News Archive

Arthur Machen Remembered

Thursday 5 July 2007
The Board Room, University of Wales, Newport. Tickets £10.
Arrive at 6:30 pm for a buffet and a glass of wine, 7:00pm for main event.

The Gwent Branch of the Institute of Welsh Affairs in conjunction with Academi are hosting an evening to celebrate and honour Arthur Machen, ’Master of Holy Terrors’, as part of Caerleon Arts Festival.

“I shall always esteem it as the greatest piece of fortune that has fallen to me, that I was born in that noble, fallen Caerleon–on-Usk, in the heart of Gwent.” Arthur Machen

Arthur Machen (1863-1947) was a leading Welsh author of the 1890s, best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction.  He joined together unspeakable fears and wonders with Roman Isca, Victorian London, the Holy Grail, and the Gwent countryside.  He has been read worldwide by millions and has been admired by Oscar Wilde, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Iain Sinclair, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir John Betjeman, Alan Moore, and Jorge Luis Borges. 

Now in the 60th anniversary of his death a sculpture is being erected to honour him and a distinguished panel featuring award winning writers from the fields of horror, children’s literature, and fantasy: Join writers Gwilyn Games, Simon Clark, Catherine Fisher, Tim Lebbon and Meic Stephens to explore Machen’s world of terror and wonder.  Find out why they and Stephen King, Clive Barker and HP Lovecraft consider Machen to be amongst the greatest writers of all time of tales of supernatural horror and fantasy.

Hear why Machen wrote what has been called the most decadent book in the English language, The Hill of Dreams.  Learn how he was the first novelist to place the Holy Grail in a modern setting - 100 years before Dan Brown.  Discover the truth behind the Bowmen and the Angels of Mons; did they slay thousands of Germans in World War One?  How is Machen’s The Great God Pan connected to Oscar winner Pan’s Labyrinth? 

Find out more about the seminar, Machen and the sculpture at Friends of Arthur Machen - www.machensoc.demon.co.uk and Celf Caerleon Arts Festival 2007 - www.caerleon-arts.org.

Simon Clarke, from Doncaster, won the 2001 British Fantasy award for The Night of the Triffids, sequel to John Wyndham’s novel. Other titles include Blood Crazy, Darker, Vamphyrrhic, The Fall and The Dalek Factor.

Catherine Fisher is an award winning children’s writer from Newport.  Her novels include Book of the Crow, Darkhenge, Snow-walker, and The Oracle Betrayed which was finalist for the Whitbread Children’s Book Award, while The Candle won the Tir-Na-n’Og Award 2002.

Tim Lebbon, from Newport, has won two British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award and a Tombstone Award.  His novella White is shortly to be adapted to the big screen.  He collaborated with Simon Clark on the Machen-inspired Exorcising Angels.

Gwilym Games, also from Newport, is editor of Machenalia, one of the journals of Friends of Arthur Machen, which was a finalist for a World Fantasy Award in 2006.  An expert on Machen he has been responsible for the organisation of the 2007 commemorative sculpture.

For further details and to reserve your tickets contact:
Clare Johnson at clarejohnson@iwa.org.uk or 029 2066 0864.