Yr Academi Gymreig
The Welsh Academy
2003/2004
annual report
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The Academi is the Welsh National Literature
Promotion Agency and Society of Writers.
3rd floor Mount Stuart House
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff CF10 5FQ
post@academi.org
www.academi.org
029 20472266
chief executive: Peter Finch
Registered Charity No 506402
The Academi works with the support of the Arts Council of Wales
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Rhagair
By the end of the year some members of Academi’s staff will be working from their new
offices at the Millennium Centre, creating an opportunity for us to work alongside and in
partnership with other art forms apart from literature. As one of the two oldest traditions of
our cultural heritage we have a lively contribution to make.
But we need to receive our fair share of the budget and support that’s available. The
Millennium Centre will offer us a suitable arena to fight for our place on the colourful map of
our culture. And we will need to fight; fight hopefully, alongside a diverse range of artists to
secure the much-deserved support for our arts.
One way of preparing for the times ahead is to study similar situations that have occurred in
other countries, small and large, especially those which have just joined the European Union some of which are smaller even than Wales.
Onwards! We have an intelligent, hard-working team at Academi, who are more than capable
of winning this battle.
Harri Pritchard Jones
Foreword
With the projected move to the Welsh Millennium Centre in November this year, the
Academi moves into a new stage in its new life. For the first time, the Centre allows us direct
access to the public in a way that the present offices in Mount Stuart Square offices
simply don't allow. The present plan is for us to retain these offices while using the newer
(but also smaller) space in Cardiff Bay as a showcase for literature, allowing direct promotion
of both writing and writers to the general public. Who knows? This could be the Writers'
Centre that Glyn Jones envisaged when he left us his generous bequest.
That is for the future. This is simply to record our appreciation to Peter and his staff, not
forgetting our partners and fieldworkers, for another remarkable year's progress. You will find
the details in the following report. What a record of achievement it is! As Peter says, the Book
of the Year has been the major new addition and it has made something of a mark in this, its
first year as an Academi promotion. We still, however, need to make a bigger impact on the
general public with it and this can come only when we find new sources of funding. That is
true of all our activities: whatever we have achieved we could still do a great deal more with
extra funding. Let's be grateful instead for the much that has already been achieved.
Thanks are also due to my fellow-members on the Management Board for all the work
they have devoted to the Academi. Their advice and dedication to its affairs are extremely
valuable and contribute not a little to what you are about to read .
John Pikoulis
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Academi 2003 -2004
If all the events in which the Academi had a hand last year were run sequentially then you’d
take your seat on a Monday and emerge, blinking with literary overdose, 172 days and 14
hours later. The past twenty years in Wales have seen a huge growth in interest in creative
writing - from writers to readers, from practitioners to consumers, from participants to
observers. As the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency, Academi has been at the
forefront as organiser, advisor, funder, wheel-oiler, information provider, promoter and
marketeer. Demand constantly outstrips supply. Our resources are all too finite. Annual
budgets available for the funding of, for example, Writers On Tour, one of our most popular
schemes, regularly become exhausted well before the year is out. More details are included
later in this report. In an early interview with the Assembly’s then Culture Committee chair,
Cynog Dafis, we were complimented on the breadth and quality of our work but criticised for
not being better known outside our immediate sector. Promote yourselves. But if we had
then our already stretched resources would have exhausted themselves even sooner.
In 2003/2004 the Academi promoted 1000 events reaching some 95,000 people. These
ranged from small-scale creative writing workshops for disadvantaged young people attended
by handfuls of the unemployed seeking ways to self-improve to block-buster poetry slams
attracting cheering audiences in the high hundreds. They took place everywhere from Penarth
to Prestatyn and from Flat Holm to Ynys Enlli.
The writers taking part were paid something between £60 and £250 a time, the standard
Welsh rate, unchanged since it was established by the Regional Arts Associations in the early
1990s, poor then, dreadful now. And significantly less than rates available to writers working
in Scotland or England.
This problem of demand outstripping supply is evident right across the range of Academi
activities. Writers’ Bursaries, which the Academi ran for the first time in 2003, had a budget
of £84,000. In 1996, when the scheme was managed directly by the Arts Council of Wales,
that fund stood at £75,000. Enough for 18 recipients, at an average of £4,166 per writer. In
2003 the Academi awarded 20, at an average of £4,000 per writer. In his report Chair of the
Bursaries panel, Simon Mundy remarked that he was impressed not so much by the total
number of applicants but by the number who, in an ideal world, were worth supporting.
“The biggest regret was having to refuse so many bursaries to excellent applicants. The
demand outstripped the supply of funding by a long way”. There are echoes of this under
funding elsewhere in the literature sector too, in the levels of finance available for our
periodicals to pay their contributors and the resource accessible by publishers for the
payments of advances and commissions. If you write then more than likely you still have to
keep the day job.
Despite many advances Welsh practise still fall shorts of the completely professional. As the
National Society for Writers Academi will continue its campaign for improvement, making
the case on behalf of writers, advising promoters, seeking change, demanding improvement.
2003/2004 saw further significant development in the services and schemes for literature
provided by the Academi. In addition to the immensely popular Bursaries Service the
Academi also took over a raft of other responsibilities from the Arts Council of Wales. These
included the provision of information and advice for authors, a writer’s critical services, a
mentoring scheme which helps authors develop manuscripts to publishable standard and the
humdinger, the annual Book of the Year prize.
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Rather than continue this award simply as an author-facing prize, the Academi chose to
integrate it into its general literature promotional activities, working closely with the Welsh
Books Council and the BBC. The prize was stretched to include a long list, as well as an
eventual short list, and an extensive author tour was developed. Book sales increased
significantly with, at one stage, seven Welsh-language long-listed titles appearing in the
weekly Books Council chart of all-Wales best sellers. Benefiting from two outstanding
winners, Niall Griffiths and Jerry Hunter, the 2004 Award has proved an outstanding success.
More books have been sold, more readers have been pointed at Welsh literature and there has
been a deal of coverage in the media (including some terrific if utterly incorrect controversy
surrounding the machinations of the judges themselves). However, to compete in a world
now apparently full of prizes (Orange, Dylan Thomas, Booker, Whitbread) the
Academi/ACW award needs to be larger: £3000 in 2003 when run solely by ACW, £5000 as
a joint activity in 2004. The Assembly’s Culture Committee in its report of the future of
Welsh Writing in English agrees. Sponsorship is the obvious route, Welsh authors make
perfect ambassadors. If there is anyone who would like to help then call the Academi now.
