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Being part of the crew filming Molly Parkin for Great Lives on Â鶹Éç Wales has shredded my nerves. She may be in her 80th year but being close to her when she's recounting details of her turbulent life or expounding upon her philosophy is like trying to live with a machine-gun emplacement in the heat of battle.

A hot evening at the Red Gallery close to trendy Hoxton Square in London saw us setting up to film Molly speaking at the opening of the first exhibition of her paintings for a very long time.

About a hundred of the art glitterati - mostly old friends of hers - gathered in the gallery to hear Molly address them.

Molly Parkin. Photo: Â鶹Éç Cymru Wales/Anthony Lycett

Picture the scene: an audience peppered with bizarre costumes and hair-dos; Molly, dressed like an Inca High Priestess, standing in front of one of her rudest, most sexually-explicit and fascinating paintings, saying very rude words of welcome. Suddenly, she plunges her fingers into her mouth and removes her false teeth!

Being used only to the phoney, manufactured outrageousness of artists like Tracey Emin and her showbiz ilk, I begin to slide down my chair, not knowing where to put myself. But it's too late to escape. The film director has spotted my discomfort, the camera zooms in on me and I try to brave it out by sitting up straight and smiling what I imagine is an urbane, relaxed smile.

It lasts for no more than a nanosecond before Molly launches into a detailed account of how some of the paintings illustrate the pain she has carried through the decades since she was sexually and emotionally abused by her father.

Her honesty and directness scorches all of us in the room. The silences between her sentences are so profound that the racket of the surrounding streets seems to emanate from some distant parallel universe, like white noise.

Then she says something that makes us roar with laughter and I see the camera crew struggling to maintain an equilibrium that will prevent the footage resembling the recording of a powerful earthquake.

Molly Parkin has a genius for placing raw emotion against iconoclastic humour, just as her paintings place searing yellows against vibrant blues. And she has the timing of the great jazz musicians who were among her closest friends.

Molly Parkin looking at her portrait. Photo: Â鶹Éç Cymru Wales/Mark Allen

I leave the gallery, realising that I've just been in the presence of someone for whom the description, Performance Art, was invented.

We owe Â鶹Éç Wales thanks for celebrating this extraordinary product of the Garw Valley: a slip of a girl who stormed the bastions of London's bohemia, charmed its extraordinary defenders with her beauty, intelligence and talent and remained defiantly independent and indefatigably outrageous.

Great Lives featuring Molly Parkin, presented by Kim Howells, can be seen on Â鶹Éç One Wales on Monday 30 May at 10.15pm. It can also be viewed on the Â鶹Éç iPlayer for the subsequent seven days after transmission.

An initiative to get Welsh children interested in film has launched today in Wales, with backing from home-grown actor Michael Sheen.

Education charity FILMCLUB helps schools to set up and run after-school film clubs, enabling young people to watch, discuss and review a diverse range of films from around the world.

The scheme has been launched today, following a pilot that has been running in Wales since 2008 with 15 schools across a number of counties.

Michael Sheen is the Welsh ambassador of the scheme, while FILMCLUB in Wales is backed with grant assistance from the Welsh Government and is supported by the .

Michael Sheen with a Welsh FILMCLUB member at a pilot school

To mark the launch of FILMCLUB in Wales, the charity has curated two seasons of films especially for the occasion: The Welsh Film Season and The Welsh Connection. The latter is a season of films more loosely connected to Wales, including Cleopatra, Chicago and The Lost Weekend, while the former will see the screening of Welsh classics.

It is hoped that this focus on Wales will bring the rich culture of Welsh movie-making to members not just in Wales, but throughout the UK.

For more information visit the .

The Hay Festival begins tomorrow, bringing a whole host of literary, creative, musical and comedic personalities to the small Welsh book town of Hay-on-Wye.

The Hay Festival site. Photo: Finn Beales

You probably know all about it already of course, and will have no doubt heard the oft-quoted former President Bill Clinton calling it the 'Woodstock of the mind', so I'm not going to bore you with minutiae - you can browse exactly who's appearing and when on the .

What I will do is give you a brief list of some of the Welsh flavours on the Hay menu.

Those flying the Welsh literary flag include Owen Sheers, Gwyneth Lewis, Niall Griffiths, Richard Gwyn, Horatio Clare, Tom Bullough, Paul Henry, Cynan Jones, Myrrha Stanford-Smith, Deborah Kay Davies and the National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke.

