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Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales Niall Griffiths Papers
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A Great Big Shining Star

An annotated manuscript draft of ‘A Great Big Shining Star’ by Niall Griffiths, and also typescript drafts by him and the publisher’s copy edits and page proofs, with associated notes by Niall Griffiths and correspondence between him and the publisher, together with: research materials accumulated by Niall Griffiths during the gestation and writing of the book, comprising manuscript notes made by him and also press cuttings and printouts from websites relating to cosmetic surgery, celebrity culture, voyeurism, reality media, biology, St Kilda, climate change and natural history; part of a typescript synopsis of the book; a photocopy of part of the published book; press reviews of the book in emails from the publisher as well as in cuttings and offprints; press cuttings of interviews with Niall Griffiths relating to the book; a typescript copy of lyrics for a musical based on the book; and a copy of a press report about plans to make the book into a film.

Academic papers

Manuscript and typescript material produced and accumulated by Niall Griffiths while studying poetry at university, comprising typescript and printed drafts, [c.1985] and 1993-1995, of chapters and articles by him including ‘“Adnabod” and the “continent … of experience”: some contemporary Welsh poetry in the English language’, ‘Communicating through concrete: Ian Hamilton Finlay, Edwin Morgan, Bob Cobbing’, ‘History is what hurts: the Celtic diaspora and contemporary Britain’, ‘The pre - post colonial poet: some contemporary Irish writing’, ‘Imagi/Nation/Multi/Nation: modern Scottish poetry’, ‘”De tongue (De first instrument)”: some Black British poetry’, ‘Wandering among the voices: Blake Morrison and some British poetry of the 1950s’ and ‘Art after Auschwitz’, with manuscript notes and typescript comments by his academic supervisor, and letters from universities regarding possible publication; also included are typescript academic papers, 2006, by others concerning his work, comprising: ‘Longing for roots: constructing Wales in Niall Griffiths’s fiction’ by Aleksander Bednarski of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin; ‘Wasted bodies: images of waste in Niall Griffiths’s fiction’ by Katarzyna Więckowska of [Nicolaus Copernicus University] Toruń; ‘The themes of Anglo-Welsh experience in So long Hector Bebb by Ron Berry and Grits by Niall Griffiths’ by Siobhan Taylor-Ward of [Liverpool John Moores University]; and a transcript of an interview with Niall Griffiths by Ian Peddie of Sydney University (‘Warmth and light and sky: Niall Griffiths in conversation’).

Articles, prose work, poems, reviews, interviews, presentations, notes and correspondence

Articles, prose work, poems, reviews, interviews, presentations and notes by Niall Griffiths, with related correspondence and press cuttings.

The articles comprise: manuscript and typescript drafts by Niall Griffiths, with manuscript and typescript notes by him, and also proof copies, relating to articles intended for publication on subjects including his own work, his graduation, his most embarrassing moment, life as a writer, writing and rebellion, drugs, Aberystwyth, the Swansea ‘Art across the city’ festival, Dylan Thomas, contemporary British fiction, British politics and society, football, tattoos, Liverpool, Pembrokeshire, the expense of living in poverty, seaside towns, Welshness, places to visit in Wales, the Cambrian mountains, Cardiff, emerging from winter, encounters with big cats and a snake, meeting an army sniper, visiting a rehab centre, photography and memory, racism in a Devon pub, spring, Europe, birds of prey, finding old friends on the internet, Anthony Gormley, artists, an interview with Leanne Wood, queuing at Birmingham airport, holiday accommodation in Wales, raves, the relationship between Wales and England, a visit to Scotland, the set of Hinterland, an interview with John Cale, a conversation with a homeless man, remnants of the British empire, Bohemianism, hippies, Llandrindod Wells repair café, ‘Noir’ writing, albums to get drunk alone to, ageing, Bardsey, Laugharne, Llandudno, Folly Farm (Somerset), London, St Helena, Greenland, Namibia, Ireland, Australia, Croatia, Cumbria, Morocco, Poland, Transylvania, Split, Berlin and Egypt, with associated correspondence, press cuttings, publicity literature and ephemera; press cuttings relating to his appearances in Croatia; and posters, event programmes and other ephemera relating to his readings in Wales, Liverpool, Germany, Croatia, Romania and America.

The prose work comprises: manuscript drafts, proofs and printouts of short stories by Niall Griffiths written for publication or broadcast, some in two or more drafts, including ‘A break in the journey’, ‘A mountain between them’, ‘A wee word’, ‘Bingo master’s break out’, ‘Birthday card from Ward B-4’, ‘Britain’s little lion’, ‘Car’, ‘Coming of age’, ‘Fran and the witch and me’, ‘Fresher’s week’, ‘Further education’, ‘It was obviously a phrase of which he was fond’, ‘Like there’s no tomorrow’, ‘Mackintosh’s dreams’, ‘Never die’, ‘Prescription’, ‘Psycho-therapy’, ‘Puck’s tale’, ‘Redder Ridge’, ‘Rupert, I can’t stop thinking about you’, ‘Scenes from an Aberystwyth bedsit’, ‘Skewered’, ‘Snowstorm’, ‘Stigmata’, ‘The best death ever’, ‘The character’, ‘Turd burglars’, ‘Welshing’, ‘While the fire still smoulders’ and untitled work, together with copies of published stories; a manuscript draft by Niall Griffiths of a drama script set in Liverpool; typescript and manuscript drafts by Niall Griffiths of his contributions to published editions of work by Ron Berry, Charles Bukowski, Jörg Fauser, Rosamond Lehman, Oliver Onions, Kevin Sinnott, Caradog Prichard and others, with associated correspondence, notes and ephemera; drafts of presentations given by Niall Griffiths at literary events (including a typescript of a presentation on ‘Sheepshagger’); and a typescript draft of an adjudication by Niall Griffiths and Stevie Davies in the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition for Welsh writers.