The Academi has also continued its campaign for the establishment of a Poet Laureate or
National Poet for Wales. In 2000 the Assembly rejected the idea, suspicious that poets may
not be the best interpreters of national politics. In 2004, despite the appointment of a
Laureate in Scotland (Edwin Morgan), and the full approval of national poets by the UK
laureate, Andrew Motion, the Assembly again rejected the proposal as “inappropriate”. The
Culture Minister felt that it would be difficult for a Welsh National Poet to “distance
themselves from charges of trying to exert political influence”. Forces within the Eisteddfod
have also called the Academi’s National Poet idea unnecessary, claiming that it would
duplicate its own long-standing Chair and Crown. Both bodies miss the point. A National
Poet – appointed for five years – would provide a focus for our literature, be our ambassador,
our educator, our disturber and promoter and our celebrator and critic. Who better to
comment on what we do than one of our writers. We are, of course, a nation of poets as
much as we are of singers. Academi does not intend to drop the idea and will seek other
partners and patrons in its establishment. Already the Welsh Books Council, S4C and the
Urdd appoint an annual Bardd Plant Cymru, a Welsh Children’s Poet. Cardiff Council in
2005 may create a Capital Poet. Newport appointed its first Town Poet in 1998. The idea
still has legs.
The year ahead as I write, the year you are in as you read this, will be particularly significant
for the Academi. 45 years old as a Society of Writers, five as a Literature Promotion Agency,
we are within an ace of completing our major Lottery-funded project, the national
Encyclopaedia of Wales. The English script is done, the Welsh is on the verge. Publication is
due in 2006. We are running new programmes in the north, in the west, and developing a
working partnership with Wrexham and Flintshire authorities, working especially in the areas
hit hardest by the collapse of the old heavy industries. We are also opening our new publicfacing offices on Pier Head Street, directly facing the National Assembly of Wales, as part of
the much-heralded Wales Millennium Centre. The Academi’s new base will offer the public
a chance to access hands-on information on writers and writing, to talk directly to our
Bursaries and Writers’ Services Officers, view the latest literary magazines, enrol for a
writer’s surgery, and to check out the Books of the Year. At WMC Academi will be
developing a programme of book launches, celebrations, masterclasses, readings and
workshops. As part of artsExplorer, we shall be running slams, storytelling and literary
performances. The Encyclopaedia will see its first manifestation in digital form. Back-house
administration will continue at Mount Stuart Square but the glitz will all happen under the
new armadillo roof.
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Directly Provided Activity
The Academi's direct literature provision continues to fill in gaps in the performance, reading
and workshop fields not covered by the existing army of promoters and providers around
Wales. Our aim is to never compete with an existing provider but to promote events where
few occur or where existing provision is biased towards a particular type of event.
The Academi runs a literature festival every year, alternating between north and south Wales.
In April 2003, Academi presented the third Tŷ Newydd Festival in partnership with the
Writing Centre. The packed weekend included a multilingual evening with Elin ap Hywel,
Jean “Binta” Breeze and Cathal Ó Searcaigh and readings by Beryl Bainbridge and Bernice
Rubens. There was an afternoon celebrating half a century of crown-winning poetry and a
bilingual rap performance by primary schools from Cardiff Bay and Pwllheli in the company
of Twm Morys and Leon Charles. Steve Eaves wore his shades and sang the blues, while
Sean Burke delivered the annual Gwyn Jones lecture on Writing and Ethical Responsibility.
New issues of the magazines Taliesin and Poetry Wales were launched with the help of poets
Myddin ap Dafydd, Meirion MacIntyre Huws, Paul Henry, Zoë Skoulding and others. The
Welsh-language Stomp on the Saturday night was the expected sell-out, and on Sunday
morning, to complete the successful and varied weekend, there were readings on the train by
Twm Morys, Jan Morris and Ifor Thomas.
The Academi worked in partnership with Cardiff 2008, the Polish Cultural Institute and
Chapter Arts Centre to bring a group of poets from the Silesia region of Poland to Cardiff in
May 2003. In the first event implementing the agreement on co-operation between Wales and
Silesia, Maciej Melecki, Krysztof Siwczyk, Marta Podgornick and Bartlomiej Majzel read
their work in Polish, accompanied by English translations. This was followed by a screening
of Lech Majewski’s film Wojacek, about the tragic life of the cult Silesian poet, and a
question and answer session with the poets, actors, and film’s director.
In May and June 2003, the Academi collaborated with Bloodaxe Books to organise a
bilingual tour launching the publication of The Bloodaxe Book of Twentieth Century Welsh
Poetry. The tour introduced non-Welsh speaking audiences to Welsh language verse with
successful readings from Narberth to Monmouthshire and Wrexham
Un Cês a Sawl Lodes Lèn was part of the Eisteddfod 2003 line-up and, due to its success
during the week, was taken on tour around Wales in the autumn and winter of 2003/2004.
Seven different venues took eight participants - from Tafarn yr Eagles in Llanuwchllyn to
Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff – most to sell-out audiences. Seven of Wales’s leading women
poets, Mererid Hopwood, Sian Northey, Karen Owen, Nici Beech, Fflur Dafydd, Gwyneth
Glyn and Nia Môn, and a token male poet, Arwyn “Groe” Davies, took to the stage in a two
hour show full of poetry and song. The themes – from religious conversions to roundabouts –
were handled both irreverently and seriously, with references to contemporary issues and
concerns in Wales and beyond.
This year again, the Academi was approached by the Eisteddfod to provide late-night
entertainment for Maes C – a new location for older Eisteddfod-goers who wished to avoid
the youngsters’ foam-fuelled Maes B. As well as the Un Cês a Sawl Lodes Lèn show, Maes
C events co-organised by the Academi included the launch of some of Y Lolfa’s latest titles
and a screening of the Welsh-language film on the Bardic Tradition, Dal: Yma / Nawr. The
Academi was also approached by Cywaith Cymru / Artworks Wales to join in a cross-artform
project for the main Eisteddfod site. Cywaith Cymru’s presence on site was Y Casgliad (The
Collection), an installation by artist David Hastie. The Academi provided a series of fly-onthe-wall style conversations between famous writers including a discussion between Elinor
Wyn Reynolds and Ifor ap Glyn on the purpose of traditions, a conversation about the
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similarities of hip-hop and cynghanedd with Myrddin ap Dafydd and Aron Elias, and an
argument about the meaning of art between poet Iwan Llwyd and artist Iwan Bala.
David Lloyd, one of the Wales' long lost sons returned to his homeland from America for a
mini tour of Wales in autumn 2003. With readings in Cardiff, Pontypridd, Aberystwyth and
Bangor and with writers as diverse as Robert Minhinnick, Nigel Jenkins, Twm Morys and
Iwan Llwyd all contributing, his visit was an all round success.
2003 also saw the fifty-year anniversary of Idris Davies’ death. To celebrate the acclaimed
writer, Academi organised an evening in Davies’ Rhymney Valley. Tributes were paid by
Merthyr poet Mike Jenkins and travel writer Jim Perrin, who has also written extensively
about Idris Davies. Siân Rhiannon Williams, Rhymney born lecturer at Cardiff University,
gave a brief history of Idris’ life and shared some anecdotes about the writer’s time in
Rhymney.
