Award-winning poet, author, singer-songwriter, and artist, who grew up over-the-garden-fence from Erddig woodlands in Wrexham.
Sara
Erddig
We bumped into Sara Erddig (Dr Sara Louise Wheeler), by chance one evening at our local pub to the Foundry, The Drunk Monk, over the way from us in nearby Overton Arcade; she was attending the monthly ‘Thank Folk it’s Friday’ open mic there, hosted by Andy Hickey.
Real
Wrexham:
Becoming
The City
Call it serendipity but the cover of Sara’s latest book ‘Real Wrexham – becoming the city’ (2026) is in fact an elevated shot of Yorke Street, looking north and taken only feet away from our Foundry offices front door. We were already familiar with Sara’s book – as we’d interviewed Graham Davies earlier this summer, following the re-print of his ‘Real Wrexham’ book (2007) which was re-launched in April 2026, at the same time as Sara’s.
We Interview
The Author
Sara came over to the Foundry to share with us her experiences of writing this next Wrexham instalment in the psychogeography ‘Real series’ by Seren Books.
Not a Second
Edition,
Two Distinct
Books
Sara laughed and explained:
“Yeah, Grahame’s book was out of print and had sold out – which just goes to show how popular it was when it was first published! So, Seren Books decided to make it available again – but of course this meant there were two books, with virtually the same name, by the same publisher, being launched at the same time! It was a bit confusing!
What Is
Psychogeography?
“Well, as Desmond Clifford pointed out in his recent review of my book: psychogeography involves a personal essay, or a series of essays, describing the relationship between a place and a person or people. Its primary purpose is not to provide the functional information that a tourist might normally want access to, but to articulate a sense of place.”
Parallel Lives
There are some striking similarities between Sara and Grahame’s careers in creative writing, including columns in Wales’s leading Welsh medium poetry magazine - Barddas. In 2020, Sara was invited to establish a column, which she called ‘O’r Gororau’ (from the borders). She had no idea at the time, but many years earlier, Grahame had also written a column for Barddas magazine, which was similarly called ‘Ar y Ffin’ (On the border). “I guess great minds think alike!” She laughed.
What's In
A Name?
Commenting on the slightly controversial subtitle of her book, Sara explained;
“Well, the publishers already had the subtitle in mind, and I knew it would be problematic in certain circles, but I nevertheless agreed with the sentiment”.
“You see, I grew up in Wrexham town, which at the time was in the county of Clwyd – a county which covered the whole of northeast Wales. But then in 1996, Clwyd was snapped in two – the northern county was called ‘Flintshire’ and the southern county was called…’Wrexham’! And as I say in the book – “Yes, Wrexham town was now in Wrexham County – genius!”
City
Status
Meaning
“And what a lot of people don’t realise, due to this confusion between town and county with the same name, is that it is in fact the county of Wrexham which was granted city status, not the town!”
“Also, I was a pupil at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd secondary school, where pupils were drawn from all over the County of Wrexham - even before the county was officially established. I sat in class next to children from Coedpoeth, Rhosymedre, Rhosllannerchrugog, Gresford, Ruabon, and even the wilds of Dyffryn Ceiriog (Ceiriog Valley)! And I have to say that I never thought of any of them as “Not being from Wrexham” – we were all just citizens of this patchwork landscape!”
All Part Of
The Wrexham
Experience
“When I came to write the book, I initially had a bit of a panic, because maps of the county-city are not widely available; but I found one here. I then used this map to plan the sections of the book – including visits to the farthest tips of each ‘tentacle’ – including places like ‘Fenn’s Moss’…places I had no idea about and wouldn’t have guessed were a part of Wrexham county-city. But I also included places that have always felt a part of the ‘Wrexham experience’ – like Llangollen, even if officially they’re in a different county.”
Making
Sense
Of It All
“So anyway, for me, the formation of Wrexham County, around Wrexham town, and even the slightly confusing sharing of the name, made some kind of sense – in terms of my experiences of living and working in this octopus-shaped landscape; I’d say that very few ‘Wrexhamites’ live their daily lives just within the confines of the old town.”
There's
Much More
To Wrexham
“And as you can see, I tend to go into ‘deep dives’ on certain subjects – some residual academic tendencies left over from my ill-fated career working in the University sector, I guess! So, I spent a lot of time musing about the idea of ‘The City of Wrexham’, particularly whilst writing this book. It’s a development that makes sense to me and my experiences of the place. There is then, of course, the fascinating side-quest of musing about what is a town, what is a county, what is a city – and what are the similarities, differences and merits? Is one categorisation better than another and if so, why? But that’s a conversation for another time…to be had over wine, cheese, and some nice (gluten-free) bread!”
Available
In-Store
Online
Sara’s literary offerings have been critically acclaimed, and her book ‘Real Wrexham – Becoming the city’ now available in Waterstones located on Regent Street, as well as in “all good bookshops” and all the usual places online.
New
Beginnings
We look forward to sharing future updates from Sara as she continues to explore the ‘Octopus-city’ of Wrexham – this being the title of her new album, which is now underway. We proudly welcome Sara to Visit Wrexham!