With very different styles and genres, three members of a tiny writing group in Llanwrtyd Wells have all achieved publishing success in the last year through quite different routes.

Nicola, Kathy and Pete have all had their work published over the past 12 months.

“It’s remarkable that half our writing circle have now been published,” said Pete Barker, who is the latest to get into print with his narrative non-fiction book, 20 Riot Cops to Nick 2 Chickens, retelling personal stories of direct action for the environment.

Drawing on over a decade of experience with Greenpeace and other action groups, Pete gives an insight to the bravery, ingenuity and humour of the campaigners as they struggle to get their message of existential threat heard.

The six authors meet weekly in Llanwrtyd around a kitchen table to discuss their projects and help each other’s development.

“A key thing is we’ve grown together and trust each other with criticism and advice,” said Nicola, who writes Welsh crime novels under the name Nicola Clifford.

Kathy Biggs is the third of the trio who has recently launched her novel, The Luck, an epic family saga set in the American Midwest.

It’s an intricately woven tale of joy, heartbreak, betrayal and murder with a gripping mystery at its heart.

While Pete found Dixi Books, a specialist publisher based in London and Kathy, Honno, a Welsh women’s press, Nicola went to digital first publishers, The Book Folks who focus online and POD - print on demand, with her first crime novel, No Refuge. This has developed into a series of eight books, set in mid Wales, which recently passed 23,000 sales.

All are available through Amazon, while 20 Riot Cops to Nick 2 Chickens and The Luck are also available in Waterstones.