Taylor Edmonds has compiled a compelling collection of essays from across Wales on the importance of water. Contributors to The Waters That Raised Us draw from their own reservoirs of personal reflection, mythology, and history, underlining water’s significance amid the chaos of climate change.
When I think of my home in Wales, the first images that come to mind are of nature: the reserve a stone’s throw from my door, farmland hills dotted with sheep, and long hikes up steep slopes towards Twmbalrwm (its summit nicknamed the ‘Pimple’, or ‘Nipple’, depending on who you ask). My vision of Wales, of home, has become synonymous with the natural world – and as a Pisces, that love naturally extends to its waters. This booktaps into this connection and, through nine Welsh writers, deepens it.
Each essay is distinct, as an anthology should be, yet they resonate with one another to create a cohesive whole. Together they explore the cultural, environmental, and historical significance of water in Wales, from the drowned village of Capel Celyn (Francesca Reece), to the polluted River Wye (Kandace Siobhan Walker), to the ways water can shape personal identity (Durre Shahwar). As a reader, you can’t help but to reflect on your own relationship to water.
In ‘On Returning’, CJ Wagstaff uses water to examine his journey as a trans man, revealing both its personal and universal qualities. Across the collection, themes of climate activism and restoration intertwine with anti-colonial, feminist and queer perspectives that I found crucially enlightening.
Ultimately, these stories ask us to humanise our lakes and reservoirs; beaches and oceans; rivers and waterfalls as we would each other. They ask us to dream of a future wherein all these things have a right to exist and to flourish.
