The Language of Bees

How can we have hope in a world that is dying? With a forensic eye, Howells takes us on a journey through ordinary human lives and the extraordinary natural world we are in danger of losing. The carder bee carries the story of a colony, a species, and, ultimately, the fate of all life on earth. The mermaid weaves an almost beautiful tale of a tragic miscarriage. The magpie writes yearning letters to her lost lover. The brilliant kingfisher flits through the mind of a woman with dementia. Through each exacting portrait, we begin to understand something special, a language of bees, and discover for ourselves how intimately we are all connected and what the natural world is trying to tell us.

Rae Howells is a poet, journalist, academic, and lavender farmer from Swansea. She’s won both the Welsh International and Rialto Nature and Place poetry competitions. Her work has featured in a wide range of journals including Magma, The Rialto, Poetry Wales, New Welsh Review, Acumen, Envoi, Poetry Ireland, Black Bough, Marble, and The Cardiff Review, as well as in the Poetry Business anthology, The Result is What You See Today and Arachne Press's anthology, A470. Howells’ pamphlet Bloom and Bones, co- authored with Jean James, was published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press in 2021. The Language of Bees is her first full collection. raehowells.co.uk