A unique partnership of will see a best-selling book brought to life at a Pembrokeshire gallery.

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales and two National Park Authorities in Wales have joined forces to bring the best-selling book Geiriau Diflanedig - The Lost Words to life at Oriel y Parc Gallery and Visitor Centre in St Davids from today, Sunday, July 2, 2023.

Geiriau Diflanedig - The Lost Words explores the relationship between language and the living world, and of nature’s power to spark the imagination. The touring exhibition, which is organised by Compton Verney, with Hamish Hamilton and Penguin Books, will bring together, for the first time the original artwork by Jackie Morris alongside the English language poems by Robert Macfarlane and Welsh language poems written by Mererid Hopwood.

The award-winning book The Lost Words uses stirring spell-songs and eye-catching illustrations to reintroduce the fading faces of nature to our vocabularies and in turn, inspire us to join the fight to reverse their plight. The Welsh publication, Geiriau Diflanedig was published by Graffeg in 2019.

At Oriel y Parc, specimens from the natural history collections of Amgueddfa Cymru will also be used to highlight the level of biodiversity loss and explain the work being done to try and arrest this decline.

The collaboration between Amgueddfa Cymru, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park Authority will also see words and watercolours from the book on display at Yr Ysgwrn in Gwynedd.

A series of special events and activities will be held at Oriel y Parc and Yr Ysgwrn to encourage more people to discover more about Geiriau Diflanedig - The Lost Words and use the spell-songs to conjure their own magic memories in nature.

Adder by Jackie Morris
Adder by Jackie Morris (© Jackie Morris)

Geiriau Diflanedig - The Lost Words will be on display at Oriel y Parc Gallery and Visitor Centre in St Davids from Sunday 2 July 2023 until spring 2024. For more information on this exhibition visit www.orielyparc.co.uk/the-lost-words.

Geiriau Diflanedig - The Lost Words is also on display at Yr Ysgwrn in Trawsfynydd from Sunday 25 June 2023 until spring 2024. For more information on this exhibition visit www.yrysgwrn.com/en/visit/lost-words-exhibition.  

For more information about The Lost Words book visit www.thelostwords.org.