The poems comprise: manuscript drafts and printouts of poems by Niall Griffiths including ‘Like some half-remembered nightmare’, ‘Liverpool necessity’, ‘To the Mabinogion’, ‘When stars hum like bad reception’, and ‘You don’t always have to try it to know you won’t like it’, with associated correspondence; and a manuscript draft by Niall Griffiths of the introduction to ‘Red roar’, together with the editor’s comments on the poems, annotated by Niall Griffiths.

The reviews comprise: typescript and manuscript drafts and printouts of reviews, responses and publicity material composed by Niall Griffiths relating to the work of Eduardo Blanco Amor, Philip Ball, Ron Berry, Seán Burke, Gordon Burn, Augusten Burroughs, Merlin Coverley, Toni Davidson, Robert Frost, William Gay, Ken Grant, Jay Griffiths, John Harrison, Tony Harrison, Denis Johnson, Cynan Jones, Karl Ove Knausgård, Bernard MacLaverty, Gautam Malkani, Cormac McCarthy, Matthew McIntosh, Robert Minhinnick, Tiffany Murray, Sean O’Reilly, Mark Ryan, Ben Okri, Max Page, Ferdinand Pessoa, Youssef Rakha, Dan Rhodes, Paul Seawright, William T. Vollman, Alan Warner and others, with related letters to Niall Griffiths from Jay Griffiths, William T. Vollman and the Daily Telegraph, as well as related notes by Niall Griffiths and others, press cuttings of these and other reviews by Niall Griffiths, and related ephemera; manuscript notes by Niall Griffiths for reviews of restaurants, intended for publication; and copies of published and draft reviews of Niall Griffiths’s work. Also included is a typescript draft of an article that refers to ‘Grits’ in passing.

The interviews comprise: manuscript and typescript drafts, press cuttings and printouts of interviews with Niall Griffiths and articles about or relating to him, as well as his responses to a questionnaire relating to a University of London project on narrative and nature, with related notes by Niall Griffiths, correspondence and ephemera.

The notes by Niall Griffiths (manuscript, and often fragmentary and disordered) comprise: notes made during research for ‘Real Aberystwyth’ and ‘Real Liverpool’; notes made for a sequel to ‘Sheepshagger’; notes made in order to record useful information and observations on a wide variety of subjects, activities, experiences and issues, and containing ideas for use in his writing as well as other aspects of his personal, professional and domestic life; and notes on a viva voce examination in Lund, Sweden; together with press articles and publicity material collected by Niall Griffiths during the course of his research on a wide variety of subjects.

The correspondence relates almost exclusively to Niall Griffiths’s work, including details of projects, travel arrangements, contracts, funding, ideas for new projects, and letters to him from readers; notable subjects include his work on articles and other pieces for publication, ‘The dreams of Max and Ronnie’, the film of ‘Kelly + Victor’, the stage version of ‘Grits’, and a typescript response by Niall Griffiths to the editor’s comments regarding ‘Ten Pound Pom’. Also included are a draft of a personal letter by Niall Griffiths to friends, and a cutting of an anonymous letter [by Niall Griffiths] published in the New Statesman.

Between The Dogs And The Crows, Rooming, and other prose work

Drafts of several prose works by Niall Griffiths, comprising: an annotated manuscript draft of ‘Between The Dogs And The Crows’; annotated manuscript and typescript drafts of ‘Rooming’, some of them fragmentary; preparatory notes by Niall Griffiths for both ‘Between The Dogs And The Crows’ and ‘Rooming’; an annotated manuscript draft of a short story entitled ‘Drought’; a manuscript copy of a short story entitled ‘Binman’; a typescript copy of a prose work entitled ‘Laughing Santas, Robins On Logs: Ninety Nine Pence Per Dozen’; and a typescript copy of [?part of] a prose work entitled ‘Little Leek Story’; also included is a programme for a play performed at Arad Goch, Aberystwyth, in [1993], containing comments by Niall Griffiths on the Holocaust and human existence.

Book catalogues

Printed catalogues, 2000-2009, produced by publishing houses - notably Jonathan Cape, who published every novel by Niall Griffiths until 2007 - and the Books Council of Wales, containing promotional material for work by him, together with a letter to him from his publisher, 2001, and a few related manuscript notes by him.

Bring It Back Home

Manuscript and typescript drafts of ‘Bring It Back Home’ with manuscript annotations by Niall Griffiths, together with correspondence between him and Accent Press concerning the development and editing of the book, as well as a copy of the guidelines for authors of novellas in Accent’s ‘Quick Reads’ adult literacy series, a copy of the published work, and correspondence between the publishers and a reader concerning a complaint about language in the book with a covering note from the publishers to Niall Griffiths.

Broken Ghost

An annotated manuscript draft of ‘Broken Ghost’ (originally titled ‘Virgin Vision’) by Niall Griffiths, and a typescript draft with manuscript annotations and amendments by him, together with related material comprising: manuscript notes made by Niall Griffiths concerning the writing of the book, and in particular its structure, themes, dialogue, language and characters; a typescript synopsis of the book by him with manuscript annotations by him; a published extract from the novel; notes by Niall Griffiths relating to matters pertinent to the book, including apparitions, spiritual matters and psychology, the nature of evil, topographical and architectural details in the Aberystwyth area, natural history, the Welsh revival of 1904, alien sightings, and social issues in contemporary Britain, notably violence, poverty and the poor; research materials collected by Niall Griffiths including printouts from websites and press cuttings relating to brocken spheres, Marian apparitions, Welsh hymns, religion and rationalism, the Rhoserchan drug rehabilitation unit in Penrhyncoch, reality therapy for addiction, a Welsh artist’s response to racist violence in the USA, and aspects of contemporary British society including drinking culture, police violence, treatment of the poor and destitute, and the abuse of power; and photographs taken by Niall Griffiths of Llyn Syfydrin.

