Category: Wales
Date: 09.02.2005
Printable version
Writers from Mid Wales, the Llyn Peninsula, Cardiff and Aberystwyth have been shortlisted for a major new prize for English language writing from Wales.
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The Roland Mathias Prize is for a work published during 2004 in the fields of poetry, short stories, literary criticism and Welsh history.
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This is the first time the award has been made for what is to be a biennial prize.
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It is open to any writer born in Wales or currently living in Wales.
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The winner of the prize, worth £2,000, will be announced at a ceremony supported by 91Èȱ¬ Wales at the Guildhall in Brecon on 23 March.
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Brecon is the home town of poet and author, Roland Mathias, 89, who played a major role in establishing Welsh writing in English as a distinctive literary genre.
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The prize - funded by Roland himself - was established in his name under the auspices of the Brecknock Society & Museum Friends.
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Three poets and a historian make up the shortlist:
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Ruth Bidgood: New and Selected Poems (Seren) -
Ruth was born at Blaendulais near Neath but has lived in Abergwesyn near Llanwrtyd Wells since the Sixties;
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Christine Evans: Selected Poems (Seren)
- although born in Yorkshire, Christine now divides her time between her homes on the Llyn Peninsula and Bardsey Island.
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Patrick McGuiness: The Canals of Mars (Carcanet)
- Patrick lives in Cardiff and is a Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford where he lectures in French.
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David Ceri Jones: A Glorious Work in the World: Welsh Methodism and the International Evangelical Revival 1735-1750 (University of Wales Press)
- David is a Research Fellow at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth.
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Dr Sam Adams, editor of The Collected Poems of Roland Mathias (University of Wales Press 2002), said: "Roland Mathias' choice of subjects as a creative writer and as a critic illustrates his commitment to Wales and his confidence in the quality of Welsh writing in English.
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"It is entirely consistent with this view that he decided to fund this prize."
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Menna Richards, Controller, 91Èȱ¬ Wales, said: "It is part of 91Èȱ¬ Wales' role as the national broadcaster to support the creative life of Wales.
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