Lampeter Writers’ Workshop will launch their seventh anthology of poetry and prose, Reaching for the Light, on Saturday, 29 July.

The launch, on the same day as Lampeter Food Festival, will take place in the public library on Market St from 11.45am to 12.30pm, and all are welcome.

They are believed to be the longest-running writing group in Wales, and have been meeting weekly since Gillian Clarke (National Poet of Wales 2008 to 2016), Sue Moules and Kathy Miles founded the group in 1984.

Sue, a widely published poet and the current chair, recollects: “I have been privileged to hear so many poems before they were published. In 2010, when Gillian won the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, she brought it in and passed it around so we could all hold it.”

Kathy, winner of the Bridport Prize, said: “I have been coming to Lampeter Writers since it first began. The opportunity to share work amongst other writers, and to hear their work in turn, is a pleasure and a privilege. I am hugely grateful for the support and encouragement of the group, and particularly thankful to Gillian Clarke, who taught us all so very much.”

Many of the writers who have attended Lampeter Writers’ Workshop are now published poets and authors, and several have won prestigious national prizes.

During the launch several of the contributors to the anthology will be reading their work and will be available to sign the anthology and answer questions.