Festival programmes

Printed programmes, 2001-2003 and 2014, of literary and arts festivals attended by Niall Griffiths, mostly as a contributor, in Wales, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Belfast and Croatia, together with related letters to him.

Grits

Papers relating to the production of ‘Grits’ as a novel, and the initial stages of a film proposal, including: manuscript drafts of the book by Niall Griffiths, with related notes and a typescript synopsis and justification of the work; publisher’s proofs with manuscript annotations and amendments, cover proofs and mock-ups; correspondence between Niall Griffiths and the publishers about the editing and publication of the book as well as design and publicity material and a proposed film adaptation of the work; typescript notes by a film company concerning the potential for making the book into a film; typescript copies, cuttings, offprints and photocopies of press reviews of the book, as well as articles about Niall Griffiths, interviews with him, radio listings of programmes on which he appeared, and reviews of works by other writers in similar genres (one of which is printed on the back of a copy of an email between two friends of Niall Griffiths organising a night out drinking in Aberystwyth), including a photocopy of a signed review of ‘Grits’ by Irvine Welsh; a letter to Niall Griffiths from publishers concerning an entry about him in a directory of contemporary authors, with a typescript draft copy of the entry; and publicity material for literary events in Wales, England, Scotland and Poland in which Niall Griffiths took part at the time during which ‘Grits’ was receiving widespread attention, with letters to him from festival organisers concerning his appearances, and associated festival ephemera.

Journals

Journals of Niall Griffiths, 2001-2018, comprising five notebooks containing his extensive and candid personal, creative, professional, social, political and philosophical observations on the events, thoughts, feelings and news that he experienced on particular days (not every day has an entry), reflecting the same concerns that appear in his published work, together with related press cuttings.

Kelly + Victor: drafts and proofs

Annotated manuscript and typescript drafts of ‘Kelly + Victor’ by Niall Griffiths, together with a typescript synopsis by him, publisher’s proofs, a cover proof and a script copy of the published volume with manuscript annotations and amendments by Niall Griffiths.

Kelly + Victor: publicity, reviews and film

Papers relating to the publication of ‘Kelly + Victor’ as a novel and also its production as a film, including: publicity material for the book and for related literary events in Wales, England and Croatia in which Niall Griffiths took part; letters and emails to Niall Griffiths from friends, colleagues and festival organisers about reactions to the book, a possible French translation of it, his appearance at the Writing On The Wall Festival and the Hay Festival and his concern about the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, with related manuscript notes by him; an email to him from Hot Property Films about adapting the book for film; the screenwriter’s reports on the opportunities and challenges of a film adaptation; typescript drafts of the film script and screenplay, with manuscript notes by Niall Griffiths; typescript notes from script meetings, with manuscript notes by Niall Griffiths; email correspondence between the author and the production team relating to the process of developing draft scripts for the film, and also the film’s release, with related notes by Niall Griffiths and others as well as copies of notes on similar works; typescript notes on the drafts by the screenwriter, with manuscript notes by Niall Griffiths; typescript and printed copies of the film’s step outline and visual references, and notes by the production team; correspondence discussing the outline; the director’s notes on the film and notes on them by Niall Griffiths; a letter from Niall Griffiths’s agent concerning the film contract, including a copy of the contract; a letter of reference for him written in connection with his application for a teaching post; publicity material for the film; typescript copies, cuttings, offprints and photocopies of press and internet reviews of the book and the film, of articles about Niall Griffiths and interviews with him, of reports on the film winning a BAFTA award, and of articles about other writers and books; and publicity material for work by other writers containing quotations from Niall Griffiths.

Niall Griffiths Papers

  • GB 0210 NIALLGRIFF
  • Fonds
  • 1962-2018

Literary papers of Niall Griffiths, 1962-2018, comprising material relating to all aspects of his career as a writer, and in particular the conception, research, writing and publication of his books, short stories, poems, articles and media scripts.

The archive contains language which some readers may find offensive. While much of Niall Griffiths's work does not employ such language, its use is integral to his writing style.

Griffiths, Niall, 1966-

Poetry

Manuscript and typescript copies, with minor annotations, of more than 500 poems by Niall Griffiths, many of them published, some unpublished and some without titles, in a variety of formats, and including a few in two or more drafts, written primarily in relation to personal experiences, feelings and thoughts while living in Cambridge and Aberystwyth; also included are rough notes produced by Niall Griffiths in the process of composing his poems and prose, a letter to him from Stand magazine concerning the potential publication of ‘Sea Otters, In Oils’, manuscript notes by him on subjects including the history of English literature and human biology, notes made by him for personal professional and domestic purposes, and a note to him from the British Council about a meeting with a journalist from the Croatian newspaper Vjesnik.

