Join us for an evening with Rachel Dawson, author of Neon Roses, in celebration of and by association with Abergavenny Pride!
The event will take place at the Melville Theatre in Abergavenny on Thursday 22nd June at 7.30.
Tickets are priced at £7 for admission only or £20 with a copy of the book.

A portion of ticket fees will go to support Abergavenny Pride.

From the Valleys to the nightclubs of Cardiff, London and Manchester, a funny, heartwarming and a little bit filthy queer coming-of-age story with a cracking ’80s soundtrack, from an exciting new voice in Welsh fiction.

Eluned Hughes is stuck. It’s 1984 in a valley in south Wales: the miners’ strike is ravaging her community; her sister’s swanned off with a Thatcherite policeman; and her boyfriend Lloyd keeps bringing up marriage. And if they play ’99 Red Balloons’ on the radio one more time, she might just lose her mind.
Then the fundraising group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners comes down from London, and she meets June, a snaggle-toothed blonde in a too-big leather jacket. Suddenly, Eluned isn’t stuck any more – she’s in freefall.

June’s an artist and an activist, living in a squat in Camden. With June, Eluned can imagine a completely different – and exciting – life for herself. But as her family struggles with the strike, and her relationship with her sister eteriorates, should she really leave it all behind?

Rachel Dawson is a lesbian, working-class Welsh writer. In 2020, she was awarded a bursary by Literature Wales, which enabled her to write her debut novel, Neon Roses. She was born in Swansea and has done a variety of jobs, including selling sausage rolls and vibrators (not at the same time), and volunteering for an MP. She now works in the third sector and lives with her wife in Cardiff.