I've just arrived in Kolkata for the final leg of the India-Wales Poetry Connections project, led the Literature Across Frontiers and supported by Wales Arts International and British Council Cymru. Over the next few weeks we'll be taking part in a series of workshops, discussions and poetry events in Kolkata, the Jaipur Literature Festival and Delhi. The official launch of a series of poetry collections will be at the festival, including Elsewhere Where Else / Lle Arall Ble Arall (Poetrywala) by Sampurna Chattarji and myself. A conversation about the project between Dei Tomos and I was broadcast last night on BBC Radio Cymru, and is available online until 18 February. For more on the project, including a series of podcasts by me and Sampurna Chattarji, click here.

Tafla foncyff arall ar y tân – mae podlediad Clera cyntaf 2018 wedi cyrraedd! Mae'r podlediad ar gael ar SoundCloud ac ar iTunes, a'r tro hwn yn trafod popeth o ganu mawl i dywysogion i ganu dychan i'r werin i ddod o hyd i amser i ganu yn y lle cyntaf. Ry'n ni'n trafod sut y dylid acennu geiriau estron mewn cerddi caeth, ac yn gofyn a oes lle heddiw i'r anterliwt fel ffurf ddychanol boblogaidd. Cafodd y drafodaeth ar yr anterliwt ei hysgogi gan berfformiad diweddar gan Gwmni'r Morlan yn Aberystwyth, sef anterliwt Donald Bricit a Stryd y Domen – diolch i John Roberts, y cyfarwyddwr, am ei gyfraniad i'r sgwrs. Diolch hefyd i fardd yr Orffwysfa'r mis hwn, Tudur Dylan Jones, am lunio cywydd hyfryd am bwysigrwydd arafu yng nghanol prysurdeb bywyd. Ac mae'n amlwg nad oes dim prysurach na Chlera mis Ionawr, sy'n cynnwys hefyd bos newydd gan Gruffudd Antur a'r holl eitemau eraill arferol. Blwyddyn newydd dda i'n gwrandawyr oll!

1. Pwnco: englyn newydd i'n noddwr hael, Llŷr James (09.00), a sgwrs wedi ei symbylu gan y prifardd Emyr Lewis ynghylch sut y dylid acennu geiriau estron wrth gynganeddu (09.40)
2. 18.40 Pos rhif 11 gan Gruffudd a'i Ymennydd Miniog
3. 22.00 Yr Orffwysfa: cywydd o obaith i ddechrau'r flwyddyn gan y prifardd Tudur Dylan Jones
4. 24.40 Trafodaeth am yr anterliwt, yn sgil cynhyrchiad diweddar gan Gwmni'r Morlan yn Aberystwyth
5. 36.00 Llinell Gynganeddol Ddamweiniol y Mis
6. 42.35 Y Newyddion Heddiw

The first Clera podcast of 2018 has arrived, like a crackling log on a winter fire. And there are plenty of items to warm our listeners this month, from how to use words from other languages in cynghanedd to a discussion on the anterliwt – a Welsh poetic form of play that was popular in the eighteenth century and recently revived as political satire for a production in Aberystwyth. Available on both SoundCloud and iTunes.

The end of 2017 saw the renevation of Level D in Hugh Owen Library at Aberystwyth University. The new entrance and ground floor were formally opened at the beginning of January, and I was asked to write two short poems, one in Welsh and another in English, to mark the occasion. I took the opportunity to read up on the man who gave his name to the building, Hugh Owen himself (1804–81), and I realised maybe for the first time how much work, sacrifice and effort he made to provide education in Wales, for the people of Wales, something we often take for granted today. The renovation – and I hope Hugh would agree – complete with a massive photo of the library at the Old College draped over the far wall, makes it easier than ever before for us all to access education and knowledge.

Would Hugh have liked it? I guess he would
Have frowned at the fabric honeycomb,
The vending machines, Collections in chrome;
But then he'd have seen in the sepia wood
His own reflection, and felt at home.