Catrin Kean has had her short stories published in Riptide Journal, Bridge House Publishing and The Ghastling. Her first novel, Salt, was the Wales Book Of The Year winner in 2021 and she is currently working on her second which is due to be published in 2024. She is also working on a feature film script and a collection of short ghost stories. Kean lives in the Garw valley with her partner and three ridgeback dogs.

Salt is based on the lives of Kean’s great-grandparents, who married in 1878. It is their love story.

Cardiff in the late 1800s is grimy, crowded and grey, and Ellen, a domestic, dreams of escaping her dreary life there for the sea. When she falls in love with Samuel, a ship’s cook from Barbados, she is able to fulfil her fantasy by running away with him on a ship. Life at sea is brutal and dangerous, but it is a place where they can be free… Until circumstances force Ellen home, and the hardships of working class life and racism begin to poison their lives.

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Please note: Event delivered in English