The Adulterer’s Tongue Tour took two languages and four poets on tour around Wales in
winter 2003. It gave audiences the opportunity to hear writers of both tongues read and
discuss their work and for non-Welsh speakers another opportunity to understand
contemporary Welsh language verse. Elin ap Hywel, Emyr Lewis and Iwan Llwyd all took
part with Robert Minhinnick taking his place as the translator in residence at each venue.
The Academi worked again in partnership with the Welsh Books Council to promote and
celebrate World Book Day, March 2004. Using the day as a platform to launch the 2004
Book of the Year Award, an audience was invited to the National Assembly of Wales in
Cardiff, and a simultaneous event was held in Caernarfon Library, north Wales. The judges
spoke of the prize, the Long List of twenty books was announced, and rugby legend Gerald
Davies and classical singer Shan Cothi read extracts from some of the chosen works.
Schemes
Described once by a contented client as "simultaneously the most straightforward and
rigorous of arts funding schemes", the Writers on Tour scheme has plateaued in recent years.
Not a low plateau, mind you. We are talking Rocky Mountains rather than Brecon Beacons.
Year on year the Writers on Tour scheme funds in excess of 900 events with an audience of
over 50,000. The demand is, apparently, effectively infinite: every year, as already noted in
this report, we have to turn down funding requests for good projects at the tail-end of the
financial year and that is without even beginning to be pro-active in marketing the scheme to
every school, college and community group in Wales. Given the funding, we could double
those figures at a canter and at a public subsidy of less than £1.50 per head. Experts in arts
funding will understand what an absurdly low cost that is compared to some of the other ways
in which the arts are presented to the public. But what we have we hold. In English the
biggest percentage of work takes place in schools and colleges with writers and storytellers
begins what, for some pupils, will be a lifetime of reading and writing. In English, Cat
Weatherill, Francesca Kay, Gillian Clarke, Phil Carradice, Jenny Sullivan, Daniel Morden,
and Michael Harvey consistently gain enthusiastic reports from schools: "my class was
spellbound", "the children couldn't wait to start writing themselves", "pupils could hardly
believe that they might write books one day"….
In Welsh, Mererid Hopwood, Iwan Llwyd, Margiad Roberts and Angharad Tomos were
among the biggest attractions for schools. The Welsh language scene is remarkable for the
number of Merched y Wawr branches and literary and cultural groups there are which
routinely programme lectures and readings as part of their annual programme. Particularly so
in north Wales and far more so than in English. This year Mici Plwm discussing his
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autobiography was a popular visitor as were Bethan Gwanas, Gwyn Thomas, Twm Morys,
Meirion MacIntyre Huws, and again Iwan Llwyd and Mererid Hopwood….. "noson
arbennig", "cawsom gyflwyniad ardderchog", "roedd y neuadd yn llawn"…. In November
2003, Cymdeithas Llenyddol Plas Penucha hosted a talk by Bethan Gwanas at which the
Writers on Tour scheme's 500,000 audience member (since the risorgimento in 1998) was
presented with a certificate and a lifetime’s subscription to Taliesin to commemorate the
landmark .
Using the same principles, the Literature Residency scheme is available to fund more
extended projects, schemes, or events which are arranged to cover a wider geographical area.
Examples might be a cluster of schools sharing a writer for a term or a hospice having a
writer to work with their clients. Patrick Jones did a couple of series of workshops for the St
David's Foundation…. these sessions will stay with me forever" and Arts Care in Carmarthen
used Kit Loring and John Bilsborough in their day centres. Elsewhere in this report are details
of Academi’s Literature Training Project which will develop more writers to work in these
happy, heartbreaking, challenging settings. Caerphilly CBC developed a major programme of
writing workshops to mark the European Year of the Disabled. Here Graham Hartill led
workshops throughout the Borough culminating in a book of writing and a grand launch
event. In Welsh, Arwel John worked extensively in schools in west Wales and other major
projects were devised by Coleg Meirion Dwyfor, Gwynedd County Council and Menter Bro
Teifi as well as Amgueddfa Lechi Cymru who ran an inspirational series of schools' sessions
with Myrddin ap Dafydd and Iwan Llwyd.
The Programme Support Scheme allows the more ambitious event to be supported: major
international performers or conferences, literature festivals or extended programmes whose
scope is wider or more expensive than usual. Clients here included the Bleddfa Trust's annual
programme of contemplative, introspective workshops and performance, Merthyr Tydfil
CBC's annual literature festival and the unique-in-Wales Newport & Gwent Literary Club.
They run a monthly winter series of literary dinner lectures and have been doing so since
Christina Foyle started them off in the early 1950s. John Hegley visited Torfaen, controversial
adapter/dramatist Andrew Davies went to Chapter in Cardiff and the legendary heavyweight
poet Les Murray read at UWC Newport. James Fenton, Douglas Dunn and famous daughter
Teresa Waugh all came to Wales via PSS.
Between the Academi's three main funding schemes, a total audience of around 95,000
attended something over a thousand lectures, workshops and readings. Not bad for an underfunded, under-promoted set of budgets.
Fieldworkers
Olwen Dafydd is Academi North Wales fieldworker and works from the Academi’s base at
Tŷ Newydd. She is also employed as Tŷ Newydd Senior Administrator for one day per week.
Major activities for 2003/2004 include planning and running two seasons of the Cadwyn
Clwyd project, and a programme of literary evenings held in rural areas of Denbigh and
Rhuthun and funded by Leader+. Hundreds of people attended pubs and restaurants to listen
to poets ranging from Zoë Skoulding and John Davies, to Ifor ap Glyn and co. straight from a
tour of Poland. The success of Cadwyn Clwyd helped secure funding from Anglesey County
Council for a similar series of events to be held on the island towards the end of 2004.
Other events included a summer school for children in Anglesey; a bilingual evening with
poet Fflur Dafydd and artist Susan Adams following their residencies at Bardsey Island; poet
Paul Henry responding to the work of sculptor Laura Ford; and numerous joint events with
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Mentrau Iaith (Language Initiatives), including a poetry evening in Melin Brwcws, an old
mill; and song-writing workshops for young people.
Fieldwork in the West
Since 2001, the Academi has adopted a policy of direct intervention in the west Wales
literature economy and has been offering enhanced funding towards promoters in the region.
Rather than simply supporting author costs, as is standard across the Academi's regular
scheme funding, Academi has been able in the west to contribute towards all aspects of event
promotion. The aim has been to develop new groups and to encourage existing groups to
spread their wings and ambitions.