Welsh comedian Elis James will appear at Hay this year, while musician and new author Cerys Matthews will perform poetry from her recently published children's book Tales From The Deep, and also sing in concert.

Other Welsh highlights include appearances by Simon Weston, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Mr Nice himself, Howard Marks.

Keep up to date with the latest festival goings-on with the . Plus, let us know in the comments box below if you're planning a trip to Hay this year - and what or who you're looking forward to seeing.

Meanwhile, taking place alongside the main festival is HowTheLightGetsIn, a philosophy and music festival at Hay. The theme for this year’s event is New Gods - icons and ideas in a changed world.

Guests will include sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, politician Vince Cable, screenwriter and playwright Jez Butterworth plus author Philip Pullman among many others. For more, see .

Bafta in Wales has announced that actor Matthew Rhys will receive the 2011 Siân Phillips Award at the 20th annual British Academy Cymru Awards ceremony later this month.

Matthew Rhys. Photo: Bafta in Wales

Cardiff-born Rhys, who is now based in America, has enjoyed recent success on both sides of the Atlantic for his role in the American hit series Brothers & Sisters.

He is also well known for his portrayal of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in The Edge of Love, and for his role in Welsh director Marc Evans' film Patagonia.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on Sunday 29 May. It will be hosted by Sian Williams and Jason Mohammad and feature a performance by the Welsh tenor Wynne Evans.

Rhys said: "Receiving the Siân Phillips Award from BAFTA in Wales means an enormous amount to me.

"Ironically enough, Siân played my mother in my very first job, which was rather magical, and this honour means an infinite amount more because it is her award... Being recognised by those from home really does make it that much more special."

Browse the for a list of nominees for this year's British Academy Cymru Awards, and for more on the awards ceremony.

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of attending the shortlist announcement for the 2011 Wales Book of the Year Award.

I went along to the announcement organised by at the Espresso Bar in John Lewis in Cardiff - who are one of the sponsors of this year's prize - while there was a simultaneous event being staged at Galeri in Caernarfon.

Presenter Heledd Cynwal got the proceedings underway, and was joined on stage by Literature Wales' Grahame Davies and the chief executive of the Arts Council of Wales, Nick Capaldi, before the shortlisted authors were announced.

First up, Jon Gower announced the three English language authors, who were chosen by him and his two fellow English language judges, Francesca Rhydderch (Chair) and Deborah Kay Davies.

Jon Gower announced the English language shortlisted authors

The authors shortlisted for this year's £10,000 prize are John Harrison, for his travel book Cloud Road: A Journey Through the Inca Heartland, Pascale Petit for her poetry collection What the Water Gave Me: Poems After Frida Kahlo, and sci-fi novelist Alastair Reynolds with Terminal World.

Welsh language judge Kate Crockett then took to the stage and unveiled the three Welsh language authors and titles: Angharad Price with Caersaint, Dewi Prysor's Lladd Duw and Ned Thomas' Bydoedd: Cofiant Cyfnod.

Shortlisted authors Alastair Reynolds, John Harrison and Ned Thomas signing their books at the announcement in Cardiff

The shortlisted books at the announcement

Last year the English language prize was collected by Philip Gross for his poetry collection I Spy Pinhole Eye, while John Davies won the Welsh language prize for Cymru: Y 100 Lle i'w Gweld Cyn Marw. (You can take a look at some photo galleries from previous years' awards on the Â鶹Éç Wales Arts website.)

This year's winners will be announced at a revamped, Oscar-style ceremony in Cardiff on Thursday 7 July.

For more information on the prize visit the , plus browse the news story on the Â鶹Éç Wales News website.

The Mostyn Open Exhibition and Prize returns for 2011 following the Llandudno gallery's recent extensive refurbishment and extension. The exhibition will open to the public tomorrow, but not before the winning artist and recipient of the £10,000 prize is announced at the exhibition's private launch this evening.

The Mostyn Open has run from 1989, and has been the launch pad of many an artistic career. This year the open features the work of 49 artists, who were selected by the judging panel from over 1,000 submissions. Most of the selected artists are based in the UK, including 10 from Wales, with a handful from elsewhere in Europe.

Susan Adams, Receiver, 2011

Jo Longhurst, The Refusal (Part 1), 2008

This year's exhibition and prize is the first re-introduction since the last, held in 2006. It will continue biennially in the future.

The artists were selected by the three-strong panel: artist Richard Wentworth, Professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art; Karen MacKinnon, Exhibitions Curator at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea and Anders Pleass, Head of Exhibitions at Mostyn.

