REAL South Pembrokeshire will be published in April 2011 by Seren Books as part of their popular and successful 'Real Wales' series.

Tony Curtis was born in Carmarthen, but throughout his childhood in the 1950s constantly visited his family in Pembrokeshire and lived in the Kilgetty and Saundersfoot areas from the age of 13. He was capped by Pembrokeshire Schoolboys rugby in 1962 and was Deputy Head Boy of Greenhill School, Tenby, in 1964/5. He learned to play golf at Tenby and is still a member of Tenby Golf Club. He and his family now live partly in Lydstep where both his parents worked and died.

In this individualistic description of South Pembrokeshire he retraces his ancestry in the Jeffreyston area where his family - the Barrahs and Thomases - farmed until the early years of the 20th century. He visits all the significant castles and historical buildings, walks the coastal path, rediscovers mines and tinworks and quarries. He talks to local people, farmers, business people, artists and makers. He visits the islands - Caldey, Skokholm, Skomer and describes, walks and drives through the countryside below the Landsker Line: 'Little England beyond Wales'. The towns of Tenby, Narberth, Pembroke and Pembroke Dock are described, as well as tiny villages such as Pwllcrochan, Warren and Lamphey. There is the taste of lamb, bass, mackerel and laverbread, asparagus and the incomparable new potato. Here is the unique Tenby daffodil, orchids in the burrows and the sweet and sour smell of wild garlic in the lanes.

Professor Curtis has published over 30 books, including The Poetry of Pembrokeshire (1989) and in a career in education of over 40 years has taught and directed the M.Phil. in writing at the University of Glamorgan where he is Professor of Poetry. He has published nine collections of poetry as well as books of criticism and art commentary. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature and won the UK National Poetry Prize in 1984. He was chair of the Welsh Academy of Writers in the 1980s and initiated the Cardiff Literature Festival. He serves on the committee of the Contemporary Art Society for Wales. In 2004 he was awarded the first Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Glamorgan.

Order this and other books in the series, books about Wales and others by Tony Curtis from Seren Books http://www.serenbooks.co.uk">www.serenbooks.co.uk.