The Welsh Assembly Government’s Response to the Culture Committee’s Report on Policy Review of English Medium Writing in Wales

I warmly welcome the Culture, Welsh Language and Sport Committee’s review and report on Welsh writing in English. This is the first comprehensive review of this issue, and I was glad that the committee was able to achieve all-party support on how the issues identified might be tackled. I am pleased to report today that I am able to react positively to the committee’s report. However, before I outline my response, I wish to place on record my personal thanks to Rosemary Butler for ably chairing this review.
We often talk in the Assembly about the two languages of Wales. The presence of two national languages is nothing special in mainland Europe, but, in a British context, it gives us a special source of pride and strength. The Welsh language has a glorious literature. Unfortunately, it is inaccessible to a majority of people in Wales, let alone those further afield. Our English language literature is equally glorious. Words, poetry, essays and dramas from the past must be appropriately safeguarded, and our future authors, poets, essayists and playwrights must be nurtured and sustained. The Welsh Assembly Government is making £0.25 million available to support the committee’s recommendations. This is not a quick fix, but the start of a strategic programme of long-term investment.
Wales is a small nation and its publishing industry is fragile. I want to help it to provide more and better English-language books for consumption here and abroad. That is why a substantial share of the additional funding that I am making available towards the implementation of the committee’s recommendations will go towards commissioning new popular writing and strengthening the publishing industry’s infrastructure. This will include increasing commissioning grants for the production of more books of popular appeal, supporting new editorial and marketing posts in publishing houses, and enabling more vigorous marketing. I have asked the Welsh Books Council to take this issue forward.
In addition to investing in the future, we need to do more to celebrate our literary heritage. Many classic works are not on the shelves of bookshops, public libraries or schools. Even acknowledged masterpieces of European twentieth-century fiction, such as Border Country by Raymond Williams from 1960 and Oscar by Gwyn Thomas from 1946, are not in print. We will therefore create a library of Wales, which will consist of classic Welsh masterpieces by well-known Welsh authors. It will promote and celebrate the distinctive English-language culture of Wales and the books will contain freshly commissioned introductions, which will place them in historical context. This will be a long-term project and our public libraries, secondary schools and colleges will receive a complete and complementary set of its volumes. These works, including novels, memoirs, stories and lyrics, are the voices of our memories and our dreams. They capture the very stuff of our past and the detail of contemporary life as it moves before us.
To speak personally, Tonypandy’s public library played a key role in my early education, and I regard it as a privilege to hold this office and to put something back upon its shelves and the shelves of every other public library in Wales.
I have asked Professor Dai Smith, the University of Glamorgan’s pro vice-chancellor who has responsibility for the university’s social and cultural initiatives, to advise me on the development and content of the library of Wales. We will do this in close conjunction with the Welsh Books Council and its English-language grants panel. The Assembly Government will provide more detail on this later this year.
Each year, the library of Wales will grow with the addition of new volumes. What is to be printed each year, is, of course, open for debate, and I hope that debate will be vigorous. Despite the fact that many of the out-of-print classics are not well known, I see no reason why members of the public should not be able to nominate these titles via the Culturenet Cymru website. I also hope that vigorous debate and a good old fashioned literary row will take place in the Welsh press—it may well start today. I know that Leighton Andrews is concerned that Rhondda Roundabout is out of print; indeed, I have his copy here.
Increasing the visibility of Welsh books in English through effective marketing, product placement and increased, targeted press coverage is of vital importance. I am encouraged by co-operation from within the industry in drawing up an industry-wide joint marketing strategy. I look forward to considering the strategy once it has been prioritised and costed. The committee Chair, Rosemary Butler, has been very active since the review, and she has secured the agreement of WHSmith to promote Welsh writing in English in its retail outlets in Wales. I have asked the Welsh Books Council to engage the major book retailers in discussions on promoting Welsh writing in English, and to review its attendance at events throughout the year.
The Assembly Government acknowledges the important role of book awards in promoting and raising awareness of Welsh writing in English. The Assembly recognises the valuable work of Academi in its development in recent years as well as the establishment of a series of awards recognising excellence in the publishing industry.
During the course of the committee’s discussions, the link between literature and tourism was touched upon, and I am encouraged by projects such as the writers’ routes initiative in south-west Wales to promote literary tourism. The Wales Tourist Board will investigate further the possibility of updating and relaunching the current literary map of Wales.
The Assembly Government recognises the important role of libraries in promoting and ensuring the availability of Welsh books in English. I am encouraged by the current promotional activities by the ‘Estyn Allan’ scheme, and I will launch the scheme’s website tomorrow. I have asked CyMAL, in conjunction with public libraries and the Welsh Books Council, to consider the way in which it sources and purchases books, to ensure that Welsh writing in English receives sufficient prominence in public library acquisition programmes.
The role of Welsh writing in English in the education sector formed a large part of the committee’s discussions. I welcome the recommendation relating to the higher education network of interlinked research centres for Welsh writing in English. However, I have chosen to reject the recommendation that the remit of the Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales be extended to include the commissioning of Welsh writing in English for the curriculum, as the inclusion of such texts is already mentioned as part of the curriculum. ACCAC is not an appropriate agency to be charged with the commissioning of new works, due to deficiencies in the current books market.
I thank the Culture Committee for its thorough and comprehensive report, and for its contribution to the discussion on Welsh writing in English. I also thank all the contributors, particularly the Welsh Books Council, to this policy review. The standard of contributions was very high and made for a thought-provoking debate. I hope that the Assembly will see the Government’s response to this important segment of the spiritual health of Welsh society as a positive one.