Typical activity for 2003/2004 has included work with Cymdeithas Bro Emrys in Talgarreg
celebrating the life and work of one of the village’s most celebrated poets, Dewi Emrys; a
literary walk in June 2003 with Donald Evans; and another festival celebrated the village’s
particular South Cardiganshire dialect, “Fel ‘na weden i, ‘no”. An event in autumn 2003 on
the subject Straeon Celwy’ Gole (Tall Tales), celebrated the work of another local hero, the
Rev Jacob Davies. A new society founded through Academi intervention is Cymdeithas
Dewi in Lampeter which now holds a successful programme of public lectures with noted
speakers such as Myrddin ap Dafydd, Gwyn Thomas and Mererid Hopwood.
The scheme has allowed the Academi to offer support to other societies which already have a
long track record of organising events. Cered (Menter Iaith Ceredigion) arranged
Ceredigion’s first ever Stomp in Lampeter so successfully that another was arranged for
Tregaron. And the important Ffwrwm – Arian Byw/Live Culture conference in Felinfach had
speakers from all parts of Britain discussing the future of rural Wales and the “hidden culture”
therein. Additionally, Gŵyl Nest in Newcastle Emlyn were encouraged with programme
funding. In 2004 the Academi will support events to celebrate Waldo Williams’ centenary.
Academi’s active advocacy has also led to an increase in the number of requests to the
mainstream Writers On Tour scheme. The Gŵyl Werin y Cnapan Festival used the scheme
for the first time to hold a stomp as part of their programme and a number of other groups
now seek advice and support for their regular work.
In English, Lampeter Writers Workshop, with strong local organisation and the help of
Gillian Clarke, brought Carol Ann Duffy, Andrew Motion, Simon Armitage and Ursula
Fanthorpe into town. The highly-respected Cambrensis magazine held short-story writing
days in the west, reaching a new audience. Carmarthenshire County Council ran writing
events in the Dylan Thomas Boathouse at Laugharne.
In the first three years of this west Wales development push, a largely new audience of over
1700 has so far been recorded.
Development Workers – Gwynedd
The Academi’s Gwynedd Literature Development Project’s continuing success demonstrates
what can be achieved in partnership with local authorities.
Writer and actor Gwen Lasarus James was appointed in early 2003 as the new Development
officer. As well as continuing with successful projects such as the Gwynedd Writing Squads,
some of the new initiatives set up include Clwb Darllen y Cofis, the popular Caernarfonbased reading group, cynghanedd lessons with poet Karen Owen, and a medieval banquet in a
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historic hall, co-organised with the Academi’s Fieldworker, to celebrate Santes Dwynwen
day, with a group of male and female poets battling it out in the old bardic custom.
Other projects include a weekend festival celebrating the life of local poet and legend, T H
Parry-Williams. This event – which included a literary walk, discussions and readings proved successful enough for a similar weekend is planned for 2004 to celebrate the life and
work of another local hero, Caradog Pritchard. Gwen Lasarus also continued the work of her
predecessor, Sian Northey, in introducing literature components to Gwynedd festival culture,
providing writers with an audience for their work and bringing literature into rural
communities. Forthcoming projects include writing workshops for the elderly and a series of
readings and discussions in association with the English department at Bangor University.
Development Work – Rhondda Cynon Taff
The Academi's Paul Hamlyn-funded All Lit Up project came to a conclusion at the end of
March 2004 but, as we all know, endings are just beginnings. Academi has secured an
agreement with Rhondda Cynon Taff which will ensure that the contacts and developments
generated by project manager Bridget Keehan during her two year stint will be maintained.
The original aim of the All Lit Up Project was to enable young people, particularly those who
have been excluded from mainstream education and those in care, to have an opportunity to
develop skills in storytelling and writing. Through working with professional authors, who
are also supportive tutors, the participants were enabled to express themselves creatively and
build confidence and self-esteem.
The project was a great success: 152 sessions of work reached over 900 participants. Twenty
five partner organisations including Barnardos, NSPCC Books and Babies and Sure Startt,
collaborated in the work and eighteen venues hosted the work delivered by 15 different
professional writers. In addition, Poems in Public Places, took a touring exhibition of 116
poems and prose extracts to walls in centres throughout the Borough.
The partnerships are in place. RCT and the Academi have arranged for a permanent steering
committee to ensure that the work continues and becomes part of the Borough's core
provision for disadvantaged young people. The weight of goodwill created by All Lit Up
should make it so.
Training and Professional Development for Writers in Wales
With aid from the Arts Council of Wales’ Lottery fund, Academi has been working in
partnership with
Edinburgh-based Literaturetraining, to run this groundbreaking
development project. The pilot consists of two separate training schemes aimed at the health
and the education sectors. Reaching For Words, managed in partnership with Conwy and
Denbighshire NHS Trust, is for authors who use creative writing in heath and social care.
Touchpaper focuses on providing the skills required by writers working with challenging
young people in out of school settings. Touchpaper is hosted by the Swansea Arts
Development team. Both projects have a strong practical focus and work with writers who
are often not at the core of the traditional literary world. The schemes are project managed on
behalf of the Academi by Sharon Phillippo and are led by Rose Flint and Phil Carradice, both
experienced writers in their fields. A Writers Forum at the Dylan Thomas Centre is also
planned. This event will explore the different ways writers working in these fields can make
a living. If the pilot is successful it is hoped to run a similar scheme through the medium of
Welsh.
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Partnerships
The Academi works in partnership with a broad range of other organisations. The most
notable of these are our principle partner, the Tŷ Newydd writing centre in Llanystumdwy,
the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea and with the local authorities hosting our development
projects in Gwynedd and in Rhondda Cynon Taf. In the broadening of its reach Academi has
also developed partnerships with many other organisations. Examples of these are: Welsh
Books Council, Arts & Business, The Institute for Welsh Affairs, BBC, Chapter Arts Centre,
WMC, Theatr Gwynedd, S4C, Urdd Gobaith Cymru, Mentrau Iaith, NMGW, Eisteddfod,
Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Powys Ceredigion Health Promotion Unit, Arts Disability Wales,
Arts Training Wales, Hay Literature Festival, Mid Glamorgan Education Business
Partnership, Cardiff Arts In Education Agency, Arts Care, The British Council, North East
Wales Schools Library Service, Cardiff Urdu Writing Group, Cardiff 2005, Aberystwyth
Arts Centre, St Donats Arts Centre, Ucheldre Arts Centre, Butetown History and Arts
Association, the Paul Robeson Trust, Rhys Davies Trust, CADMAD, The New Writing and
Literature Consortium, Barnardos, NSPCC, The Flat Holm Project, The Mughal Emperor,
the Oxford Dafydd ap Gwilym Society, along with all twenty-two Welsh local authorities, the
University of Wales and its constituent colleges and all other Welsh further education
providers. Partnerships share the costs of both promotion and provision and give the
Academi valuable access to new markets.
