Culture, Welsh Language and Sport Committee

Policy Review - English Medium Writing in Wales

Conwy County Borough Council - Directorate of Lifelong Learning, Library, Information and Archives Service

I refer to you letter dated 15^th July inviting contribution to the above review. Conwy welcomes the opportunity so to do and apologises that this response will arrive with you a short time after the deadline.The first requirement is to agree what is meant by English medium writing and in the context of Wales. We would suggest that that definition should include writing which encompasses one, some or all of the following:

• material which relates to topics about Wales and Welsh life specifically
• material with a distinct Welsh flavour, whether this be in the subject matter or whether it gives a taste of "the place" and/or the culture
• material written by writers living in Wales, irrespective of the subject or the publisher
• material translated from the Welsh whether or not it relates to Wales
• output of publishing houses in Wales who also publish material of more general interest.

We see English medium writing as having three major contributions. In the first place it is the only language through which the majority of people born and bred in Wales can read about their own culture (past and present) or enjoy the expression of their compatriots. Secondly, we see a value in translating from the Welsh into English so that people proud of their heritage but unable to speak the language can appreciate the content and it may encourage them to improve their Welsh to enable them to read books in the original language. Last, but not least, it is an excellent way for people coming to live, work or visit the Principality to get a comprehensive picture of the country as a whole. This latter point is one where relationships with, eg Welsh Tourist Board, Welsh Development Agency, etc is important and for these institutions to recognise the contribution of good quality books and information in encouraging people to contribute to the economy in Wales.We do not make a distinction between classic and new writing. The importance is that any product is of a high standard and one which is consistent with other types of literature, biography, poetry, etc produced anywhere in the world. Second class product should not be supported simply because it has a Wales or Welsh connection. There is sufficiency of people to advise on quality - Librarians, Publishers and Editors, Welsh Books Council, readers, they are all part of the book world in Wales.One of the major barriers currently is the lack of a pool of such resources from which to select, particularly popular, well-produced books. Currently much of the output is of limited interest and would not attract the broad spectrum of the population. The Assembly Government’s Task and Finish Group on Welsh medium publishing identified a need for popular material in the Welsh language to encourage people to read. The same is true of English medium titles. We are aware of plans for producing a series of sports biographies in the Welsh language. This would be an excellent opportunity for loose translations of these publications to appear in English, perhaps with a different editor to reflect the different standpoint.Another barrier is the low profile of English medium writing in the context of Wales and the lack of knowledge about and understanding of this potential market. The majority of libraries, whilst able to quote the number of books in the Welsh language borrowed, will not be able to supply similar figures for books with Wales/Welsh connections published in English. I am not aware what the situation might be with bookshops. Research into the current and potential market would be useful and valuable for informing future planning.Marketing of books, whether Welsh or English language, is the subject of a consultative document produced by a Working Group of industry representatives and other relevant partners currently out for comment. We strongly support the recommendations of that report and look forward to adopting a central role in raising public awareness of literature and writes and in developing readers. This is seen as a major role of our Service by Librarians but, perhaps, not fully recognised until now by the book world as a whole.At the beginning of the 21^st century no report appertaining to libraries can fail to mention information technology. The People’s Network in all public libraries in the UK enables public access to computers. This opens up all types of possibilities such as exploiting the use of the Welsh Books Councils’ gwales.com site, taking advantage of and contributing to any developments which arise from the Cymru’n Creu consortium, potential of "publishing on demand" and providing access to less popular texts on screen.Books cannot be produced without authors. The financial return to authors of books of limited interest (and it must be recognised that this will be the case for a majority of books in the category now being considered) is limited. To provide a range of books of Welsh interest in the English language, additional finance to reward authors will be required. This already works well in the Welsh language and we would be unhappy to see this fund used for any other purpose than books in Welsh.To conclude, therefore, we believe there is strong role for good quality English medium writing in Wales to contribute to the economic, social and cultural benefit of Wales. We look forward to working with colleagues from the book industry in general to promote these books but we would appreciate more background information into the actual and potential market. And last but not least, we believe a new funding stream is required to ensure sufficient interesting and popular titles to engage readers for this genre of book.Thank you once again for the opportunity to take part in the policy review. If you require further information or clarification on any of the comments above, please do not hesitate to contact me.Yours sincerely,Rona AldrichCounty Librarian and Archivist