February 2026
Mary Burdett-Jones’s first novel, Llanllenorion, was published in January 2026 by Melin Bapur
This is the first novel by the poet Mary Burdett-Jones, who published a volume of her poems, Lluniadau, in 2020, and a volume of her translations of the German poems of Selma Merbaum, Selma Merbaum Cerddi, in 2024.
This is a literary novel about a publisher from London who moves to Wales to test the depth of his roots there. In this university town he seeks advice from a scholar who has devoted himself to his work at the expense of other aspects of life; he also meets his wife, who also sacrificed a great deal in becoming his companion; he visits another professor, who has become a public intellectual, and his actress wife. The work of an artist is seen in a number of houses around the town. He starts to wonder exactly what is the nature of the relationship between these people.
This is a challenging, pioneering novel, which plaits the present, the past and the future together, a novel which is full of imagination where dreams and poetry are interwoven.
‘This is a very substantial work. It draws the reader onwards by the unexpected strangeness and its varied course.’ Bobi Jones
Cover image: Gordon Miles: The Conversation: Masked Ball
Article: Nation.Cymru
‘New novel depicts Welsh town’s artistic scene’
Llanllenorion has been described as conveying “a completely new voice and perspective in the Welsh-language” . . . the novel describes a seaside university town not unlike recently designated UNESCO City of Literature Aberystwyth . . .
Adam Pearce, editor and owner of Melin Bapur: “It is a privilege to have this important work entrusted to us, a work which is, in my opinion, quite unique in Welsh literature. I have never come across a book which combines styles and even literary forms in this way.’
Article: Golwg360
Llanllenorion – ‘nofel heriol, arloesol’
Non Tudur: ‘Trwy ddadleuon Susan fe gawn sylwebaeth graff iawn ar wleidyddiaeth a chenedlaetholdeb Cymreig. Mae’r cymeriad yn y nofel yn honni fod Saunders Lewis wedi defnyddio iaith debyg i iaith y Natsïaid ac mae hi’n rhybuddio rhag defnyddio termau fel ‘mewnlifiad’’
Interview:
S4C Prynhawn Da, Clwb Llyfrau 4 Chwefror 2026