Lucent Dreaming has set up crowdfunder to raise money to fulfil its book projects this financial year. The publishing house was initially launched in 2021 by Jannat Ahmed, with a strong focus on developing local Welsh and emerging UK writers. Lucent Dreaming’s first book project Maps and Rooms: Writing from Wales (June 2022) was published in collaboration with Literature Wales’
Our stories deserve to be treated with integrity, not as a trend. Unless fair, living wages are made a priority for independent authors and publishers, this will not change.
We are super excited to share that two of our previously published contributors have recently released debut books of their own. Bethany Handley’s Cling Film (Seren, 2025) and Richard Hooton’s The Margaret Code (Sphere, 2025) are now available to buy or order online and via your favourite bookshops. Bethany Handley, first published in issue 8 of Lucent Dreaming, is an
We hope you can join us at The Riverfront in Newport on Thursday 10 April 2025 from 6pm to celebrate the publication of Cling Film by Bethany Handley and Beyond / Tu Hwnt, a bilingual anthology of Welsh Deaf and Disabled writers. The event is free and everyone is welcome. As well as readings by Bethany and contributors to Beyond / Tu Hwnt, Lucent Dreaming will
We are so excited to formally announce that Sodïq Oyèkànmí has joined the Lucent Dreaming team as freelance Poetry Editor. Having co-edited Andrew Ogun’s Slingshot alongside Jannat Ahmed, he will be involved in poetry editing and selection across our publications. Sodïq Oyèkànmí is a poet, dramaturge and editor from Nigeria. A 2022/23 Poetry Translation Centre (UK) UNDERTOW Fellow. He is
Lucent Dreaming has been operating as a creative writing magazine since April 2018 from Cardiff. In 2023, we began our single-author trade publishing venture, launching Dominoes and Miracles by former Wales Children’s Laureate, Connor Allen. This autumn, financially supported by Books Council Wales, we launch our first fiction title. Jude by Elin Heron is a young adult novel that explores
At the end of last year, our writers and funders received an email from me outlining a new publication timeline. It followed a long period of sporadic communication and delays. I referenced my mental ill health, exacerbated by grief and loss. I was grateful for the kind messages in response, all supportive and understanding. At the time, writing things out
Today we shine the spotlight on Elin Heron, whose story John Truslove appeared in issue 11 of Lucent Dreaming, and whose book Jude is forthcoming with Lucent Dreaming. So, what inspired your piece ‘JOHN TRUSLOVE’? Can you tell us a little more about what it’s about? There is so much I could tell you about this story because it is
We’re honoured to share that we will be publishing our first novel this September 2024. Fiction Editor Samiha Meah officially acquired Jude by Elin Heron in April 2023. When asked about why she wrote this story, Elin Heron tells us ‘As a writer I am concerned with landscape and magic and Jude is a novel where I explore these themes, alongside the
Lucent Dreaming signs Andrew Ogun’s debut poetry collection ‘Slingshot’
