Hello and Welcome to Awenyddion - an online community, showcase and shop for new, aspiring and independent authors, poets and artists (collectively "awenyddion" ... find out more below).

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The website has been designed to make it easier for relatively unknown contributors to have a place to showcase their work, sell their books or artwork, and even to receive donations for difficult to monetise art forms like poetry and short stories.

Please look around, read a poem, view a picture, and buy a book! Please also leave a comment and recommend this site to others.

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If you are a poet, writer, freelance journalist or artist, please contact us about displaying your work here.

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Thanks for visiting!

Why "Awenyddion" ?

“AWEN” is the ancient British, Celtic word (and hence can now be found in Welsh, Cornish and Breton)  for "(poetic) inspiration". According to ancient tradition, AWEN is the inspiration of the poets and bards (i.e. those who create poetry, stories, songs et cetera).

In its personification, AWEN is the inspirational muse of creative artists in general: the inspired individual (often a poet or a storyteller) is described therefore as an “awenydd” and the plural form of “awenydd” is “awenyddion”, hence the naming of this website.

In British Celtic mythology “AWEN” is also the name of the goddess Ceridwen’s Cauldron, a legend about which gave rise to a well-known story about the great 6th-century native British bard, Taliesin - the first ever British poet recorded by name in history, in fact. Perhaps interestingly, there are not very many people who actually know the name of Britain’s first named poet!

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Today, the concept of AWEN is alluded to not only by eclectic literati such as ourselves, but also features heavily in modern Druidry; in fact, both the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids and the British Druid Order use symbols of AWEN in their official logos.

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