Celebrating and Discussing the Library of Wales

On Wednesday, August the 4th, CREW, the Welsh Books Council and Parthian Press arranged an event at the Swansea University stand at the National Eisteddfod to celebrate and discuss the Welsh Assembly Government funded series of classic Welsh Anglophone Literature, The Library of Wales. Proceedings were opened by Swansea University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Richard Davies who celebrated the institution’s connections with the series and discussed the establishment of Welsh Writing in English as a significant field of research in Swansea by Professor M. Wynn Thomas. The Welsh Government’s Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones, expressed his admiration for the series and the role of some the key texts of the tradition in his own views of Wales and the world. Daniel Williams, Director of CREW and the Richard Burton Centre, made the case for the significance of the series and the need now to make these texts part of the inheritance of all the people of Wales through the English literature curriculum in our secondary schools. This might be the next stage in the long revolution. This message was reinforced by Dai Smith who discussed, in Welsh, the formation of the series and the importance of literature and culture in the fostering of a civic Welsh identity. The WAG Minister for Education, Leighton Andrews, brought the session to a close with a powerful description of the inclusive cultural vision that informed the series and the need to disseminate these works as widely as possible. Ebbw Vale, due to its history and location, seemed a particularly appropriate place to in which to hold the event, which attracted a good audience and was widely reported in the press and in the blogosphere.



Ar ddydd Mercher, Awst y 4ydd, dathlwyd a thrafodwyd y gyfres The Library of Wales, mewn digwyddiad yn stondin Prifysgol Abertawe a drefnwyd ar y cyd gan CREW, Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru a gwasg Parthian. Agorwyd y drafodaeth gan Is-Ganghellor Prifysgol Abertawe, yr Athro Richard Davies a dathlodd gysylltiadau y Brifysgol gyda'r gyfres a maes Llen Saesneg Cymru. Mynegodd Gweinidog dros Dreftadaeth y Cynulliad, Alun Ffred Jones, ei edmygedd o’r gyfres a’r rôl y chwaraeodd rhai o destunau allweddol y traddodiad yn ei ddealltwriaeth o Gymru a'r byd. Dadleuodd Daniel Williams, Cyfarwyddwr CREW a Chanolfan Richard Burton, yr achos dros arwyddocâd y gyfres a'r angen yn awr i wneud y testunau yn rhan o etifeddiaeth holl bobl Cymru drwy'r cwricwlwm llenyddiaeth Saesneg yn ein hysgolion uwchradd. Atgyfnerthwyd y neges hon gan Dai Smith a drafododd, yn y Gymraeg yn bennaf, y rhesymau dros greu’r gyfres a phwysigrwydd llenyddiaeth a diwylliant wrth feithrin hunaniaeth Gymreig ddinesig. Leighton Andrews, y Gweinidog dros Addysg yn y Cynulliad, a ddaeth a’r sesiwn i ben mewn modd grymus wrth ddisgrifio’r weledigaeth gynhwysol sy’n symbylu’r Library of Wales, a’r angen i ledaenu’r gwaith mor eang â phosibl. Roedd Glyn Ebwy, oherwydd ei hanes a'i leoliad, yn lle arbennig o briodol i gynnal y digwyddiad. Denwyd cynulleidfa dda a cafwyd sawl adroddiad yn y wasg ac ar draws byd y blogiau.