The poems include:
A Boiled Egg Some Toast & The Chart Show Refuses To Drip The Dream Away; A Chewed Pentop Without A Pen Is Lonelier Than Shaven Bristles Lying In The Sink; A Dream; A Field In Saughall Massie; A Grief That Hasn’t Happened Yet; A Happy Memory; A Hare Stares At The Sun Through A Rainbow Caught In Cobwebs; A Hood To Hide Your Face; A Lesson In Grammar; A Little Drop Of Moisture On A Packet Of Rizlas & You Lose The Whole Fucking Lot; A Little Something To Fend Off The Hell; A Lot Less Often Now But Still They Come; A Moment To Get My Breath Back; A Note On Leaving, For Deborah; A Poem In The Park; A Present; A Spike From The Star Has Fallen To Earth & Has Gathered Green Eyes & Fur; A Summer Sunday Afternoon, Just After The Rain; Aberystwyth, 27 August, 1992; Aborted Ph.D Sickness; About Ten Past Three, Maybe; Acceptance; Advice; After A Gorgeous Dream Of Fucking Four Women; After An Eight, Maybe A Nine-Day Drinking Session; After Kafka; After Lifting Weights; After Shaving; After Sweden; After Working; Aleatory; Aleatory (Wax, May 1997); Aleatory Composition Whilst Watching Brookside; All Grown Up; All Of This, Only; Alltimes & Someways, Unlike The Sun, I Know It Will Return; Almost Imperceptible; Always Something Dirty About Theory; Amphetamine Hangover; An Out Of The Body Experience; And Only The Clouds Are To Blame; And The Story Of Us All Is An Ongoing One; Animals; Another Muggy Night; Another One; Another Poem On The Death Of Another Grandad; Answering Back; Approaching The Palace Of Wisdom On A Bus; April, End Of; Archaeology; Arse; Arsenal 1, Liverpool 2; As Always, As Rare; As Close As We May Ever Come; As Loaded With Meaning As A Weapon Now Defunct; As The Flower Faints Before The Florist, Perfume Is Manufactured In Factories All Over The World; At Dyfi Junction; At The End Of The Road Is A High Wooden Tower In Which A Man With A Big Gun Stands; At The Thought; At Thirty-Two; At Work; Awe; Ball-To-Hand; Bank Balances Beautiful Views And, Well, Anything Really; Banks Of Fog Like Big White Pillows; BBC Cheque; Because If You’re Already Horizontal, No-One Can Knock You Down; Because The World’s In Colour; Bedtime; Beluga, Bless Us Both; Big Brother; Big Moth In My Kitchen; Binge; Bird; Bird, Again; Birdsong; Bitemarks And Friction Burns; Blackened Breadcrumbs; Blinded Owls And Dystrophic Horses; Block; Blue Period; Blueprint; Bombay Insomnia; Brainscan; Breaking Through; Breathless; Bruised; Bwlch; C2H5OH; Can You Imagine How Hot It Was, To Make That Place Seem Cold?; Caption; Cell; Chain-Smoking Camels; Checkout; Cheese & Onion Pie, Damaged In Transit; Cheese & Potato Bake; Chickenbones; Chocolate Cake Three Times A Day & You End Up Hating Chocolate Cake; Christ That Guinness Has Gone Right Through Me; Christmas Card From A Shadow; Chunks Of Monday; Citazopram; Citazopram, Again; City Station; Civil War; Clash; Claxon; Closest I’ve Been In A Long, Long Time; Cocaine; Coffee; Coitus Interruptus; Cold Chicken Madras, 9 A.M.; Colm Recovering; Coming Off A Binge & Craving Sugar, The Rain Burns Skin Here & In Liverpool & In Some Parts Of Yorkshire; Coming Off You Like Steam; Coming Up To Armistice Day, 1998; Commercial Break; Conception; Couch; Creaking Sounds At Midnight; Curried Beans; Daft Mulligan; Day Of Rest; Daylight Saving; Dead Dog; Dead, Bukowski, Dead Now; December; Defrosting The Fridge; Determined; Developing, Darkroom, Dusk; Diabetes; Diazepam; Dilemma; Dim Days Of Long Yearning, Nights Soft With Loss; Directly After Watching Terry Gilliam’s Brazil; Dishwasher; Disney With A Bazooka And The Tooth Fairy Carries Pliers; Distemper, Cancer, A Horse With Two Broken Legs; Do This & You’ll Feel Better; Dog; Dog Dreams; Dominatrix; Don’t Answer The Door, Ignore The Phone; Don’t Cry For Me, Cos I’m Going Away; Don’t Even Think About It; Don’t Let Me Fall; Don’t Mark Me; Drained; Dreamlessly; Dreams Of Leaving; Dredger; Dregs; Drip, Drip, Drip; Driving Around Town; Drone; Drought; Drunk On White Wine & Anne Sexton; Drunk; Drying Out; Dunblane; During A Typing Break; E #1; Easy: Just A Name; Empty Bottle Wednesday; Envoi: In The Park; Everybody’s Moving South; Everything Dreams; Everything In Its Place; Everything Is Clean; Ex; Exponentially Accelerating The Metabolism; Extract Of Passionflower, Dermatologically Tested; Eyeballs Aflame Yet Remaining Unburnt; Eyeballs Burning Without A Flame; Facebook; Fame Academy, 2003; Farting, Halitosis, Bitten Finger-Nails (Although I Have Had A Shave); February 2006; Fertility; Finally; Finding it; First Lines For A Long Time, And Of ‘96; First Night In Aberystwyth; First Novel; First Taste Of Tequila; First Win Of The Season; Flashback; Flea-Bite; Following Through; Food; For Nobody In Particular; For Once; For Some Time, Now; For Tina, Always Aged 22; Forbidden; Fortuitousness; Four, Not Eight, Potatoes; Freakshow; Free; Freefall; Friendly Fire; Frightened Into Life Like Ice; From Me Will Come Flowers; Fuck, Yes; Games Of Grotesque Threats; Get In, Get Out, Stop Fucking About; Getting Ready To Go Out; Getting Wet; Giving Up Smoking; God, What A Night; Going To The Pub Where Paula Will Be; Good Morning, Vodka-Breath; Gorgeous; Got To Get This Out: I Can’t Concentrate On ‘A Bit Of Fry & Laurie’; Gravedigging; ‘Green