There's a whole range of artistic media on show at this year's exhibition, including painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, graffiti and video, showcasing some of the most exciting and diverse contemporary art of the moment.

Rob Miller, Breath of God, 2010

Steph Goodger, Pandemonium, The Evil Pouches 2009-10.
All images are courtesy of the respective artists, and provided by Mostyn

The Mostyn Open runs from Saturday 21 May until Saturday 9 July 2011. Visit the for more information on their current and upcoming exhibitions, and for more on the Mostyn Open.

in Cardiff is one of five venues in the UK hosting the inaugural UK Green Film Festival, showcasing environmentally themed films and similarly-minded film makers.

The festival, which is also launching in Leeds, Leicester, London and Glasgow, starts this Friday, 20 May, and runs across the weekend, finishing on Sunday 22 May.

There's a range of films on offer in Cardiff - some of which will be premières, some will feature guest directors and guest introductions plus there'll also be environmentally friendly activities at the centre.

Films that will be shown over the weekend include the UK première of PLANEAT - story of three men's search for a diet which is good for our health, the environment and the future of our planet; 1950s classic Godzilla (apparently it's greenthemed-with-hindsight), and a free screening of Home, the feature directorial début of French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

As the film festival website says: "We're not here to preach. We're here to challenge, inspire, educate, learn and entertain." Either way, it's a good opportunity to catch a few unexpected cinematic treats with the serious issues of climate change and the environment at their core.

There's more info on the and , plus see exactly what .

The Norwegian Church Arts Centre in Cardiff reopens today after undergoing a revamp costing almost £500,000.

The refurbishments include a redesigned interior plus new features such as a pinewood terrace, an extension to the coffee shop, a lifting platform and new toilet facilities.

The reopening is being held today - 17 May - to coincide with the annual Norwegian Day celebrations, and will involve members of the Welsh Norwegian Society in traditional costume and a flag raising ceremony.

Read more on the story on the Â鶹Éç Wales News website and visit the for further details.

has scooped the Welsh Books Council's for his children's book Three Little Sheep.

Rob Lewis' Three Little Sheep

The Tir na n-Og Awards were established in 1976 with the intention of raising the standard of children's and young people's books published during the year, and to encourage the buying and reading of good books.

It is the second time in his career that the author and illustrator, who lives in mid Wales, has won the prize.

Lewis' illustrated book, a twist on the well-known children's story of the Three Little Pigs, is published by by Pont Books, a branch of .

In the tale the three sheep are startled by the appearance of a wolf while they are roaming in a meadow. They flee and the wolf chases after them - but the 'predator' isn't as scary as they first thought, and is far from the stereotypical fairy tale big, bad wolf.

Lewis said, "Having won the Tir na n-Og award in 2003, I was absolutely delighted and honoured to have won this major award for the second time. Three Little Sheep was a joy to write and illustrate and I hope that readers of all ages will be entertained by this tale of a well-intentioned wolf and three unsuspecting sheep!"

Read more about the award on the

There's a rare opportunity to watch a Welsh film classic at Big Pit, the National Coal Museum in Blaenafon, next week.

The museum has recently established the Big Pit Film Club, which will showcase some of the forgotten Welsh film classics. The first film to be screened is the 1951 Welsh mining drama-documentary , directed by Paul Dickson.

David was the Welsh selection for the 1951 Festival of Britain screenings in London. Filmed in Ammanford with a cast of local people, David tells the life story of DR Griffiths, ex-miner and caretaker of Amman Valley Grammar School in Ammanford.

It is hoped that the Big Pit Film Club will show three films per year. The next is scheduled for September, though dates and future films are yet to be confirmed.

David will be screened at 1.30pm on Wednesday 18 May and will be followed by a chance to discuss the issues and themes raised by the film. The cost is £1.50 per person, which includes refreshments. For more information call 01495 790311 or visit the .

You can read more about David in an article written for the Â鶹Éç Wales Arts website by the late film critic and historian Dave Berry: Top 10 Welsh films: David.

Both the and the are appealing for the memories of the people of Wales in the run up to the 2011 Eisteddfod in Wrexham this summer.

The modern day National Eisteddfod of Wales celebrates 150 years in 2011. To mark the occasion the National Eisteddfod has launched their Celebrate 150 campaign, and are also working in partnership with in gathering jewels from the past.