Competitions
The Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition 2004 was launched in July 2003 with
a closing date of January 31st, 2004. Continuing support from Cardiff Council allowed
Academi to offer a total of £7000 in prizes, making the competition one of the top three of its
kind in the UK. Sponsorship has helped the Academi to raise the profile of the contest and to
increase its international reach. This year the competition achieved a 25% increase in entries
and winners came from as far afield as Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Canada. The
Academi hopes to strengthen the link between competition and city in 2005 by developing a
separate prize for Cardiff-based poets.
Judges Ruth Padel and Robert Minhinnick awarded the first prize of £5000 to Ann-Marie
Fyfe from London for her poem Curaçao Dusk. Second and third prize winners were Stephen
Duncan and William Hampton respectively. Runners up included Evelyn Cook, David Angel,
Owen Boynton, Chris McCully and Jeff Bien.
Gwyneth Lewis and Les Murray, Australia’s leading poet, will judge the competition for
2005.
The John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry 2003 followed the highly successful format
pioneered in 2002, with regional heats in Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth,
Rhosllannerchrugog and Menai Bridge, culminating in a grand final in the capital. The
competition, held in memory of one of Wales’ finest poetry performers, gives competitors
five minutes behind the microphone to test both their poetic and performance skills.
Traditionally a lively event, the 2003 final at the Celebrity Restaurant at St David’s Hall saw
twenty five poets of varying ages, backgrounds and literary styles competing for £500 in
prizes. First was Emily Hinshelwood from Ammanford, second Chris Lambert from Penarth
and third Martin Daws from Bethesda.
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Promotion and Marketing
Both of Academi’s main promotional vehicles have benefited from overhaul this year. The
Academi’s website was designed by Imaginet in 1999 and although ahead of the game then
was certainly old and cranky by 2003. The internet is a fast moving, dynamic place. In order
to meet these challenges the Academi has worked with Creo, the Cardiff media company who
agreed to sponsor half our costs. A new website has now been launched at www.academi.org
and incorporates many exciting enhancements. On-line databases list publishers, magazines,
events and a much-expanded listing of the writers of Wales. There is information for authors
on copyright, readings, scams and cons, how to get published and how much money you can
expect to make. Full details are included for all of the Academi’s schemes and contact can be
made on-line. Highlight of the site is the new illustrated news section which tells the full
story of what’s going on in literary Wales.
Under development is an e-newsletter, with on-line subscription facilities, which will deliver
relevant information direct to subscribers inboxes.
Our information magazine, A470 - the only thing Wales has which links the north with the
south – the Academi’s bi-monthly printed guide to what’s on in literary Wales has been
overhauled and redesigned. The listings carried in the magazine are taken directly from the
Academi’s web site.
Promoting literature is a costly business. Academi does not employ dedicated specialist staff
but does benefit from extensive knowledge of the literary scene and its audiences. To
improve our reach and effectiveness Academi’s databases and information collecting systems
undergo continuing refinement.
Members’ Activity
The 80th birthday of Academi president Dannie Abse was celebrated on 22 nd September with
an event which combined curry with literature. Dannie’s favourite restaurant, the Mughal
Emperor near Cowbridge, played host to friends and well wishers including Tony Curtis,
Sandra Anstey, Chris Meredith and many others who read extracts from Dannie’s work.
Academi member Brian John, publisher and author of the Angel Mountain saga provided an
insight into writing historical fiction at an event in Haverfordwest Library in June 2003.
The annual Academi dinner at Porthmeirion was again a highlight in the members’ calendar.
In 2003 the speakers were Professor M Wynn Thomas and poet Jo Shapcott.
In November a Welsh language day school discussed the relationship between literature and
theatre. Speakers included Ian Rowlands, Ed Thomas, Hazel Walford Davies, Gareth Miles,
Gary Owen, Cefin Roberts and Luned Emyr.
At Pontypridd Academi organised a Welsh section evening school celebrating Basque,
Spanish and Latin American literature. An audience of over 60 people gathered to hear
Mererid Hopwood discuss traces of cynghanedd in Spanish poetry, Gareth Miles discussing
poets and a novelist from Latin America and Helen Eirlys Jones discussing the themes rising
in the work of Basque writer, Bernardo Atxaga, and highlighted the similar influences and
problems facing Welsh writers. This was the second lecture in a series entitled Croesi Ffiniau
Llenyddiaeth (Literature Crossing Borders), exploring the main languages and literatures of
the world through the medium of Welsh.
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The following were welcomed into full membership of the Academi (Welsh Section) during
2003-2004: Dwynwen Berry, Fflur Dafydd, Rocet Arwel Jones, Cathryn Charnell
White, Aled Rhys Wiliam.
The Following were welcomed into full membership of the Academi (English Section)
during 2003-2004: Tom Davies, Ray French, Carol Gunter, Brian John, John Sam Jones,
Jane Mawer, Rowan Williams.
The following members died: John Ackermann, Jeff Nuttall, Norah Isaac (Cymrawd), Ifor
Rees, Islwyn Ffowc Elis (Cymrawd), Eirug Wyn.
Welsh Members 240 (239)
Cymrodyr
14 (16)
English Members 247 (242)
Fellows
49 (49)
Figures in brackets show numbers at 31.3.2003. The figures for Members also include Fellows
The Gwyn Jones Lecture
The lecture for 2003/2004 was Writing And Ethical Responsibility given by the critic and
novelist Sean Burke as part of the Academi’s Ty Newydd Festival. The text of a number of
past Gwyn Jones lectures have now been posted on the Academi’s new website.
New Welsh Review
The Academi is one of the two sponsors of The New Welsh Review, Wales’s leading literary
journal in English. The other is the Association for the Study of Welsh Writing In English.
Under the editorship of by Francesca Rhydderch, the New Welsh Review continues to increase
sales and subscriptions. Academi and The New Welsh Review have co-operated with a
number of issue launches and promotional events. The New Welsh Review carries the winners
of the annual Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition.
Taliesin
The Academi’s Welsh-language literary magazine is published three times per year. During
2003/2004, issues 119, 120 and 121 appeared. The revamped journal, under the editorship of
writer Manon Rhys and academic Christine James, has been well received and continues to
attract both new writers and contributors. The varied content manages to strike an effective
balance between new writing, contemporary criticism and a wide range of book reviews, not
forgetting the enduring popularity of the most cryptic crossword in the Welsh language.
Following the Arts Council of Wales' recommendation in their 2003 review a colour section
was introduced.