Eyes’; Greenland; Gremlins; Gwen Stefani; Hackles; Haiku: Ponytail; Hair Of Auburn Water; Halloween, 1997; Hangover; Happy & Happier With Every Drop I Bleed; Hard Sky; Hay-On-Wye, 2005; Helicopter; Herbs; Here Comes A Common Cold; Here Endeth; Higher Power; Hillsborough; His Little ‘Hello’ Noises; Homewards; Hope It Snows This Christmas; Hot Tea & Strong Toast; How Can I Write Clearly The Simple Stupid Statement That I Miss You Like Fuck?; How Will I Know When I Get There?; Hung From The Rafters Stripped & Empty Like A Gutted Pig In A Butcher’s Window; Hungry; I Am Full Of Life; I Could Wear A Ski-Mask And Clothe Myself In Shadow; I Feel No Fear About Not Being Here; I Feel No Fear About Not Being Here, No Tadpoles Drift Towards Death; I First Moved Here Just After My Dog Died & I Needed To Live Somewhere Different, With No Memories; I Hope She’s In Here Somewhere; I Know I’m Odd; I Know You’re Wrong; I Live Twenty Yards From The Sea, And Didn’t Step Out Of The House Today; I Saw Him Last Six Days Ago, Prowling In The Garden; I Think I Need To Get Out More; I Think These Walls Need Painting; I Will Die In A Temple In Mongolia; I, WILL, One, Day, Forget; I’ll See You When I See You; I’ve Waited Fifteen Years For This; Icarus; Idle Bastard; If Fairies Can Be Squeezed From A Bottle; If I Heard Her Call My Name; Impaled On The Stamen Of A Marigold; In My Garden, Drinking; In Nineteen Hundred & Ninety Three (Almost Ninety Four); In No Way Like Some Paper Money Stuck To The Sole Of Your Shoe; In Tandem In Pandemonium; In The Doorway Of Barclay’s Bank; In The Place Of Peaceful Sleeping; Indelible; Insomnia: 1st November 1993, 7:38 A.M.; Insomnia; Interim; It Must Be Morning: I’m Coughing Up Phlegm; It’s Just So Much Easier This Way; It’s More Okay Than It’s Ever Been, Sometimes, Like Right Now; It’s Only Sunshine; It’s The Ordure Of Ordinariness Which Drives One To Don The Long Coat & Balaclava & Commence Carrying Blades; Jackdaw Dies In Backyard; January 3rd, 2000 AD; Jarvis Cocker Stole My Audience; Jingle Bells; Just Feel How My Heart Is Beating; Just For Starters; Just Let Me Watch The Fucking Football; Just Like I’ve Always Dreamed; Just Like The Blind Man Needs His Guide Dog, Just Like The Orchids Require The Sun; Just Not With It Today; Just Wide; Justification; Killing Things; Knives Of Nacre & Diamonds Of Steel; Knowledge; Let Me Go First; Let There Be Hedgehogs In The Hedgerows, Let There Be Lobsters Under The Sea; Leukaemic Cat; Life Always Finds A Way; Lighthouse Approaching From Far Away; Like Drowning; Like Love Is Supposed To Be; Like Some Half-Remembered Nightmare; Like The Luminous Ghosts Of Bones In An X-Ray Photograph; Lines Written After Visiting Tintern Abbey; Listing To One Side But I Can’t Tell Which; Little Bit Of A Sing-Song; Little Bits; Liverpool 5, Kosice 0; Liverpool 8, 4 A.M.; Living In Wales, Aged 26; Living; Llanberis Pass; Look At The Torturer Touching The Tortured; Losing The Moon; Love Poem; Lovely Dirty Nasty Brutal Ugly Fucked-Up Gorgeous World; Low-Rung Bliss, But Bliss All The Same; Lust; Mad Janet Rafferty; Mangled Cars In Moonlight; Mascara; Maturity; Maybe It’s Different In Sweden; Maybelline; Might As Well Call You Mabel; Might As Well, Yeh?; Millennium News; Monday, Early Afternoon; More Dog Dreams; More Than Half In Love; Morning Sunlight, Colour Of Cider; Morning; Mother’s Milk; Mould; Mountains Grow Like Cancer; Mountain-Sized Comets Tonight Hit Jupiter; Mourning; Mouth Ulcer; Moving; Mr. Seagull; Mushroom Soup & Wild Wild Horses; Music; My Beautiful War; My Friend Rat; My Jesus; My New Boots; My Sadness Once Was Terrible; Nameless; National Insurance Contributions; Necessity; Needing A Piss; Never Wear White Boxer Shorts When On A Drinking Binge; Nevertheless; New Book, New Drug, New Zit On My Face; New House 1; New House 2; New House 3; New World; Newsnight 1999; Newton’s Balls; Night Fright; Nine, Ten, Eleven O’clock; No Questions Asked; No, Leave The Light On & Take Off Your Clothes; Nothing But Time; Nothing To Worry About; November & Forever; Now I’m Free, Aren’t I?; O Such A Dirty Distance From The Complex, Constructed, Cocked-Up Self; October; Oh My Goodness, What A Performance, & Listen To That Crowd; Oh, Hello; Okay; Old Man In Search Of Discarded Pornography; On The Day Without Food; Once I Moved Like The Wind. Now I Surrender. That Is All; On The Fourth Or Fifth Day Of Knowing You; On The Seventh Day Without Food; One Foot Over The Threshold; One For The Children Who Torture Frogs To Death; One For Me, So That When I’m An Old Bastard I Can Read It & Thus Avoid Writing Some Self-Pitying Stuff Asking Where My Youth Went; One For The Road; One Question & An Answer; One Sunny Friday Afternoon I Steal Lou Reed’s ‘Between Thought & Expression’ And Sit In A Pub And Read It; Only For A Moment; Open All Hours; Open Poetry Reading Held In The Sphincter Of Venus; Origami; Oysters; Pack Up Your Troubles; Penrhyncoch Insomnia; Peru; Pilgrimage; Poem #?; Poem In Two Halves; Poems Written On Small Format Paper; Poetry; Poor; Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Drunkard; Possibility; Poverty Is Gravity; Pus; Quick ‘Un; Quiet Night In; Rain; Rain Is Poison & Sex Is Death; Rainbows: Simply Physics; Rainy Tuesday; Raising Aberystwyth; Rank Outsiders; Raspberry