Award winners

These past few weeks have been very busy in the Welsh literary world with lots of award announcements and celebrations!

Literature Wales announced the full list of eagerly anticipated winners for this year’s Llyfr Y Flwyddyn: Wales Book of the Year 2021. Megan Angharad Hunter’s Tu ôl i’r awyr won Llyfr y Flwyddyn (Welsh Language Book of the Year), and the Wales Book of the Year English Language winner is Salt by Catrin Kean. Marged Tudur was also announced as the winner of the Welsh-language Poetry Award with her debut collection Myn, and Hazel Walford Davies was presented with the Golwg360 Barn y Bobl Award with her biography O.M.: Cofiant Syr Owen Morgan Edwards.

During this year’s Eisteddfod Amgen, Lleucu Roberts won the prestigious Daniel Owen Memorial Prize with her novel Hannah-Jane, along with the 2021 Prose Medal with her novel, Y Stori Orau.

All of these titles are available to borrow from your local Aura library: why not come and have a look and browse our library shelves, or add any of the above titles to your next Select and Collect order!

Cyfres Amdani

Cyfres Amdani is a brilliant book series for Welsh learners of all levels, from beginner all the way to advanced and high proficiency. With handy vocabulary on every page, the Cyfres Amdani book series is a brilliant way to build confidence in reading Welsh language fiction. Discover titles in the Cyfres Amdani series at your local Aura library or by visiting Siop y Siswrn in Mold!

E-books and audiobooks

As a reminder, Aura Library members can download e-books and audiobooks free of charge from Borrowbox and RBdigital to a PC, laptop or Mac. Alternatively, you can download the Borrowbox and RBdigital apps directly to a smartphone or tablet.

To access most online library resources you will need to enter your library membership number and pin. If you do not have this then you can join up as a member online via the Aura website for instant access. All links and further details about our digital library resources can be found on our website: www.aura.wales/libraries

Summer Reading Challenge

Have you taken part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge? Don’t forget to come and collect your certificate once you have completed the challenge!

If you have not yet joined the challenge, don’t worry, there’s still time to get involved! The Summer Reading Challenge encourages children aged four to 11 to enjoy the benefits of reading for pleasure over the summer holidays. This year’s theme is Wild World Heroes!

Pop in to your nearest library for more information and to grab your Wild World Heroes SRC Bag! There are lots of free fun activities to join in with at your local Aura library, or why not get out and about with us in the wilds of your local area. Follow a Story Trail or solve the treasure hunts or join us for ‘Fit Fed and Read’! For more information contact your local library or find us on social media: @LlyfrgelloeddAuraLibraries (Facebook), @LibFlintshire (Twitter) and @llyfrgelloeddauralibraries (Instagram).

Adult Community Learning Courses: How to Get Online

We are pleased to again be offering free, in person, Adult Learning Courses at our libraries. These courses are fully funded by the Flintshire Adult Community Learning Grant. Places are limited so please book in advance by contacting the library directly if you would like to attend:

How to get online

Mondays at Mold Library 10am-11am – six-week course 01352 703780

Mondays at Flint Library 2pm-3pm – six-week course 01352 703737

Thursdays at Connah’s Quay Library 2pm-3pm – six-week course 01352 703730

We will be offering more free courses soon on a whole host of subjects to enable you to learn new skills and improve your wellbeing. You may also be interested in some other courses which are being delivered via Zoom currently including Tai Chi and Mindfulness.  For more information please email Susannah.Hill@aura.wales

• Visit us on social media to view handy information about our services and the online monthly events we host, as well as lots of book and audiobook recommendations. We can be found on Facebook at @LlyfrgelloeddAuraLibraries, Instagram at @llyfrgelloeddauralibraries and Twitter at @LibFlintshire.

From everyone here at Aura Libraries, thank you for reading, stay safe and we hope to hear from you or see you soon!

• Aura is a charitable, not-for-profit, organisation responsible for managing the majority of leisure, libraries and heritage services in Flintshire. Aura is owned by its employees and operates for the benefit of local communities.