Christmas Books make a splash

Christmas books produced by Welsh publishers are having a great impact this year with Olympic swimmer David Davies taking time out of his busy training schedule to browse the latest selection.

Books Council visits Gwynedd

The Welsh Books Council's Annual General Meeting was held at Caernarfon this year at the invitation of Gwynedd Council. During the meeting Professor M. Wynn Thomas presented a copy of Mynyddoedd Cymru/The Snowdonia Collection, by Rob Piercy (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch), as a gift to Councillor Evie Morgan Jones, Chair of Gwynedd Council, as a token of thanks for their hospitality.

Christmas Books

The Welsh Books Council have once again produced a series of television advertisements to promote Christmas titles. The adverts have been especially prepared by the Cardiff media company Greenfield, as a series of short animation films.

'There is an excellent range of books this Christmas,' said Helgard Krause, Head of Sales and Marketing at the Books Council, 'and a good selection is included in the adverts.' The Books Council, with the support of the publishers, have produced four adverts promoting English- and Welsh-language books for both adults and children. In all, 24 titles are featured in the short films.

'We were delighted to be given the opportunity to work on the Books Council's Christmas campaign,' said Huw Potter of Greenfield, 'and the combination of simple animation and colourful book covers work well on screen.'

Two Christmas book supplements, Books from Wales and Gwledd y Nadolig, have already been distributed extensively throughout Wales.

All 4 advertisements can be viewed on the, Welsh Book Trade Info site.

Books from Wales

The Christmas supplement, Books from Wales, has been distributed with the Western Mail with copies sent to bookshops and libraries throughout Wales

The 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize

The Vietnamese-born writer Nam Le has been awarded the 2008 Dylan Thomas prize, receiving a cheque for £60,000 at a ceremony in Swansea for his first collection of short stories, The Boat.

The chairman of the judges, Peter Florence, hailed Le as a 'winner worthy of Dylan Thomas'.

'Nam tackles his own background and circumstance with a clear eye, focused intelligence and wonderful use of words,' Florence said. 'He is, in this panel's opinion, a phenomenal literary talent, and I look forward to following his career as it progresses.'

Born in Vietnam and raised in Australia, the New York-based Le ranges across the globe with stories set in locations from the streets of Tehran to a tiny Australian fishing village.

Books to Discuss

Thousands of books are published each year and the World Book Day team in England has organised a 'Spread the Word: Books to Talk About 2009' to promote those books that deserve wider recognition.

A shortlist of 50 books was drawn up on the basis of nominations by the publishers, and the novel Random Deaths and Custard by Catrin Dafydd (Gomer) has been included on the list. 'It is obvious that the comic darkness of Random Deaths and Custard with its scathing yet endearing portrait of everyday life in the Valleys has struck a chord with the readers,' said Meinir Garnon James on behalf of Gwasg Gomer.

Members of the public now have an opportunity to vote for their favourite book on the list at www.spread-the-word.org.uk and the eventual winner will be announced on World Book Day, 5 March 2009.

Birthday Celebrations

Sbondonics, the Welsh-language book club for 9–11 year-olds celebrated its 25th birthday at Bontnewydd Primary School, Gwynedd. Pupils and staff attended the party dressed as their favourite book characters and they were joined by members of the popular S4C series, Rownd a Rownd. The highlight of the afternoon was the magic show by Robert John, the magician, and a good time was had by all.

Supplement of Welsh-language Christmas titles

The Books Council have once again produced a colourful supplement of Welsh-language books for the Christmas market. The supplement includes an excellent choice of biographies and novels as well as a wide selection of books for children and adults.

And remember that books make perfect Christmas presents!

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Friends of the Books Council

Professor Hywel Teifi Edwards was the guest speaker at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Books Council held at Aberystwyth at the beginning of October when he discussed his early years in Aber-arth, Ceredigion, in conversation with Professor M. Wynn Thomas.

During the meeting, the chair of the Friends, Tegwyn Jones, announced that the Friends would be organising a membership drive in the near future in order to attract new members from across Wales.

For further information regarding the activities of the Friends contact elwyn.jones@wbc.org.uk

Royal Welsh Show 2008

 
Sheena Crossley signing her book. (left)
Scott Quinell with some of his admirers. (right)

Dereck Brockway and Gilli Davies entertaining the crowd. (left)

Tia Jones visiting the stand with her book. (below)

Geraint Lewis browsing with Jane Hutt. (bottom)

The Cardiff National Eisteddfod

For all those visiting the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff, please call at the Books Council stand to see the latest selection of Welsh- and English-language books from Wales.