Ice-Cream And A Pot Of Tea; Reader Response; Recalled; Red Berries; Red Is The Rose; Rejection Slip; Remembering Rachel; Repeats; Re-Reading Pasternak, Chili In The Kitchen, The Telephone Doesn’t Ring; Response; Revelation; Ride The Tiger; Risible; Robin; Room Service; Rubbing The Lamp; Running Over A Rabbit; Sad; Saint Fuck You Of Assisi (Or: St Francis Of Assassins?); Sally Redwine; Scabies; Scene: Neil Having A Shite Time : 1:38 On A Rainy Tuesday In Aberystwyth [-] Soundtrack: ‘Alison’ By Elvis Costello; Scratching; Scratching Your Scrotum With A Sandpaper Rasp; Screaming Blue Murder; Sea Otters, In Oils; Seascape With Seagulls; September 12th, 1996; September Afternoon; Shock Upon Shock Upon Shock; Signing On, Waking, Shitting Are All In No Way Anyway Endless; Simplicity; Smudged; Snail Trails; So The Run-Over Cats Can Prowl Gracefully Into Heaven; Sodomy; Some Reasons; Something To Get Out Of Bed For; Sometimes I Get Such A Fright; Sometimes, When You Masturbate, Do You Ever Imagine That The Ghost Of A Dead Ancestor Is Watching?; Song; Song Of A Pad & Pen; Song: Searching; Song Sung By Someone Shot In The Larynx; Space & Light & Time Enough; Special Delivery; Spellbound By Foam; Spiked; Splattered; Spring Morning; Squawk; Still And Small; Still Trying, Still …; Stoned; Storm; Storm warning; Stray Cat; Strength; Strong Legs; Suburbia; Suicide Note; Summertime; Sunburn; Sunday Drunk; Sunstroke; Superglue; Surprising A Room; Surrendering; Susan & Suspension; Swaying In Time, In Sync, In Pain; Synchronicity; Tarrif [sic]; Telly Taliesin; Temazepam; Ten Years On; Terminal; Terminator Tao; Thanking You, Yours Sincerely, P.S. I’m In Hell; That Stupid Club; That’s Enough, Now; That’s Life; The Bacteria We Once Were Will Always Breed Within Us; The Beluga; The Cat Which Prowls Uninvited But Welcomed Through Our Rented Rooms; The Cobbler’s Down The Cobbled Alleyway; The Early Poems; The Final Straw Can Be Gossamer Light; The Genius; The House That Burning Built; The Joy Of Bathing; The Last Doesn’t Always Equal The First; The Laying On Of Hands; The Lizard, The Dead Rabbit, & Me; The Longevity Of Snowflakes; The Luckiest Man In The World; The Man Who Brings The Winds; The Mersey In My Veins; The Something For Nothing Society; The Technological Age; The Uncomfortable Chair; Then; There Is No Guilt Like The Guilt Of A Drunk; There’s always been a spark between us. Let’s have an affair; Thirty Septembers; This Just In; This Winter; Three Wishes; Thursday; Ticks; ‘Til Death Do Us Part; Time; Tired; To All My Fellow Prisoners; To Keep You Safe From Harm; To Myself, Again, Wherever Whenever I May Be; To Remain Forever Unread; To The People; Today She Comes Back; Tomorrow Is All About Fun; Too, Too Soon; Toothpaste; Toxic Psychosis; Training Pool For Injured Swans; Truth; Trying To Cope With After-Bingeing Boredom; Tuesday Nov 11th: Remembrance Day, 2008: 90 Years After The Armistice; Twins; Two People Kissing On A Collapsing Bridge; Two Shades Lighter Than Dijon Mustard; Unalone; Unbalanced Between This Lift, This Pit; Under Extreme Pressure Of Opinion; Unspoken Apology; Unsure; Vegetables Bubbling On The Stove, Bill Cosby On The Television – First Reading Of Elmore Leonard; Vegetarianism; Velvet Belly; Visitation; Visiting Whittington; Vista – City Street - Anywhere; Voices, Voices, To Bring It To An Ending; Waiting For Jennie To Come Back With The Milk; Waiting For The Phone, Corner Of Mill Road & Gwydir Street, 11.30PM, 15th May, 1990; Waiting for the water to boil; Wake Me Early, There’s A Lot To Do; Wanting The Words To Come; War; War In The Gulf & My Love’s Gone Away; Wastebucket; Waving A Can Of Stout Like A Black Flag Of Truce; We Could Be Outlaws, Just Like We Planned; Wednesday; Wednesday, Dinnertime; Well …; Well Thank You Andrew Barr From Keith; Wet Dream At 32; What If One In Every Thousand Bricks Was Hexagonal?; What Shape Is The Sea-Spray In?; What We Do With Tongues; When I Write My Masterpiece; When It Comes; When It Rains; When It’s Gone, It’s Gone; When Stars Hum Like Bad Reception; When The Heron Points Like Polaris From The Shores On Which We Walk; When Their Soft Bodies Pop; When You Read This; Where You Can Drink Forever; Whilst Peeling Potatoes For My Tea I Find One That Looks Not Unlike My Arse; White Days Of Cotton, Nights Of Wet Wool; White Flag; Why? Well, Listen; Winter Kills; With Tomorrow; With Your Hand Out The Window No-One Can Tell Whether You’re Seizing The Day Or Waving Goodbye; Without Fail; Wondering Who I’d Be If I Wasn’t Born Me; Working Girl; Would You Consider Going Out With An Alien?; Wrecked; Yorkshire Years; You Are An Angel: You Are Another One (Too Few Really) Sent From Heaven; You Call That A Bender?; You Don’t Always Have To Try It To Know You Won’t Like It; You Got Through It Then & You Will Do So Again; You Know When You See A Field Of Virgin Snow & You Can’t Resist Diving Into It & Messing It Up?; You Will Be Here Again; You, Marry, I, Have, Should; You’re Wishing Your Fucking Life Away, Man; Young; Your Fucking Rage; Your Story, Almost; ? [sic]; 28; 34; 3.A.M. Bath; 11:53 P.M. (Approx..); 6.28 P.M., 25th August 1990: Glory, Airstrikes, Barking Dogs; 23rd December, 1996; 11-11-99: Total Eclipse; 30th December, 2008; 911 On 26110; 21st June 2013.

