Celebrating Dinas Llên
February – March 2026
From town criers in gold sequinned cloaks to stories of peace and the wonders of the river Rheidol, Aberystwyth University is organising a series of activities during February and March 2026 to celebrate Aberystwyth Ceredigion’s recognition as Wales’s first Dinas Llên / City of Literature. The programme includes a range of creative events which are open to the public free of charge – scroll down for more details and information on how you can be part of the celebrations.
It’s not only the University which is celebrating Aberystwyth Ceredigion’s recent recognition as a Dinas Llên | City of Literature, and part of UNESCO’s worldwide network of Creative Cities. Activities are also being held in Ceredigion by other members of the partnership which was formed in 2021 to develop and submit the application for Dinas Llên / City of Literature status to UNESCO. The full partnership includes Aberystwyth Town Council, Aberystwyth University, the Books Council of Wales, Ceredigion County Council, the National Library of Wales and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (including the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, the Wales Literature Exchange and Literature Across Borders).
Reading Landscapes Residency
Reserve your free place for Wed 4/3
Reserve a free place for Friday 6/3
Dates: 4 and 6 March
Location: Parry-Williams Building, Penglais Campus
This residency will bring together five artists from the performance collective SGÔR on Penglais Campus from Monday 2 March to Friday 6 March.
On Wednesday 6 March at 16:00, an open session will be held in the cinema of the Parry-Williams building on Penglais Campus, where the artists will discuss their practice.
On Friday at 10:00, there will be a public showing of the work developed during the residency in the Foundry Studio of the Parry-Williams building, followed by an audience discussion.
Tickets are free but please reserve a seat in advance via Eventbrite.
Lines in the Landscape: Creative response to Aberystwyth
Reserve your free place
Time: 10:30 – 12:30
Date: Saturday 7 March
Start Location: Aberystwyth Railway Station*
Join artist Nuala Dunn and writer Eluned Gramich for a creative walk through Aberystwyth. Together we’ll explore how we see, hear and experience the town’s unique environment – from the station to the castle, the promenade and beyond. This informal workshop will include a short circular walk, observation exercises, word-jotting, and mark‑making with shapes and lines. No experience is needed and all are welcome but please reserve your place in advance. A collaboration between Aberystwyth School of Art and the Spineless Wonders network.
*In extreme weather (e.g. heavy rain), we’ll explore imaginative and remembered landscapes in the National Library.
Spineless Wonders: Making spineless wonder books
Reserve your free place
Time: 14:00 – 16:00
Dates: Saturday 7 March
Location: Aberystwyth School of Art, Buarth Mawr, SY23 1NG
Learn the basics of book art structures, following templates to create a selection of folded artefacts. Considering the book as a permeable container, we’ll be exploring physical gestures such as folding, cutting, tearing, collaging, tracing, and erasing, to create sequences held within its form. The workshop will be led in English and Welsh by visual artist Catrin Menai and print specialist Harriet Fuller.
All materials will be provided, but you’re invited to bring any papers, fragments, notes, or found elements you feel drawn to incorporate into the process. Reserve your free place in advance on Eventbrite. This project is a collaboration between Aberystwyth School of Art and the Spineless Wonders network.
Er Mwyn Dyn | For Crying Out Loud
Further Information
Date: Sunday 8 March
Location: Aberystwyth town centre
On International Women’s Day on 8 March, a newly commissioned piece by emerging Welsh author Courtney Olwen will be cried out in key locations around Aberystwyth, including Sgwâr Glyndŵr, the castle and the bandstand. The piece will be a response to nominations received by the Er Mwyn Dyn | For Crying Out Loud project, which has been inviting members of the public to write a love letter to a woman they wish to celebrate. Olwen’s words will be cried out loud by the Aber Criers, a unique group of female town criers clad in gold sequinned cloaks and traditional tricorn hats.
Between Santes Dwynwen Day on 25 January and St Valentine’s Day 14 February, more than 160 nominations were received as part of the project which is led by Dr Louise Ritchie from the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies.
Gareth Bonello / The Gentle Good, Dairena Ní Chinnéide, Mererid Hopwood
Free Tickets
Time: 19:30
Date: Tuesday 10 March
Location: Canolfan Arad Goch, Bath Street, Aberystwyth
Gareth Bonello/The Gentle Good in conversation with Professor Mererid Hopwood, discussing his album Elan, and performing the songs inspired by the history and landscape of the Elan Valley.
The Irish poet Dairena Ní Chinnéide will also perform her work, while Mererid reads translations of her poems into Welsh. Simultaneous translation will be provided.