The year’s output saw several issues dealing with contemporary political issues. In #119, the
summer 2003 issue, prominent writers were asked to react to the Press Association's images
of the recent war on Iraq. These were reproduced in the magazine with powerful effect,
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particularly on the cover where Mererid Hopwood's poetry was set against an image of a
young family walking over a minefield: "Dewch yn droednoeth rhag deffro'r gynnau…"
("Come along barefoot, so we don't wake up the guns…"). The editors received positive
feedback from teachers for this issue, which was used in classrooms as part of discussions on
war poetry.
The relationship between Taliesin and the visual arts continues to grow from strength to
strength. Accompanying the colour images from the Eisteddfod Arts and Craft exhibition in
issue 120, are poems written by Cyril Jones, the exhibition’s writer-in-residence. Unlliw, the
thought-provoking installation by young artist, Carwyn Evans, one of the Eisteddfod's visual
arts prize-winners, was reproduced on the cover of #120, again showing the magazine's
handling of contemporary issues affecting Wales.
Issue 121 included many moving tributes by friends and colleagues to Islwyn Ffowc Elis, as
well as containing some reproductions of the late novelist's drawings, many of them
graphically portraying a troubled mind. This issue also had an international theme, with
contributions ranging from translations of South American writers, to a discussion on the
problems of translating literature in minority languages, to poetry inspired by a visit to
Lithuania. Taliesin has clearly developed into a magazine which places contemporary Welsh
culture at the heart of the wider international picture.
Directly funded marketing campaigns were continued in 2003/2004 with a launch of #119 at
the Arts and Crafts Pavilion in the 2003 National Eisteddfod in Maldwyn. A Taliesin
salesperson was employed during the week to sell subscriptions. This proved successful
enough for plans to be made for the same campaign to be repeated at the 2004 Eisteddfod. In
early 2004, the new Taliesin website was launched, designed by Cardiff based company,
Creo. The website, which includes information on current issues and a library of past articles,
will develop over the years to include a reference guide to all past issues, and an enhanced
library of articles which will go back to the historic first issue of 1961.
In January 2004 Academi presented a full three-year report to Taliesin's new funders, the
Welsh Books Council. The franchise will again be reviewed in 2005/2006.
Services – Bursaries
Following the transfer of responsibilities from the Arts Council of Wales, the Academi ran its
first round of Writers' Bursaries in 2003. A Bursaries Panel, a sub-committee of the Academi
Management Board, was appointed taking advice from ACW and the Society of Authors.
Simon Mundy took the role as Chair, and Gwen Davies, Idris Reynolds, Catherine Fisher and
Siân James as readers.
Following a modest advertising campaign 120 applicants were
considered by the panel. 20 successful authors subsequently received small slices of the cake.
These were: Heather Dyer, Daniel Morden, Andrew Wickett, Jo Mazelis, Angharad Tomos,
Hefin Wyn, John Sharkey, Grahame Davies, Roy Grant, Mari George, Lara Clough, Liz
Ashworth, Susan Richardson, Gaye Hiçyilmaz, Daniel Davies, Bridget Keehan, Fflur Dafydd,
John Williams, Vanessa Baxter Jones and Gwyneth Lewis. The Chair noted that a sum of
£256,000 could have been spent on deserving candidates, but that only £84,000 was available.
The Academi continued the partnership with the Arts & Humanities Research Board (AHRB),
and ring-fenced £16,000 of the total bursaries fund of £100,000. This sum was matched by
AHRB and two research bursaries of £16K each were awarded in 2004. Recipients were Ian
Davidson, in partnership with the English department at Bangor University, and Meirion
MacIntyre Huws, in partnership with the Communications department also of Bangor
University.
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Distribution of Bursaries Fund
Awduron Anabl/
Disabled Writer
3%
Cronfa Amryfal/
Miscellaneous Fund
1%
Awduron Plant/
Children's Writer
13%
AHRB
AHRB
16%
Published Writers
Awduron Newydd/
New Writers
25%
Awdron Cyhoeddiedig/
Published Writer
42%
New Writers
Children's Writers
Disabled Writers
Miscellaneous Fund
Services – For Writers
Writers Critical Service
Following modest marketing by the Academi this service proved to be in great demand in
2003/2004. The fund was exhausted by December 2003. Academi is currently looking into
ways of enhancing resource available for the future.
Mentoring
The importance of this service, which matches promising writers with experienced ones, was
underlined in 2004 with the announcement that Debbie Moon had been Long Listed for the
2004 Book of the Year Award with a book written with the aid of a mentoring award. Further
connections were established when another previous service user, Bridget Keehan, was
awarded a 2004 Writers Bursary. In 2003/2004 two people were awarded mentoring places:
Alun Jones will work with Manon Rhys in developing a satirical Welsh-language novel to be
published by Gomer; and David Jones to work with Hilary Llywelyn-Williams in developing
a collection of poetry.
Information
The Academi role in providing general information for writers is shown to good effect on the
Society’s new web site which carries advice on many aspects of the writer’s trade.
Book of the Year at Hay – Niall Griffiths, Jason Walford Davies, Francesca Rhydderch.
Photo John Briggs
Book of the Year 2004
The Book Of The Year Award has a long history. Its origins are in the variety of annual prizes
made by the Welsh Arts Council (WAC) in the 1970s. The money available then was low but
the prizes were much valued particularly by the emerging Anglo-Welsh publishing trade. The
present award of a single prize in each language for the best Welsh book of creative writing
was made for many years directly by WAC’s successor, the Arts Council of Wales. In 2003
responsibility for administration was passed to the Academi.
The Academi, seeing the transfer as an opportunity for enhancement, has turned the Award
into something a lot more than a simple financial prize which honoured the author. Best book
was taken to mean the best written (as opposed to best selling or best looking). Creative
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writing to mean poetry, criticism and creative prose (rather than cook books, sports books,
and pure histories). The important link between being in the running for something and an
increase in booksales needed to be realised.
The Academi appointed judges Heike Roms, Mario Basini, and Sheenagh Pugh (English) and
Grahame Davies, Lyn Ebenezer and Mererid Puw Davies (Welsh), launched a website to list
all books being considered and began to beat the drum. After due consideration a long list of
ten books in each language was drawn up and launched on World Book Day at the National
Assembly. A promotional tour of the selected authors followed – the Academi using its
influence to include events in appropriate festivals and venue programmes right across Wales.
In conjunction with the Welsh Books Council a marketing campaign was devised: posters,
flyers, stickers, shelf talkers and attendant media coverage. The twenty clustered on the
shelves and in the windows of shops from Newport to Llangefni. Sales went up. At one
stage the Welsh Books Council’s Top Ten Bestsellers carried seven Book of the Year
contenders.
