WINNER OF THE NEW WELSH WRITING AWARDS 2015
People, Place & Planet: WWF Cymru Prize for Writing on Nature and the Environment
As precise and nuanced as Japanese calligraphy, this memoir of the author's stay on the remote Hokkaido island in the far north of Japan, has at its heart the mountain, Yotei-San, the region’s iconic equivalent to Mount Fuji. As much about learning a language (with connotations of ‘reading’ a wild landscape) as it is about nature, this dignified and nuanced work evokes what is cultured and cultivated, and yet also honours the wild; the untranslatable. With its themes of seasonal transformation, the peripheral, folklore, loneliness and learning to belong, this work takes a personal philosophical stance in relation to the centre and the periphery.
“Eluned Gramich has written the perfect essay - a minutely detailed yet nuanced evocation of place and personalities that is full of ecologically precise imagery and is as attentive to the Japanese language as it is to Hokkaidan landscape.” Author and Judge of New Welsh Writing Awards 2015, Mark Cocker
“Eluned’s touching and perfectly written memoir shows how central nature and an appreciation of landscape is to Japanese culture.” Editor of New Welsh Review, Gwen Davies
"There are many qualities to admire in Woman Who Brings the Rain: Gramich’s adroit and touching narrative, her poetic style, and lightness of touch are but a few examples. Most rewarding is the philosophical approach revealed at the memoir’s core: her embracing of notions of cultural multiplicity, fluidity and adaptability that suits perfectly the changing boundaries of our modern world.” Wales Arts Review
"Most rewarding is the philosophical approach... [Gramich's] embracing of... cultural multiplicity, fluidity and adaptability... suits perfectly the changing boundaries of our modern world." Wales Art Review
WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTING ADJUDICATION (PROF TONY BROWN):
"Quite beautiful. [The author encounters a culture that is completely alien] and she does it with a poet's eye... precisely and vitally. She reads this unfamiliarity with all her imaginative nerve-endings open: the effect is quite remarkable... [reminiscent of a] netsuke [in its] precision." Wales Book of the Year Shortlisting Adjudication (Prof Tony Brown)
"Enticing... a wonderful read which will nourish me for months to come"
"Such an evocative read... very beautiful... visual story"
"Really beautiful and thoughtful... a page-turner and highly recommended." Amazon.co.uk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QHvkFOxS9w – Wales Book of the Year 2016 Shortlisting Adjudication Video, discussion of book towards end
www.youtube.com/watch?v=15iL_6gQBYE – Wales Book of the Year 2016 Shortlist Readings
People, Place & Planet: WWF Cymru Prize for Writing on Nature and the Environment
As precise and nuanced as Japanese calligraphy, this memoir of the author's stay on the remote Hokkaido island in the far north of Japan, has at its heart the mountain, Yotei-San, the region’s iconic equivalent to Mount Fuji. As much about learning a language (with connotations of ‘reading’ a wild landscape) as it is about nature, this dignified and nuanced work evokes what is cultured and cultivated, and yet also honours the wild; the untranslatable. With its themes of seasonal transformation, the peripheral, folklore, loneliness and learning to belong, this work takes a personal philosophical stance in relation to the centre and the periphery.
“Eluned Gramich has written the perfect essay - a minutely detailed yet nuanced evocation of place and personalities that is full of ecologically precise imagery and is as attentive to the Japanese language as it is to Hokkaidan landscape.” Author and Judge of New Welsh Writing Awards 2015, Mark Cocker
“Eluned’s touching and perfectly written memoir shows how central nature and an appreciation of landscape is to Japanese culture.” Editor of New Welsh Review, Gwen Davies
"There are many qualities to admire in Woman Who Brings the Rain: Gramich’s adroit and touching narrative, her poetic style, and lightness of touch are but a few examples. Most rewarding is the philosophical approach revealed at the memoir’s core: her embracing of notions of cultural multiplicity, fluidity and adaptability that suits perfectly the changing boundaries of our modern world.” Wales Arts Review
"Most rewarding is the philosophical approach... [Gramich's] embracing of... cultural multiplicity, fluidity and adaptability... suits perfectly the changing boundaries of our modern world." Wales Art Review
WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTING ADJUDICATION (PROF TONY BROWN):
"Quite beautiful. [The author encounters a culture that is completely alien] and she does it with a poet's eye... precisely and vitally. She reads this unfamiliarity with all her imaginative nerve-endings open: the effect is quite remarkable... [reminiscent of a] netsuke [in its] precision." Wales Book of the Year Shortlisting Adjudication (Prof Tony Brown)
"Enticing... a wonderful read which will nourish me for months to come"
"Such an evocative read... very beautiful... visual story"
"Really beautiful and thoughtful... a page-turner and highly recommended." Amazon.co.uk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QHvkFOxS9w – Wales Book of the Year 2016 Shortlisting Adjudication Video, discussion of book towards end
www.youtube.com/watch?v=15iL_6gQBYE – Wales Book of the Year 2016 Shortlist Readings