They are looking for memories and stories of past Eisteddfodau - be it tales about staying at the Eisteddfod, competing, performing, volunteering or something else. There are already a few on their website that .

They're also encouraging people to share their photographs. Take a look on the website, , for more on Celebrate 150.

The 1977 Eisteddfod Crown © The National Eisteddfod of Wales

Meanwhile, in a separate appeal, the Arts Council of Wales are asking for the people of Wales to send their memories of the summer of 1977.

Why, you may ask? Well this year the National Eisteddfod returns to Wrexham for the first time in over 30 years - since 1977 to be precise.

Ahead of the Welsh cultural extravaganza, which begins on 30 July and runs until 6 August, the Arts Council are asking for memories, photographs, postcards or artefacts from Wales relating to the summer of '77. These will then form part of the visual arts exhibition space at the Eisteddfod - Y Lle Celf - and the Arts Council are hoping to uncover the nation's stories and secrets.

For more info visit the .

will add another city to its already impressive collection tonight when the comedy/literary evening takes place at the .

If you've not heard of Literary Death Match before, the basic premise is an evening's amusement in which four talented writers read some of their most entertaining work for seven minutes or less in front of an audience, plus a panel of three judges.

After each pair of readers the judges select their favourite, with the eventual two finalists battling it out in the death match finale for - in tonight's case - the Cardiff crown.

A paragraph on the Literary Death Match website describes what you can expect:

"It may sound like a circus - and that's half the point. Literary Death Match is passionate about inspecting new and innovative ways to present text off the page, and the most fascinating part about the LDM is how seriously attentive the audience is during each reading.

"We've called this the great literary ruse: an audacious and inviting title, a harebrained finale, but in-between the judging creates a relationship with the viewer as a judge themselves."

The four readers performing their own work at this evening's event are poet - and the winner of the John Tripp Spoken Poetry Audience Prize - Mab Jones; poet, author and one of Parthian's Bright Young Things Susie Wild; self-described poet/ranter Patrick Jones and poet David Oprava.

The panel consists of ITV's Nicholas Whitehead, comedian, actor and writer Taylor Glenn, and short story writer Huw Ellis. The evening will be hosted by the creator of Literary Death Match Todd Zuniga, who has written a brilliant guest article on today's .

Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce will take on one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragic characters as he plays the title role in King Lear in the 2012 autumn season at London's .

The actor, who was born in Holywell in north east Wales, made his breakthrough screen performance in Terry Gilliam's Brazil. An experienced stage and screen actor, he won an Olivier Award in 1980 for his performance in Hamlet and is well known for his recent appearances in the Pirates of the Caribbean series of films.

Jonathan Pryce, as Mr Buxton in the Â鶹Éç adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford

Artistic Director at the Almeida Theatre, Michael Attenborough - who will direct the play in 2012 - said: "I think Jonathan will be able to portray a king who could exercise power quite brutally when he wanted to, and then be devastated at the loss of that power. He's my perfect Lear."

Dates and further casting for King Lear at the Almeida are yet to be announced.

A new TV series from Â鶹Éç Cymru Wales begins tonight, showcasing some of Wales' best known and loved stars of stage, screen and the arts.

In the first episode of Great Lives, presenter Kim Howells meets Stan Stennett - one of Wales' most original and talented stage performers. In a career spanning almost 70 years Stennett has performed for generations of audiences throughout the world.

Stennett looks back at a life which began in humble surroundings on a small farm on the outskirts of Bridgend in 1925. As a young boy, he was always looking for an opportunity to entertain, and following his de-mob from the army at the end of World War Two he became a star as a comedian and musician on the variety circuit, which took him to venues throughout the UK.

Stan Stennett

He had his first break in television as the resident comic on The Black and White Minstrel Show, which was followed by leading roles in soaps including Crossroads and Coronation Street.

As well as regular stage shows and occasional cameo roles in films and television productions, Stennett continues to enjoy his passion for flying aeroplanes. At the age of 85, he has no intention of bringing the curtain down on a great life.

Watch Great Lives on Â鶹Éç One Wales at 10.35pm tonight, Monday 9 May, and on Â鶹Éç iPlayer for the subsequent seven days after transmission.

Kim will meet two other Welsh stars in the series, Victor Spinetti and Molly Parkin.

Additional links

• Stan Stennett's official website:
• Great Lives programme information

North Wales will get a double dose of comedy in the coming months as Llangollen and Llandudno will each play host to a festival of all things funny.

Fresh from its inaugural outing in 2010, the Llangollen Comedy Festival returns next month with some of the biggest names on the stand up circuit.