In May 2004, at the Hay Literature Festival, at an event fronted by New Welsh Review editor
Francesca Rhydderch, the twenty were reduced to six – the short list. In English: Niall
Griffiths for Stump (Jonathan Cape), Emyr Humphreys for Old People are a Problem (Seren)
and Gwyneth Lewis for Keeping Mum (Bloodaxe Books). In Welsh: Jason Walford Davies
for his pioneering study on R S Thomas, Gororau’r Iaith (University of Wales Press); Jerry
Hunter for his original study on the Welsh and the American Civil War, Llwch Cenhedloedd
(Gwasg Carreg Gwalch) and Owen Martell with his second novel Dyn yr Eiliad (Gomer).
The Academi held a reception for the trade. M Wynn Thomas, chair of the Books Council’s
English-language panel and Culture Minister Alan Pugh both spoke. In July at an extremely
well attended and splendidly glittering dinner at the Hilton, Jerry Hunter and Niall Griffiths,
emerged as outright winners. £5K each the richer. First Minister Rhodri Morgan opened the
golden envelopes. Acoustique played us out.
An outstanding success. Increased visibility for Welsh authors, greater booksales, enormous
interest. The Western Mail and BBC Wales in particular gave the Awards excellent coverage.
But in a world on competing literary prizes (Booker, Orange, Whitaker, Dylan Thomas) £5K
is small beer. To make a real impact that money needs to be at least quadrupled. Big beer.
That’s for the future.
The National Encyclopaedia of Wales
The Academi’s major Lottery-funded project under editors John Davies, Nigel Jenkins and
Menna Baines is now within an ace of completion. After further revisions of the schedule, the
competed manuscript is expected to be delivered to the publishers early in 2005. Publication
is due in the spring of 2006. The Encyclopaedia’s Education programme will be delivered
in co-operation with the National Museums and Galleries of Wales (NMGW) and it is hoped
that examples of the work’s content will be made available digitally in conjunction with the
new Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre
Construction of the Wales Millennium Centre situated next to the Welsh Assembly’s new
debating chamber is now virtually complete. The contractors, Sir Robert McAlpine, will
complete construction shortly and the Centre will open to the public on Friday November
26th, 2004. The Academi’s new offices will be on ground floor level directly facing the doors
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of the current Assembly building, the former Crickhowell House. Academi expect to play an
important role in the increased provision of literature that our new base will afford us.
The Glyn Jones Fund
Benefiting from careful management this fund continues not to suffer from stock market falls.
Gains, however, continue to be only modest. As a consequence no spending was made during
2003-2004
Literature and Disability
The Academi has a commitment to reach every community and demographic group in Wales.
Some groups can be highly enclosed; either hard to locate or difficult to bring together. The
Writing Squads discussed elsewhere in this report fall into this category: groups of
exceptionally talented young children who meet together on the Academi's initiative and
using the expertise of local educationalists to identify the audience.
In a similar way, the Academi seeks expert external advice and partners in the field of
disability provision and work with healthcare agencies.
There exist decades of textbooks which analyse the benefits of the arts in the fields of
disability. The Academi takes it as a given that everyone in Wales should have the
opportunity to take part in the theory and practice of creative writing. Academi has worked
with Arts Disability Wales on Susan Richardson's pilot series of workshops with disabled
people in Cardiff which was successful enough to lead to a growth of further projects around
Wales. The quality work generated was published in Hidden Dragons edited by Allan
Sutherland and Elin ap Hywel (Parthian, 2004). The St Davids Foundation engaged Patrick
Jones to work in their hospices in the Rhymney Valley and St Kentigern’s in Denbighshire
undertook a similar scheme. Caerphilly CBC ran a series of workshops to mark and celebrate
the European Year of Disabled People - these sessions targeted people with learning
difficulties and all were pleased with their contributions to the Who Are We collection edited
by Graham Hartill and published by Caerphilly CBC. "Here," Graham writes in the
introduction, "as in any collection of writing, it's the language itself which is the main
concern."
The Academi also continued its long-term collaborations with the Powys Ceredigion
Health Promotion Unit which uses creative writing to reinforce awareness of a broad range of
issues like bullying, smoking, mental health issues, health & fitness and so on which impact
on ability and disability. Perhaps the nicest example here was the use of rap poet Leon
Charles to develop new playground chants and skipping rhymes with otherwise unfit pupils
who then raced around trying them out.
The Academi's expertise with writers and creative writing dovetails well with the work of
the specialist teams around Wales but neither can fulfil these aims without the help of the
other.
Management & Staff
The Academi's Management Board – who are the Academi’s Trustees and the body legally
responsible for the organisation and its affairs - continues to have two sub-committees
reporting to it: the Encyclopaedia Committee and the Members’ Committee. The Board
meets four times a year.
For 2003-2004 Academi operated at full strength, possibly for the first time since its
restructure in 1998.
17
Next
Annual Reports are artificial punctuation marks in what is really an endless stream of activity.
Getting the tense right is awkward, too. Already this year we have had a cut down version of
the Bay Lit Festival in Cardiff with the likes of Patience Agbabi, John Sam Jones, Rowan
Williams, Gwyneth Lewis, Owen Martell, Gillian Clarke, Iwan Llwyd, and Robert
Minhinnick in venues which include the BayArt Gallery, the Norwegian Church, the Point
and on board the good ship Daffodil.
By the time you read this the Book of the Year processes will have been and gone with a
national tour of longlist readings, a book trade reception and shortlist announcement at the
Guardian Hay Literature Festival and the big one, the glittering prize night at the Hilton in
June. The Award could not have been made without Arts Council Funding, constant trade
support from the Welsh Books Council and marketing assistance from BBC Wales and the
Western Mail.
Academi's shared stand at the Guardian Hay Literature Festival and attendant events, working
with the National Assembly, the Arts Council for Wales, The National Museums and
Galleries of Wales and the Welsh Books Council was a great step forward in visibly
combining a number of key agencies in Welsh literature activity funding.
Academi will co-ordinate Sunday’s literature presentations at the Green Man Festival at Hay
in August. Our popular Welsh-language lecture series on European literatures will
concentrate on French literature, and the highly successful annual literary lunch at
Portmeirion will for 2004 feature Bethan Gwanas and Daniel Morden. Following the
popularity of the Welsh members’ day school in 2003 on Literature and Drama, a second day
school is planned for autumn 2004 on the relationship between literature and contemporary
visual arts in Wales, organised in partnership with Cywaith Cymru. Also in the autumn the
Academi will join forces with the Institute for Welsh Affairs to run a day conference in
industrial historic Blaenavon, town of books. John Davies will tell us how it came to be as it
is and Gillian Clarke and Patrick Jones will read and tour us around the bookshops.
The Academi's contribution to Maes C at the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol has now become
crucial and the annual Eisteddfod Stomp is one of the most anticipated events of the calendar.
This year's will be in the Whitehead's Club in Newport with room only for 250 people. There
will be a clamour for the tickets and there may be touts. We could have sold 600 last year at
Meifod and next year's in Caernarfon will break all records. But it won't be the same without
the late Eirug Wyn who will be sorely missed by all of us here.
