Concerns over Wales Book of theYear’s future
LEADING writers in Wales are concerned that the future of the Wales Book of the Year Award may be in jeopardy because of the economic climate.
Literature Wales is considering whether the prize, which was first launched in 1992, should continue in its current form, in a new format or whether it should be scrapped.
The Wales Book of the Year Award is presented to the best Welsh-language and English-language works first published in the preceding year in the fields of creative writing and literary criticism in three categories – poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction.
In 2008, then Heritage Minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas made the same mistake as happened at the Oscars nine years later by announcing the wrong overall winner of the English prize at the award ceremony on live TV.
Last year the total prize money available was £12,000, with a prize of £1,000 each awarded to the six category winners.
The two main winners in each language received an additional £3,000 each.
Recent winners of the overall award include the poet and novelist Patrick McGuinness, who has won twice, firstly for his acclaimed The Last Hundred Days and then for Other People’s Countries, a childhood memoir about his mother’s village in Belgium, and poet Owen Sheers’ Pink Mist, a verse drama about three servicemen who have returned from Afghanistan.
In a podcast interview for Wales Arts Review, Literature Wales chief executive Lleucu Siencyn said the major issue was funding.
“It’s almost an anomaly in big high-profile book prizes that it’s still publicly funded through the Arts Council,” she said. “None of the major arts prizes in England are still funded in that way.”
Ms Siencyn said no decisions would be taken until the results of a commissioned review had been considered. She hoped the award would continue, possibly with new categories.
Some writers have taken to social media to express their concern.
Poet Rebecca Parfitt said: “It seems Literature Wales are contemplating doing away with Wales Book of the Year this year and thereafter. Please don’t let this happen – we writers rarely get paid for anything and opportunities like this are scarce enough.”
Another writer, who did not wish to be named, said: “It would be totally shocking not to have a Wales Book of the Year Award. The fact that there’s doubt about its future sends out a terrible message – that books produced in Wales aren’t good enough, which of course is total nonsense.
“It’s not expensive in comparision with other arts awards, and Literature Wales must do what it needs to do to ensure the award continues.”