Missed Alan Bilton talking about ‘At Dawn, Two Nightingales’ on Hannah’s Bookshelf on Saturday? Well, fear not, because you can listen again at https://www.mixcloud.com/Hannahs_Bookshelf/hannahs-bookshelf-pick-and-mix-10052025/https://www.mixcloud.com/Hannahs_Bookshelf/hannahs-bookshelf-pick-and-mix-10052025/

Alan Bilton will once again host this year’s International Dylan Thomas Prize ceremony on Thursday May 15th. Launched in 2006, the annual Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize is one of the most prestigious awards for young writers, aimed at encouraging raw creative talent worldwide. It celebrates and nurtures international literary excellence.

https://www.swansea.ac.uk/dylan-thomas-prize/

Alan Bilton will be talking about his new novel, At Dawn, Two Nightingales’, a comic opera in novel form set in 18thC Bohemia, at the Llandeilo Literary Festival, Sunday 27th April, 12.30.

Tickets from https://www.llandeilolitfest.org/

Carolyn Lewis and Alan Bilton will be discussing their new novels - At Dawn, Two Nightingales, and Time, Again - at Waterstones in Swansea on Wed February 12th at 6pm. Fee entry and all welcome! https://www.waterstones.com/events/alan-bilton-in-conversation-with-carolyn-lewis/swansea

Carolyn Lewis and Alan Bilton will be at Chepstow Books on Wed 5th Feb, for the launch of Carolyn’s new novel, ‘Time, Again’.

Chepstow Book Shop - 13, St. Mary Street, Chepstow NP16 5EW 6.30 start

Free & All welcome.

Writing Outside The Lines: Breaking the Rules of Fiction

A Creative Writing Workshop, Swansea Central Library, Saturday 18th Jan, 11-12.30.

What happens if the usual rules of realism don't apply, gravity is suspended, and you allow your imagination to float free? Join us for an engaging, hands on introduction to breaking the rules of fiction.

One of the pleasures of this week has been to be able to get round to Alan Bilton's new novel, "At Dawn, Two Nightingales", which I've been saving, as he's an author whose worlds I like to become absorbed in, rather than just dipping in in odd moments. And what a world this is, richly described but intangible and unstable, where all is theatrical artifice, and lurking behind each shaky set is something enticingly dark. A picaresque quest for love, and a melancholic celebration of the power of ambiguous texts, it's full of the twisty loops that have characterised his previous novels, with nods, bows, and backhanded to Potocki, Bruno Schulz, Gogol, Nezval, Bulgakov, and, I feel, the Marx Brothers, Jimmy Cagney, and more contemporary references. Literary, playful, and a tiny bit unsettling. Great stuff

“What a strange, intriguing, alluringly bizarre book this is. It is, in the best way, a tad unhinged” - read Niall Griffiths’ review of At Dawn, Two Nightingales at https://nation.cymru/culture/book-review-at-dawn-two-nightingales-by-alan-bilton/

Carolyn Lewis and Alan Bilton will be talking about their new novels, Time, Again and At Dawn, Two Nightingales at Caldicot Library Thursday July 28th 2pm

All welcome!

Watermark is proud as punch to announce that our next title with be the wonderfully moving and beautifully observed novel from Carolyn Lewis, Time, Again. More details coming soon.

Alan Bilton talks to Carole Hailey about his phantasmagorical new novel, At Dawn, Two Nightingales, in a special event hosted by Cover to Cover on Thursday 10 October 6-7 in MumbAles, Mumbles, Swansea.

We are proud to announce that our next Watermark title will be ‘At Dawn, Two Nightingales’ by Alan Bilton. More details to come soon, but in the meantime, here’s a sneak peak at the arresting cover…