All that's in the future still for us but in the past for you. Later on, in September, there's a
small experiment - the Academi's first writers' retreat. The opportunity to hide away for a
weekend in a beautiful and tranquil place and write, talk about writing, read or do nothing.
This first one is on Flat Holm in the British Channel, successively occupied by Vikings,
Saxons, monks, farmers, cholera victims and the army. Future retreats will visit other wild,
remote locations throughout Wales.
Also in the winter of 2004-2005 the Academi will run another tour, following the success of
past tours such as Un Cês a Sawl Lodes Lèn, Taith y Saith Sant and Cymru Cut. The bilingual
tour, featuring some of Wales’ most cutting-edge writers in both languages, will be taken
around not only the pubs and clubs of Wales, but hopefully crossing borders into Europe.
Wales Arts International will be the Academi’s partner in this venture.
18
As a resident organisation - a client tenant is apparently the technical term - of the new Wales
Millennium Centre, the Academi will be arranging activity to mark the opening weekend in
late November. We have in place a project to form a Rap Choir from among the three primary
schools in Cardiff Bay with rapper Leon Charles who was himself born locally. Aron Elias
and Huw Pritchard will work with two Welsh medium schools. On Opening Day, the five
schools and three rappers will give a rap performance in as many languages as possible which may include Somali, Urdu and Arabic as well as English, Welsh and Cardiff-speak.
Other plans include a day of book launches involving as many of our publishers as possible
along with a major event involving north Wales Welsh language authors. The Academi looks
forward to an exciting new programme of joint activities at the new centre – book launches,
festivals, stomps, storytelling, lectures, readings – and a large new audience of culture and
music lovers who will be exposed to the glories of full-on literature, some of them for the first
time.
However, reaching communities whose first - and sometimes only - language is neither
English nor Welsh is a difficult goal. We need the proactive assistance of specialist agencies
and the communities themselves. Presently we are in discussion with Butetown History and
Arts Society and the Cardiff Somali community with a view to developing a permanent series
of lectures and writing workshops. These will aim not only to work with Somali poets and
writers but also to introduce the Somali community to aspects of Welsh and English language
writing in contemporary Wales. In addition, the Academi is addressing the issues of refugees
and asylum seekers and is supporting work by the Wales Refugee Council and discussing
with them ways in which strategic provision can be made in this area. The Academi's
development plans for work with Flintshire and Wrexham library services include proposals
for work with both the traveller population and asylum seekers in that region of Wales.
Contact has been made with the Urdu community through its excellent writing group which
works in strict traditional forms which bear striking parallels to the Welsh bardic and
cynghanedd traditions. The Academi always has a Board member who is placed to offer
expert advice on matters involving provision for ethnic minorities.
Planning now but not until February 2005 is the next Academi Conference which will theme
on Politics, Propaganda and Literature. In the history of inhumanity this has never been an
irrelevant topic and we expect lively debate with some household names taking part. The
Conference will be in Llandudno.
Interwoven between all this will be a new programme of tours and celebratory events - always
fresh, always different places, filling in the gaps of genre, place, demography and writers. We
constantly monitor holes in literature provision from our extraordinary databases which map
literary activity throughout Wales.
In terms of development you will have already read in this report of the success of our
Literature training pilots. Academi will seek to expand and extend these – working in both
languages. Our North Wales fieldwork has been more successful than at any previous time in
our history. It is vital that we continue to attract assistance, financial and otherwise, from
local authorities and seek to significantly enhance the role of our fieldworker. Similar
expansion and co-operation is planned for the west.
To make our services available to all communities in all parts of Wales Academi will work
towards increasing the number of fieldworkers in post. There is a large and specific need for
the appointment of a worker among the ethnic communities and for another to develop
literary activity with the disabled. Mid and South-East Wales are also significantly underprovided for. These proposed new posts will require new funding and new partnerships,
particularly with local authorities.
19
In conjunction with the City and County of Cardiff Academi will play a significant role in the
capital’s 50 and 100 year celebrations for 2005. A broad range of new and enhanced literary
activity is planned.
Academi will also support the biennial festival organised by our
principle partner, the writing centre at Ty Newydd. Ty Newydd’s redevelopment to become a
much-enlarged national base for writer training is an exciting and very welcome development.
The Academi’s flagship events, the Cardiff International Poetry Competition, the John Tripp
Award, The Rhys Davies Short Story Award (run in conjunction with the Rhys Davies Trust
and for 2005 concentrating on urban fiction) and the Book of the Year Award for 2005 are
permanently either just starting or just finishing. And while we get slightly blasé in-house
because they are so familiar to us, we don't forget that these major points in our year give us a
seriously high profile and attract national and international attention and respect. Sometimes
we forget that we are playing on a world stage.
Peter Finch
Chief Executive - 01/07/2004
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Academi Staff at 31st March, 2004
Peter Finch, Chief Executive
Lleucu Siencyn, Deputy
R T Mole, Schemes Officer
Helen Mahoney, Literature Officer
Catrin Ashton, Literature Officer
Luned Jones, Services Officer
Owain Rhys, Administrator (until December 2003)
James Bird, Administrator (from December 2003)
Petra Bennett, Administrative Assistant (part-time)
Mary Cassar, Bookkeeper (part-time)
Bridget Keehan, Project Manager all lit up! (until March 2004)
Sharon Phillippo, Project Manager, Training and Professional Development for Writers in
Wales (from January 2004)
Olwen Dafydd, North Wales Fieldworker
Gwen Lasarus James, Gwynedd Literature Promoter
Members of Academi Management Board at 31st March, 2004
John Pikoulis (Joint Chair)
Harri Pritchard Jones (Joint Chair)
Tôpher Mills (Academi English Language Section)
Gareth Miles (Academi Welsh Language Section)
Sally Baker (Ty Newydd)
Ned Thomas (Mercator)
John Osmond (Institute of Welsh Affairs)
David Woolley (Dylan Thomas Centre)
Hedd ap Emlyn (WLGA nominee)
Sian Jones (WLGA nominee from April 2004)
Lyra Saldanha (BBC)
David Newland (ACW) ex-officio
Members of Academi Members’ sub-committee at 31st March, 2004
Catherine Merriman (Joint Chair) (co-opted)
Urien Wiliam (Joint Chair)
Tony Brown
Gillian Clarke
Huw Meirion Edwards (until October 2003)
Euryn Ogwen Williams
Ifor Thomas (co-opted)
Ann Drysdale
Nesta Wyn Jones (co-opted)
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Members of Academi’s Bursaries Panel as at 31st March, 2004
Simon Mundy (Chair)
Gwen Davies
Idris Reynolds
Catherine Fisher
Siân James
Academi Accountants and Auditor
Susan J Arthur & Company Ltd
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