The festival will once again be based at the Llangollen Pavilion and RAFA club, and will run from Thursday 9 June to Sunday 12 June. Established comedians on the confirmed list so far include Ed Byrne, Craig Campbell, Isy Suttie, Alun Cochrane and Gary Delaney.

Some of the up and coming artists who will perform include Welsh comedian Kiri Pritchard-Mclean - who won the C69 New Comedian of The Year 2010, plus Dan Thomas and Hayley Ellis.

There's also something for the children, as the stars of CÂ鶹Éç's Little Howard's Big Questions will stop off at Llangollen as part of their UK tour.

Find out more on .

Meanwhile, plans are afoot for a brand new comedy festival in Llandudno, which is aiming to raise funds for a local hospice with big-name headliners including Paul Merton and Phill Jupitus.

Paul Merton

The Giddy Goat festival will run over two nights in the seaside town at Venue Cymru, on 14 and 15 October. It is being organised by Steve Doherty, the income generation manager at St David's Hospice, who previously worked as a television and radio producer on Â鶹Éç shows such as Have I Got News For You and Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

Mr Doherty told the Daily Post: "My wife and I moved to Llandudno with our two small children as we always wanted to live near the seaside. I just immediately thought Llandudno would make a perfect festival town, as it's self-contained, has an excellent theatre, and [is] just a nice place to be.

"A few years ago Llandudno was voted the happiest town in Wales and comedy festivals are good and happy things. I'd like to see the festival become part of the UK comedy circuit."

There's more info on the , and you can read the article in full about the festival on the .

A Welsh community attempting to save their local cinema from permanent closure have set up a new group to stop its demise.

The Coliseum cinema in Porthmadog has seen its attendance figures dwindle, and the 80 year old building, which opened in 1931, is beginning to show its age. It has consequently been shut temporarily, while its long term future is in doubt.

The Save the Coliseum group is now working with businesses and individuals in the community to try to preserve the cinema.

Read more on the story and about the cinema on the Save the Coliseum website: .

A major retrospective of the work of Clive Hicks-Jenkins will open at the this weekend in celebration of the artist's 60th birthday, with some 200 pieces of his work going on show.

Hicks-Jenkins was born in Newport in south Wales in 1951. He studied dance at Rambert in London and theatre studies at the Italia Conti School, becoming a successful dancer and actor, and later choreographer, director and stage designer - creating productions with leading companies including the Almeida Theatre, the Vienna Festival, Theatr Clwyd and Cardiff New Theatre.

He has been painting full time since the 1990s - his first solo show took place in 1996 - and his work is recognised for its emotion and its humanity, attracting an enthusiastic following from fellow artists, poets and writers in Britain and the USA.

The exhibition, which will fill the Gregynog Gallery at the National Library as well as the adjoining gallery, coincides with the publication of a book that also celebrates his 60th birthday.

Hicks-Jenkins is an honorary fellow of Aberystwyth University, is a Royal Cambrian Academician and is also a member of the .

The Virgin of Goldfinches (2009) by Clive Hicks-Jenkins

The retrospective, which includes loans from private and public collections, opens this Saturday, 7 May, and runs until Saturday 20 August. Clive Hicks-Jenkins will also give a gallery talk at the National Library on Monday 25 July.

Discover more about the artist on his website , and visit the for more information on this and other exhibitions.

Clive Hicks Jenkins with Nicola Heywood Thomas

Plus, tune in to Â鶹Éç Radio Wales on Wednesday 11 May at 7pm for the next episode of the Radio Wales Arts Show, in which presenter Nicola Heywood Thomas speaks to Clive Hicks-Jenkins about his work and the exhibition.

The Dylan Thomas Prize is calling for the submission of entries for the 2011 award, ahead of the 31 May closing date.

2011 marks the first year in which the formerly biennial prize becomes annual, with the prize valued at £30,000 - one of the highest paying literary awards for young writers.

The prize is open to all published authors aged 18 to 30 writing in the English language and is open to a variety of genres including short stories, novels, poetry and plays.

Entries can be submitted from anywhere in the world and must be submitted by a publisher, editor, literary agent - or in the case of film scripts and stage plays, by the producer.

Previous winners include American poet Elyse Fenton in 2010 for her collection of war poetry Clamor, Vietnam-born author Nam Le with The Boat in 2008 and Welsh author Rachel Trezise with Fresh Apples in 2006.

For more details visit the .