined to make up for lost time and take a little of what he deserves. When a chance comes along, each man must weigh the risk - and then keep his nerve as events take on their own unstoppable momentum. Tightly plotted and sharply observed, this is a gripping story of desperation and duty, and the brutal struggle to progress.

When the farmer wakes at dawn, he can already feel the heat of the day rising and the silence from his wife hanging heavy in the air. As he sets out across his parched fields to find a missing cow, his mind starts to turn over the dreams he harbours, the cares he and his wife both carry alone, and the uneasy sense that something is about to change. Written with clarity and depth, this is a powerful novel about the fragility of life and the small, unseen moments upon which fate twists.

This novella is a retelling of 'Peredur son of Efrog', a medieval Arthurian tale of a daring young knight defending maidens, killing witches and righting wrongs as a good Christian. Here Peredur's quest is to escape the estate that has ruined the lives of his father and brothers, and seen his mother collapse into alcoholism, as he heads off in search of an absent, imaginary guardian named Arthur.Cynan Jones was born in 1975. His first novel, The Long Dry (2007), won a Betty Trask Award from the Society of Authors and has been translated into Italian, Arabic and French ("A book of moving beauty", Le Monde). Everything I Found on the Beach, was published by Parthian in 2011, and his work appeared in Granta 119: Britain (2012). He lives near Aberaeron in west Wales.