THE special guest at The Cellar Bards’ fifth birthday celebrations in Cardigan at the end of June will be the up-coming young award winning writer Natalie Ann Holborow, who has won both the Terry Hetherington Award and the Robin Reeves Prize.

She’ll be reading from her debut poetry collection ‘And Suddenly You Find Yourself’, on Friday, June 30, in the Cellar Bar, Cardigan. And she’ll also be co-judging the Bards’ Birthday Poetry Competition, which is offering cash prizes to three winners. Doors and the bar open at 7.30pm, the event starts at 8pm. Entry is £3.

Born in Swansea, Natalie has been recommended and shortlisted for various poetry awards including the Bridport Prize and Hippocrates Prize. Her work has recently appeared in The Stinging Fly and the New Welsh Review.

‘And Suddenly You Find Yourself’ was published by Parthian this year. Natalie’s international launch programme for the book included a tour of India for the Kolkata Literary Festival and many reading events in the UK, including the Hay Festival.

The Cellar Bards are giving away cash prizes to the winners of their poetry competition as part of the celebrations for their fifth birthday. Top prize is £25, 2nd is £15, and 3rd is £10.

Entrants will have just three minutes to perform their work, which must be about current affairs – local, national or international - politics, Brexit, terrorism, the June 8 result, austerity, ecology, food banks, North Korea – anything you like so long as it’s topical.

The mini-slam will be judged by guest Natalie and Paul Morris, of Bookends Bookshop.

The event will be compered by poet Dave Urwin. Open mic spots are always available at The Cellar Bards for writers of poetry, short stories, micro-fiction and novels (max five minutes each).

Anyone who wants to read – for the competition or in the open mic – should put their names down at the door on the night or just go along to listen to Natalie Ann Holborow, the competition entries, plus a great variety of spoken word performances from the talented regulars.