Press cuttings and related notes

Press cuttings, 1962-2017, collected and arranged by Niall Griffiths into themes including ‘Nationalism and Identity’, ‘History and Identity’, ‘Drugs’, ‘Sexuality’, ‘Class’, ‘Politics’, ‘Writing’, ‘Religion’, ‘Spirituality’, ‘Noir’ and ‘Grenfell Tower’, with extensive related manuscript and typescript additions by him, comprising his own notes and in particular transcripts of extracts and quotations from the work of other writers and creative artists, as well as printouts of articles and emails.

Published contributions to periodicals and collections

Published periodicals and collections, 2004-2006, containing material contributed by Niall Griffiths including short stories by him, interviews with him, articles by him, reviews by him, an extract from his work and a profile of him, together with other material relating to his work.

The short stories by him include: ‘Adrenalin’ (New Writing 2005, A mountain between them [c.2005] and A little nest of pedagogues 2005); ‘A mountain between them’ and ‘Turd-burglars’ (A mountain between them [c.2005]); ‘Coming of age’ (Tell Tales (2004); ‘While the fire still smoulders’ (The Big Issue Cymru 2004 and square one 2006); ‘Split’ (Hrvatske noći 2005); ‘Britain’s little lion’ (The Big Issue Cymru 2006); and ‘Alastair, his grandmother: her leaving’ (Radical Society 2006).

The interviews with him appear in A470 (2004), Blow Back (June 2004), Platform Swansea (2005) and CFUK (Summer 2005).

The articles by him cover subjects including a trip to Greenland (New Welsh Review 2004), Nantyrarian (Condé Nast Traveller 2004), a meeting with a ‘character’ (Blow Back September 2004), the work of Paul Seawright (New Welsh Review 2005), a meeting with an army sniper (Red Handed Spring 2005), Welsh identity (Voyager 2006), writing in the Balkans (The Liberal 2006), an encounter on the way to a football match (Red Handed Summer 2006), his 40th birthday celebrations (Red Handed Autumn 2006) and a trip to Poland (Red Handed Winter 2006).

Also included are: reviews by him of Miss Webster and Chérif by Patricia Duncker (New Welsh Review Winter 2006) and also of restaurants (Red Handed Spring, Summer and Autumn 2004 and Summer 2005); a profile of him (Turning tides 2004); an article about the anthology Croatian nights which includes work by him (A470 2005); articles referring to his work, together with a typescript letter to him from Dylan Moore (CFUK Spring 2005); an artist’s reaction to his work by Kathryn Dodd (New Welsh Review Spring 2006), an extract from Wreckage (Draft 2005); and a review of Wales half Welsh, including his contribution to the volume (Red Handed Winter 2004).

Published contributions to periodicals and collections

Published periodicals and collections, 1996-2003, containing material contributed by Niall Griffiths including short stories by him, poems by him, interviews with him, articles by him, extracts from his novels, reviews by him and letters by him, together with other material relating to his work.

The short stories by him include: ‘Scenes from an Aberystwyth bedsit’ (Chasing the Dragon 1998); ‘The best death ever’ (New Writing 2000 and Flux 2002); ‘Hangover from hell’ (The Idler 2001); ‘A mountain between them’ (The Big Issue Cymru 2001); ‘Merda’ and ‘MacIntosh’s dreams’ (red poets 2002 and 2003); ‘Snowstorm’ (The Big Issue Cymru 2002); ‘… Fran and the witch and me’ (Another Magazine 2003); and ‘Welshing’ (The Big Issue Cymru 2003).

The poems by him include: ‘Open all hours’, ‘Hackles’ and ‘Scabies’ (Roundy House [1999]); ‘Like some half-remembered nightmare’, ‘When stars hum like bad reception’ and ‘Liverpool necessity’ (Over Milk Wood 2000); and ‘Animals’ (Red Poets Society 2001).

The interviews with him appear in Adhoc (2001), Golwg (2001), Pavement (2002) and Byd y nofelydd (2003).

The articles by him cover subjects including Liverpool (Limb by Limb 2000), funding for writers in Wales (A470 2001), embarrassing moments in his life (Mortification: writers’ stories of their public shame 2003) and travel and homesickness (Red Handed 2003).

The extracts from his novels include Sheepshagger (The Howard Marks book of dope stories 2001) and Stump (New Welsh Review 2002).

The reviews by him discuss: Green voices: understanding contemporary nature poetry by Terry Gifford (English 1996); Cardiff cut by Lloyd Robson (Planet 2002); The man who walks by Alan Warner, Clubland by Kevin Sampson and Chemistry by Damien Wilkins (The Big Issue in the North May, June and September 2002); Offcomer by Jo Baker (Fortnight July/August 2002); and Deadwater by Sean Burke (Planet January 2003).

The correspondence includes his reply to criticism of Sheepshagger by Catherine Merriman (Planet 2001) and discussion of his article about funding for writers in Wales (A470 2001/2 and 2002).

Also included are a short profile of him in Croatian (zarez 2002) and references to him in an interview with Irvine Welsh (Fortnight June 2002) and in an article on Welsh writers by Tony Bianchi (Planet July 2003).