Entry is free but spaces are limited so please reserve a place by emailing Arad Goch: post@aradgoch.org
Photo Credit: Rhodri Brooks Photography
More than just a line on a map: Afon Rheidol
Email to reserve a place
Time: 12:30 – 20:30
Date: Saturday 14 March
Location: Aberystwyth
Join writers, artists and geographers on a weekend of creative walks and workshops to explore Aberystwyth’s changing river and coastal landscapes and start a new writing journey. The activity will be led by Nuala Dunn, Hywel Griffiths, Dewi Roberts, Brian Swaddling and Stephen Tooth. Meet at ‘The Hut’ on South Beach at 12:30 and walk along the banks of the river Rheidol before returning to Canolfan Arad Goch at 17:30 for refreshments followed by a creative writing workshop. You can join for the whole eight hours or come and go during the day as you please.
Tickets are free but places are limited so please register by emailing hmg@aber.ac.uk noting any dietary or accessibility requirements by 11 March.
More than just a line on a map: Aberystwyth coastline
Email to reserve a place
Time: 12:30 – 20:30
Date: Sunday 15 March
Location: Aberystwyth
Join writers, artists and geographers for a walking tour and creative activities along Aberystwyth’s coastal landscape and start a new writing journey. The activity will be led by Nuala Dunn, Hywel Griffiths, Dewi Roberts, Brian Swaddling and Stephen Tooth.
Meet at ‘The Hut’ on South Beach at 12:30 and walk along the coast before returning to Canolfan Arad Goch at 17:30 for refreshments followed by a creative writing workshop.
Tickets are free but places are limited so please register by emailing hmg@aber.ac.uk noting any dietary or accessibility requirements by 11 March.
Lines in the Landscape: Creative response to Aberystwyth
Reserve your free place
Time: 10:30 – 12:30
Dates: Saturday 21 March
Start Location: Aberystwyth Cliff Railway
The landscape can speak to us… if only we are willing to listen. This guided workshop will encompass a gentle walk in which participants will be encouraged to observe and absorb their surroundings. Maybe we will hear the starlings click and whistle, smell the sea foam or notice the hue of the castle ruins. We will interact with the landscape through both words (poetry and prose) and drawing and mark-making. Participants will have opportunity to write and draw the landscape and to make the everyday extraordinary, and will leave with a small booklet full of their own creations. Led by writer Mari Ellis Dunning and artist Emily Wilkinson, this project is a collaboration between Aberystwyth School of Art and the Spineless Wonders network.
Spineless Wonders: Making spineless wonder books
Reserve your free place
Time: 14:00 – 16:00
Dates: Saturday 21 March
Location: Aberystwyth School of Art, Buarth Mawr, SY23 1NG
Learn the basics of book art structures, following templates to create a selection of folded artefacts. Considering the book as a permeable container, we’ll be exploring physical gestures such as folding, cutting, tearing, collaging, tracing, and erasing, to create sequences held within its form. The workshop will be led in English and Welsh by visual artist Catrin Menai and print specialist Harriet Fuller.
All materials will be provided, but you’re invited to bring any papers, fragments, notes, or found elements you feel drawn to incorporate into the process. Reserve your free place in advance on Eventbrite. This project is a collaboration between Aberystwyth School of Art and the Spineless Wonders network.
Reading the Landscape: Online Symposium
Reserve your free place
Time: 14:00 – 15:00
Date: Wednesday 25 March
Location: Online
Addressing the theme of Reading the Landscape, this online Zoom event will bring together special collections at the National Library of Wales/Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, Aberystwyth; University College London; Senate House Library, University of London; and the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester.
Including presentations by Timothy Cutts and Miidong P. Daloeng from NLW/LlGC; Liz Lawes, UCL: Tansy Barton and Leila Kassir, SHL; and Tabitha Tuckett, UoM, we will be sharing small press publications and other ephemera that relate to Reading Landscapes, which is one of the overarching themes of Dinas Llên Aberystwyth Ceredigion UNESCO City of Literature. This online event forms the first section of the in-person PhD Symposium taking place at Aberystwyth School of Art between 2 and 6pm – see details below.
Reading the Landscape: Symposium
Reserve your free place
Time: 14:00 – 18:00
Date: Wednesday 25 March
Location: Aberystwyth School of Art, Buarth Mawr, SY23 1NG
This in-person Symposium: Reading the Landscape is organised by Miranda Whall – interdisciplinary artist, academic, and coach/mentor – and doctoral students at the University’s School of Art, Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, and Department of English and Creative Writing. The symposium brings together guest speakers Ben Porter and Elinor Gwynn, chairs Zoe Quick and Heledd Wyn Hardy, and the University’s doctoral students to explore new ways of being, perceiving, representing, and reimagining the Welsh landscape. The first hour includes the online symposium above. For further information and to book your free place, please visit our Eventbrite page.
