On Monday, May 23, Celine’s Soho Salon was transformed into Celine’s Tenby Salon. Celine’s Salon is a literary cabaret nurturing new and established writers.

From its earliest days in a tiny bookshop in the heart of Soho, London, to its present tour of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, why Tenby? London-based Celine Hispiche the curator, fell upon Tenby via friends and coming to stay for a writing retreat by the sea.

“I fell in love with its magic and history. After a trip to the Museum it seemed the perfect place to host an event.” And that’s exactly what happened. Starting from scratch and a pocket full of dreams, Celine began searching for local writers. “At first it was very difficult as I am not Welsh, and I only had a couple of potential contacts”. But with sheer determination and some research the doors gently opened. “I was over the moon to be put in touch with the local Tenby Creative Writer’s Group. It was a real treat to have the talented Ros Garratt and Sheila Hammond included in our show.

“More feelers went out thus leading to the wonderful help of Zoe Brigley Thompson, editor of Poetry Wales, which led me to the sublime works of Susie Wild and Emily Vanderploeg (Parthian Books). Both ladies’ readings were off the Richter scale. Nerys Beattie took us back to our childhood filling the room with her children’s book magic ‘The Little Bees Sneeze’. Siobhan Lancaster was another local literary delight. Explosive works were flawlessly read by Meredyyd Barker and the wonderful Bob Reeves. London talent was graced by the impeccable wordsmith Heather Moulson and the unique poetry, word slam of Kevin O’Dowd. Fantastic playwright Billy Parker silenced the room. As if that wasn’t enough talent to fill the room, everyone was treated to the wonderful music of ‘The Curious Florist’ aka James Watkins and Charley Pace.”

“The Tenby Museum played perfect host to the evening all thanks to curator Mark Lewis and his team. The other added delight is a book will be published by Wordville Press featuring writers from its Celtic tour.”

Celine’s Salon will be back in Tenby in the autumn to launch ‘Volume 2’ Celine’s Salon the Anthology. This will be hosted again by Tenby Museum featuring local writers and mistress of ceremonies Celine Hispiche.