The summer is always a busy period for the book trade in Wales and the Books Council will once again have a stand full of the latest publications.

'There is an excellent selection of titles this year,' said Helgard Krause, Head of Sales and Marketing at the Books Council, 'and the Eisteddfod offers readers of all ages an ideal opportunity to browse the latest publications.'

A number of publishers will also be launching their new books on the stand, so please call by to see us during the week.

This summer, share your pleasure of reading during the National Year of Reading's GIVE A BOOK WEEK.

From 7 July until 12 July, people all over Wales will be giving books to family, friends and colleagues as part of Wales' first national GIVE A BOOK WEEK.

It's up to you how you join in - buy a new book for your children, share a favourite novel with a friend or give a book to your colleagues at work - it's better to give than to receive!

You can find out more at www.yearofreadingwales.org.uk/giveabookweek or by visiting your local bookshop.

Give the gift of reading this July - give a book.

Winners of the Welsh Tir na n-Og Awards 2008

The Welsh Books Council announced the names of the winners of the Welsh Tir na n-Og Awards 2008 in a special ceremony at the Urdd National Eisteddfod, Conwy.

The winner in the primary category was Nicholas Daniels for Y Llyfr Ryseitiau: Gwaed y Tylwyth (Dref Wen). The winner of the secondary category was Gareth F. Williams for his novel Eira Mân, Eira Mawr (Gomer).

Further details.

Books from Wales at the Urdd Eisteddfod

There will be an excellent selection of books on sale at the Conwy Urdd Eisteddfod.

The Welsh Books Council will be sharing a stand with one of the local Welsh bookshops, Bys a Bawd, at the Urdd Eisteddfod this year, with an extensive range of books available for all ages. Bys a Bawd have also organised a full programme of events throughout the week.

2008 English Tir na n-Og Award

The Welsh Books Council has announced the name of the winner of the prestigious Tir na n-Og English Award which recognises the exceptional quality of books with an authentic Welsh background for children and young people.

The 2008 English Award was won by Frances Thomas for her novel for young people, Finding Minerva, published by Pont Books. The award is sponsored by CILIP Wales (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals). The award was presented to the author at a special reception held at the CILIP Cymru annual conference at Llandrindod, Powys.

Bedwen Lyfrau Book Festival

The Bedwen Lyfrau Festival will be held at Crymych, Pembrokeshire, this year on Friday evening and Saturday, 3/4 May, and once again Cwlwm Cyhoeddwyr (the association of Welsh-language publishers) have arranged a full programme of activities.

Authors attending the festival include Mererid Hopwood, Lyn Ebenezer, Alun Wyn Bevan and rugby celebrity Clive Rowlands.

Support for the Welsh-language Press

Applications for financial support are invited in connection with new, innovative projects (print and on-line) in the field of Welsh-language news and current affairs publications.

Further details are available through contacting: The Director, Welsh Books Council, Castell Brychan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 2JB Tel 01970 624151 e-mail castellbrychan@wbc.org.uk

Closing date for applications: Wednesday, 30 April 2008.

Half Price Book Sale

Hundreds of books are for sale at half price or less in the Welsh Books Council's Annual Book Sale. Click Special Offers on the Gwales Home page to see the full list.

New Funding For Welsh-Language Print Media

Gwerfyl Pierce Jones, Director of the Welsh Books Council, issued the following statement: The Welsh Books Council welcomes the Minister's decision to allocate £200,000 annually for the next three years to develop and strengthen Welsh-language print media.

It's a substantial increase in the funding available at present and, as Tony Bianchi's review demonstrated, there was a real need for additional funding to develop the field. His review specifically refers to the high standard of some of the current publications.

The challenge for the Welsh Books Council now will be to ensure that this funding is used as effectively as possible to develop and strengthen the field. The Council's Publishing Grants Panel will meet in March and full details concerning application procedures will subsequently be made available.

Library of Wales

Rhodri Glyn Thomas, the Minister for Heritage, visited Cardigan Secondary School to present sixth-form students with a set of the Library of Wales series.


The Library of Wales is an ambitious project to bring back to print a list of English-language classics from Wales. The series is published by the Cardigan-based publishers Parthian and is supported by the Welsh Assembly Government and the Welsh Books Council.

Photo: Rhodri Glyn Thomas, the Minister for Heritage presenting a set of the Library of Wales series to Daniel Jay and Catrin Powell at Cardigan Secondary School.