Lines in the Landscape: Creative response to Aberystwyth
Reserve your free place
Time: 10:30 – 12:30
Dates: Saturday 28 March
Start Location: Aberystwyth Bandstand
The landscape can speak to us… if only we are willing to listen. This guided workshop will encompass a gentle walk in which participants will be encouraged to observe and absorb their surroundings. Maybe we will hear the starlings click and whistle, smell the sea foam or notice the hue of the castle ruins. We will interact with the landscape through both words (poetry and prose) and drawing and mark-making. Participants will have opportunity to write and draw the landscape and to make the everyday extraordinary. Led by writer Mari Ellis Dunning and artist Elin Crowley, this project is a collaboration between Aberystwyth School of Art and the Spineless Wonders network.
Time: 14:00 – 16:00
Dates: Saturday 28 March
Location: Aberystwyth School of Art, Buarth Mawr, SY23 1NG
Learn the basics of book art structures, following templates to create a selection of folded artefacts. Considering the book as a permeable container, we’ll be exploring physical gestures such as folding, cutting, tearing, collaging, tracing, and erasing, to create sequences held within its form. The workshop will be led in English and Welsh by visual artist Catrin Menai and print specialist Harriet Fuller.
All materials will be provided, but you’re invited to bring any papers, fragments, notes, or found elements you feel drawn to incorporate into the process. Reserve your free place in advance on Eventbrite. This project is a collaboration between Aberystwyth School of Art and the Spineless Wonders network.
Reading the Landscape: Concluding Event
Time: 16:00 – 18:00
Date: Saturday 28 March
Location: Aberystwyth School of Art, Buarth Mawr, SY23 1NG
An event to celebrate the creative work of workshop participants, PhD Symposium, and other contributors to this partnership project between Aberystwyth University School of Art and the Spineless Wonders network.
Featuring a pop-up Exhibition with works responding to items in the National Library of Wales / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru between 4pm and 6pm, with readings by Reading the Landscape: Spineless Wonders contributors and participants between 5pm and 6pm.
No booking required and all welcome.
Directions to the School of Art
Er Mwyn Dyn / For Crying Out Loud
Time: 18:30
Date: Saturday 28 March
Location: Aberystwyth Town Hall, Queen’s Square, SY23 2EB
This special event brings to a close the series of activities held during February and March 2026 as part of the Er Mwyn Dyn / For Crying Out Loud project. There will be a live recording led by the host of the Aberystwyth Book Club Hannah Loy who will be discussing Mari Ellis Dunning’s book Witsh. The Er Mwyn Dyn town criers will also cry out a poem written by Mari Ellis Dunning in response to online abuse experienced by Athika Ahmed, a young woman’s health ambassador in Wales. The poem will include lines of poetry collected from poets across Wales. No booking required and all welcome.
Cariad a Heddwch: Public Artwork
Date: Saturday 28 March
Location: Aberystwyth (details below)
A collaboration between Ton Fawr / Big Wave and Aberystwyth University’s Dialogue Centre will bring contemporary public art pieces to the town’s streets. As part of the wider Heddwch a Chariad creative season, Stop for Peace will feature installations at two bus stops – Heol y Bont, Penparcau and Penglais Hill near Bronglais Hospital – exploring the theme of Positive Peace. The aim is to offer people a moment of reflection and mindfulness during their everyday journeys. The artwork on the bus stops can be seen from 28 March onwards.
Writer in Residence Workshops
Reserve your free place
Date: Various dates in March
Location: Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Penglais Campus
Esyllt Lewis takes up the role of writer in residence at Aberystwyth Arts Centre until the end of March 2026. Working with writing groups and performance classes who meet regularly in the Arts Centre, Esyllt leads an inspired pilot project that embeds literature across the centre’s creative learning and wellbeing programmes.
She will work closely with artists, participants and audiences of all ages to explore how writing can respond to visual art and exhibitions; support wellbeing and reflection; engage people of all ages and backgrounds, and exist both as a stand-alone practice and integrated into other artforms.
Esyllt’s workshops are free of charge but advance booking is recommended. For details, visit the Arts Centre website or contact the Box Office on 01970 623232.
Heolydd Heddwch | Peace Pathways
Date: February-March
Location: Aberystwyth
A workshop and follow-up sessions led by Professor Mererid Hopwood from the Department of Welsh & Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University mark the beginning of the Heolydd Heddwch / Peace Pathways project. The aim is to develop a literary tour mapping the connections between literature and positive peace in Aberystwyth and the wider county of Ceredigion.
The project brings together writers, researchers and creative mapping specialists and will feature individuals such as Gwenallt, T.E.Nicholas, T.H.Parry-Williams, Waldo Williams, Henry Richard and others.
The events listed above are part funded by Welsh Government.
