‘Where is the Welsh short story going? Wherever Rob Mimpriss takes it.’ John O’Donoghue. Pugnacious Little Trolls, a new collection of short stories published by Cockatrice Books. ‘bathed in white fire in every sense... Borges would happily own them.’ Gee Williams on Pugnacious Little Trolls, a new collection of short stories published by Cockatrice Books. ‘a work of great beauty and subtle force… a fine, distinctive voice.’ Jim Perrin on Pugnacious Little Trolls, a new collection of short stories published by Cockatrice Books. Books: Fiction. ‘Dark, complex, pensively eloquent’ (Sophie Baggott, New Welsh Review) — Reasoning, For His Warriors and Prayer at the End, three short-story collections now published by Cockatrice Books. 10th May 2021: Following Richard Suchorzewski’s vow to ‘return to terrify’ the functional parties of Wales, I would like to announce that I will return to terrify the Nobel Prize for Literature committee. Books: Fiction. ‘Heaving with loss, regret and familial bonds.’ Annexe Magazine on ‘Gemini,’ a short story in Prayer at the End, published by Cockatrice Books. Books: Translations. ‘Lucid, skilful, and above all, of enormous timely relevance’ (Jim Perrin). Rob Mimpriss’s new translation of Morgan Llwyd’s allegorical masterpiece, A Book of Three Birds. ‘There is nothing ostentatious about his writing: most of his characters lead unremarkable, even humdrum, lives; there are few dramatic plot developments... And yet the best of these pieces express something important...’ Brian George, The Short Review. ‘These stories are a rare kind of joy. Even when they approach moments of discontent and danger they bring an optimism founded in human relationships. This is a wonderful collection.’ Prof. Graëme Harper, editor, New Writing. Books: Translations. ‘An invaluable translation.’ Angharad Price on Hallowe’en in the Cwm, the short stories of Glasynys, translated by Rob Mimpriss. ‘Humour and pity often arise from the characters’ inability to understand themselves and those close to them. In suggesting the truth and the self-deception Mimpriss not only engages our sympathy but makes us question our assumptions about ourselves.’ Caroline Clark, gwales.com ‘Quietly written, contemplative... whose powerhouse is the depth of its moral reflection.’ Siân Preece, Rhys Davies Competition on ‘Hamilton Park,’ published in Prayer at the End. ‘an immaculate collection.’ Nigel Jarrett, twice winner of the Rhys Davies Award, on Prayer at the End, a collection of short stories by Rob Mimpriss published by Cockatrice Books. ‘Through the stealthy movements of his prose, Rob Mimpriss enacts the quiet enigma of people’s lives and relationships. The result is an understated fiction of compelling intensity.’ Prof M Wynn Thomas. The story is called ‘Valiant’ in the collection, For His Warriors. I recommend it. Highly. It feels to me already like a classic.’ Fiona Owen, editor, Scintilla. A quiet writer with a loud voice... I’ll be listening for more.’ Michael Nobbs, gwales.com on Reasoning: Twenty Stories, published by Cockatrice Books. Books: Fiction. ‘In the most seemingly unremarkable of Rob Mimpriss’s pieces there is a skill, and a mystery and elusiveness to that skill, which other short-story writers might envy.’ Gee Williams. Books: Anthologies. ‘Industry in the Country of the Blind,’ new fiction in Land of Change, radical prose from Wales edited by Gemma Howell and forthcoming from Culture Matters. Books: Anthologies: ‘this exemplary collaboration’ (Philip Gross). Dangerous Asylums, an anthology of fiction by leading Welsh writers, inspired by Denbigh Mental Hospital, edited by Rob Mimpriss.

Photograph of Rob Mimpriss with Robert Smith

Image by WalesOnline

I am pictured above (right) with independence activist, Robert Smith, at the march for Welsh independence in Merthyr Tudful, 7th September 2019. Having been inspired in my teens by the history of cultured passive resistance to cultural persecution described by Gwynfor Evans in his history of Wales, Land of My Fathers, and by his vision of European union, I have sought to help rebuild the political and cultural independence of Wales for the whole of my adult life. I have worked on conservation projects in Scotland, Estonia, Iceland and Costa Rica, and am also rather fond of cats.

I am proud to have worked with Liz Ashworth, The Origami Bird (Parthian, 2004); Glenda Beagan, winner of the Cardiff International Poetry Competition, the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition and the Trewithen Poetry Prize; writer and scholar, James David Audlin; Carys Bray, winner of the Scott Prize for Short Fiction and author of Sweet Home (Salt, 2012); editor and poet, Brett Evans; John Fraser Williams, Scan (Cinnamon, 2012); Debz Hobbs-Wyatt, winner of the Bath Short Story Award in 2013, and author of While No one was Watching (Parthian, 2013); Louise Fazackerley, winner of the Radio 3 Verb New Voices award; writer and journalist, Jim Perrin; Mike Robbins, scientist, novelist and travel writer; Siân Northey, Yn y Tŷ Hwn (Gomer, 2011); poet and musician Fiona Owen; poet and novelist A.L. Reynolds; Simon Thirsk, short-listed for the Costa Award 2010 for his novel, Not Quite White (Gomer, 2010); Gee Williams, the award-winning author of four short-story collections, most recently A Girl’s Arm (Salt 2012); Samantha Wynne Rhydderch, author of Silk (Seren, 2001), Not in These Shoes and Banjo (Picador, 2008 and 2012), twice shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year Award; with Alistair Sims, writer in residence at the Meillionydd excavations, and his colleagues Prof Raimund Karl and Dr Kate Waddington; and the clinicians and academics of the North Wales Mental Health Research Project.

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