Published contributions to periodicals and collections

Published periodicals and collections, 2007-2009, containing material contributed by Niall Griffiths including short stories by him, interviews with him, articles by him and reviews by him, together with other material relating to his work.

The short stories by him include:
‘Stigmata’ (Blue Tattoo 2007 and back to the machine gun [c.2007]); ‘Bingo master’s break out’ (Perverted by language: fiction inspired by The Fall 2007); ‘Bathyspheres’ (Sea stories 2007); ‘Postcard from some city somewhere’ (The Flash 2007); ‘Coming of age’ (Vice [2007]); ‘Like there’s no tomorrow: public sex in a parallel word’ (Arena [c.2007]); ‘A break in the journey’ (The Big Issue Cymru 2008); and ‘The beautiful game’ (New Welsh Review 2008).

The interviews with him appear in Time Out London (2007) and Bad Format (2009).

The articles by him cover subjects including the relationship between Wales and England (New Statesman 2007), the relationship between Liverpool and Manchester (CFUK 2007), football derby day in Liverpool (Red Handed Winter 2007), racism in a Devon pub (Red Handed Spring 2007), a trip to Transylvania (Red Handed Summer 2007), his return to Australia (Red Handed Autumn 2007), adopting a feral cat (Red Handed Winter 2008), queuing at Birmingham airport (Red Handed Spring 2008), insomnia in Bombay (Red Handed Summer 2008), the state of British society (Red Handed Autumn 2008), a visit to Ireland (Blown 2009), an encounter with a lioness (In the Red 2009), hippies (Red Handed Winter 2009), emerging from winter (Red Handed Spring 2009), a trip to Scotland (Red Handed Summer 2009), Chicago (Red Handed Autumn 2009), and the grave of Dylan Thomas (The Raconteur 2009).

The reviews by him discuss: Collected poems and Collected film poetry by Tony Harrison (Poetry Review 2007); The little prince by Oscar Wilde (The Big Issue Cymru 2007); Going under by Ray French (Blue Tattoo 2008); and Submarine by Joe Dunthorne (New Welsh Review Summer 2009).

Also included are an afterword by him (One moonlit night 2009), a review of Real Aberystwyth (New Welsh Review Spring 2009) and an article by Tyler Keevil about the same book (Blue Tattoo 2009).

Published contributions to periodicals and collections

Published periodicals and collections, 2010-2018, containing material contributed by Niall Griffiths including articles by him, reviews by him, extracts from his novels, a short story by him and an interview with him, together with other material relating to his work.

The articles by him cover subjects including a meeting with a ‘character’ (In the Red [2010]); homecomings (New Welsh Review Autumn 2010); a big cat in Montana (Red Handed Winter 2010); the expense of living in poverty (Red Handed Spring 2010); life as a writer (Red Handed Summer 2010); writer’s block (Red Handed Autumn 2010); a visit to Bardsey (Red Handed Summer 2011); the filming of Kelly + Victor (Red Handed Autumn 2011); a visit to a rehab centre (Red Handed Spring 2012); invasive species and toffs (Red Handed Autumn 2012); a conversation with a homeless man (Red Handed Winter 2013); a close encounter with a deadly snake (Red Handed Summer 2013); the football World Cup in South Africa (Red Handed Autumn 2013); looking forward to spring (Red Handed Winter [2014]); the set of Hinterland (Red Handed 2014 [Autumn]), artists and directors behaving badly (Red Handed 2014 [Autumn]); a visit to St Helena (New Welsh Review 2014); finding old friends on the internet (Red Handed 2015 [Winter]); his own graduation (Red Handed 2015 [Autumn]); and a tribute to his first agent, together with a typescript letter from the publishers (Memories of David Miller 2018).

The reviews by him discuss: Diamond star halo by Tiffany Murray (New Welsh Review Summer 2010); Cloud road: a journey through the Inca heartland by John Harrison (New Welsh Review 2011); On a bender by Eduardo Blanco Amor (Planet 2012); Seán Tyrone: a symphony of horrors by Mark Ryan (New Welsh Review 2013); Limestone man by Robert Minhinnick (Planet Winter 2015/16:); The cove by Cynan Jones (The Spectator 2016); Midwinter break by Bernard MacLaverty (The Spectator 2017); Limestone country by Fiona Sampson (Planet Winter 2017/18:); and American histories by John Edgar Wideman (The Spectator 2018).

The extracts from his novels include A great big shining star (Blown 2010/11) and Broken Ghost (The Lampeter Review 2015).

Also included are: his short stories, ‘Lesson’ (The Flash 2010) and ‘Snežna ujma’ ([‘Snow damage’] Ffiniau aflonydd: antologija sodobne valižanske književnosti 2010); an interview with him (In the Red [2011]); words by him to accompany photography by David Barnes in King tide (Blown 2012); and an article about Liverpool which refers to him (New Statesman 2012).

Radio and film plays

Manuscript and typescript drafts, many of them with manuscript annotations, of scripts and treatments of plays for radio and film by Niall Griffiths, together with associated notes by him, correspondence between him and producers, and guidelines for writers, relating to: ‘My bull Snowball’ (a BBC radio play by Niall Griffiths written as a prequel to ‘Runt’); ‘Stwffio/Stuffed’ (a screenplay by Niall Griffiths for a proposed film); ‘Driving home for Christmas’ (a BBC radio play for which Niall Griffiths wrote Episode 5; typescript copies of the scripts of Episodes 1-4 by other writers are also included); and ‘Siôn y Gof’ (a screenplay by Niall Griffiths for a proposed film based on his ‘Between The Dogs And The Crows’). Also included are research materials for ‘Siôn y Gof’, comprising typescript accounts of experts on the mines, history and communities of the Dylife area and the history of John Jones (‘Siôn y Gof’) with manuscript annotations by Niall Griffiths, transcripts of extracts from court records, printouts from websites and a press cutting about successful screenwriting.

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