1st to 31st March 2023
Welcome to DHQ (Dewithon Headquarters), the freshly updated nerve centre for Reading Wales 2023!
The people of Wales celebrate St David’s Day annually on 1st March – the date of our patron saint’s death in 589 CE. In honour of this traditional anniversary, and also in recognition of the time of year when daffodils (the national flower of Wales) explode into bloom, I will hold the fifth Dewithon – Dewi being the diminutive form of the Welsh name Dafydd (David).
Throughout March 2023 the international book blogging community will be invited to write about the literature of Wales. This will include reviews and articles about novels, non-fiction publications, short story anthologies, biographical works (by or about Welsh writers), travelogues, volumes of poetry (or single poems), essay collections, or indeed any texts with a meaningful connection to Wales.
You may write in either Welsh or English, whichever you prefer, but as a non-Welsh-speaker, I regret my posts won’t be bilingual. Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop native speakers from reading and posting in Cymraeg (the true ‘British tongue’).
This is a multiblogual event, so please be sure to let me know if you post anything at all about our readathon, however brief. In the meantime, please keep checking DHQ for regular updates.
Diolch yn fawr (thank you very much)!
What should I write?
I would love to read your reviews, features, essays, interviews or anything else with a connection to the literature of Wales. Should you wish to cover plays, films, radio programmes, literary events etc., please feel free to do so.
Any dewi-dos and dewi-don’ts?
- Posts may be written in English or Welsh (bilingual if you wish).
- The subjects covered in your posts must relate in some way to Wales and/or Welsh writers (or the Welsh diaspora), however, it is permissible to critique works by authors permanently living and working in Wales, regardless of their country of origin.
- Please use the official hashtag #dewithon23 when tweeting about Reading Wales 2023.
- All Dewithon-related posts should link back to (or acknowledge) Book Jotter in some way.
- The period in which you should read and post related content to your blogs is Wednesday 1st March to Friday 31st March 2023.
- Please feel free to use any of the Dewithon logos with a link back to Book Jotter.
- Have fun!
Where should I look for inspiration?
There are numerous websites listing Welsh writers, some more comprehensive than others, often providing a bridge to further sources of information. The following links are worth perusing as you may feel motivated to examine in more depth a particular author or piece of writing:
Official Dewithon Posts (2018-23):
- A Dewithon 19 Taster
- ‘A Pocket Guide: The Literature of Wales’
- ‘A Private Language? A Dip into Welsh Literature’
- Are You Looking Forward to Reading Wales 2022?
- Are You Looking Forward to Reading Wales 2023?
- Are You Ready For The Wales Readathon?
- Are You Ready for Wales Readathon 2020?
- Are You Ready for Wales Readathon 2021?
- D21: Llyfrbabble (Bookbabble) Part One
- D21: Llyfrbabble (Bookbabble) Part Two
- D22: Llyfrbabble (Bookbabble) #1
- D22: Llyfrbabble (Bookbabble) #2
- D23: Llyfrbabble (Bookbabble) #1
- International Dylan Thomas Day
- Owain Glyndŵr Day
- Reading Wales 2022
- Reading Wales 2023
- The Tomes and Towers of Harlech
- Wales Readathon 2019
- Wales Readathon 2020
- Wales Readathon 2021
- The Welsh Diaspora and its Literature
- Wales Readathon Library: On Our Shelves
Links of Interest:
- 12 Famous Welsh Writers – VisitWales
- Archives of Welsh Writers in English – The National Library of Wales
- Inspirational Welsh Women Writers – Wales Arts Reviews
- List of Welsh Writers – Wikipedia
- Niall Griffiths’s Top 10 Welsh Books – The Guardian
- Novels Set in Wales – Wikipedia
- Plotting English-Language Novels in Wales – Literary Atlas
- Rachel Trezise’s Top 10 Welsh Underground Novels – The Guardian
- The Top Ten Books of Rural Wales – Cynan Jones
- Top 10 Adventure Stories Inspired by Wales – Jenny Nimmo
- Top 10 books about Welsh identity – Richard King
Other Helpful Websites:
- The Association for Welsh Writing in English
- Literature Wales
- The Mabinogion
- Mentrau Iaith
- New Welsh Writing Awards
- Pendragonry
- Wales Arts International
- Wales Literature Exchange
- Wales PEN Cymru
- The Welsh Academy
- Welsh Books Council
- Welsh Language Literature
- Welsh Libraries
- Welsh Writers’ Trust
A Selection of Yearly Events:
- Beyond the Border
- Cardiff Book Festival
- Crickhowell Literary Festival
- Dinefwr Literature Festival
- Dylan Thomas Festival
- Hay Festival
- The Laugharne Weekend
- Llandeilo Lit Fest
- Llangwm Literary Festival
- The National Eisteddfod of Wales
- PENfro Book Festival
- Roald Dahl Day
- RS Thomas Literary Festival
- Urdd Eisteddfod
- Wales Week London
- Wrexham Carnival of Words
Publishers:
- Firefly Press
- Honno Welsh Women’s Press
- Parthian Books
- Seren Books
- University of Wales Press
- Y Lolfa
Periodicals:
- International Journal of Welsh Writing in English
- The Lonely Crowd
- New Welsh Review
- Planet Magazine
- Poetry Wales
- Wales Arts Review
General Features of Interest:
- Border Crossing – Owen Sheers
- Building Bridges: Language and Cultural Exchange in Children’s Publishing from Wales – Megan Farr
- Celebrating Arthur Machen, the forgotten Welsh horror writer admired by Stephen King – Joe Sommerlad
- How Welsh is Roald Dahl? – Created to Read
- How writers of endangered languages are embracing sci-fi – Britt Peterson
- JRR Tolkien’s Wales – Visit Wales
- Owen Sheers on Gwent: ‘It’s a more ancient world than London’s’ – The Guardian
- Poets, singers and stars: Wales’ national anthem – This is Wales
- Rise of Welsh Crime Fiction, The – Paul French, CrimeReads
- Welsh Homes and Writers of the First World War – RCAHMW
- Welsh-language novels ‘enjoying golden age’ – Alison Flood
- Welsh writers can’t find words for sex – Roger Dobson
SUGGESTED READING
You may be interested in reading The Literature of Wales by Dafydd Johnston, a concise and authoritative guide to the Welsh and English language literatures of Wales, from the earliest period up to the present day.
Please feel free to drop me a line with your thoughts and suggestions.
Categories: Reading Wales
Here’s my review of The Adulterants by Joe Dunthorne http://annabookbel.net/joe-dunthorne-adulterants-wales-readathon-dewithon
Many thanks indeed, Annabel. Tweeted and posted on https://bookjotter.com/2019/02/25/the-wales-readathon-2019/ 😊
Another contribution to #dewithon from me – Cwtch Corner welcomes Thorne Moore who writes from her home in rural Pembrokeshire, lucky her https://bookertalk.com/2019/03/12/thorne-moore-visits-cwtch-corner-waleswrites/
Fabulous! Thank you, Karen. 😃
Just posted another Welsh short-fiction review as part of #Dewithon on https://cathum.wordpress.com/2019/03/25/reading-welsh-short-stories-for-the-dewithon19-part-2/ Loved taking part in this, Paula. Thumbs up for setting it off. 🙂
Many thanks, Cath. Apologies for the delay in linking.
Thanks for the link.