1st to 31st March 2020

Welcome to DHQ (Dewithon Headquarters), the freshly updated nerve centre for Wales Readathon 2020!

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, we will hold our second Dewithon – Dewi being the diminutive form of the Welsh name Dafydd (David).

Throughout March 2020 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 over the coming months for regular updates.

Diolch yn fawr (thank you very much)!

What should I write?

We 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?

1. Posts may be written in English or Welsh (bilingual if you wish).
2. 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.
3. Please use the official hashtag #dewithon20 when tweeting about Wales Readathon 2020.
4. All Dewithon-related posts must link back to this page or acknowledge Book Jotter in some way.
5. The period in which you should read and post related content to your blogs is Sunday 1st March to Tuesday 31st March 2020.
6. Please feel free to use the Dewithon logos with a link back to Book Jotter.
7. 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 (2019-20):

•  A Dewithon 19 Taster
• ‘A Pocket Guide: The Literature of Wales’
• ‘A Private Language? A Dip into Welsh Literature’
• Are You Ready For The Wales Readathon?
• Are You Ready for Wales Readathon 2020?
• International Dylan Thomas Day
• Owain Glyndŵr Day
• The Wales Readathon 2019
• 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
• Wordsworth and Welsh Romanticism – James Prothero
• The Top Ten Books of Rural Wales – Cynan Jones
• Top 10 Adventure Stories Inspired by Wales – Jenny Nimmo

Other Helpful Websites:

• The Association for Welsh Writing in English
• Literature Wales
• The Mabinogion
• Mentrau Iaith
• New Welsh Writing Awards
• Pendragonry
• South Wales Literature
• 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
• Wrexham Carnival of Words

Publishers:

• Gomer
• Honno Welsh Women’s Press
• Panther Publishing
• 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

Features of Interest:

• Border Crossing – Owen Sheers
• 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
• 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
• Welsh Writing 1960-1985 – Ned Thomas

Plugs For Dewithon (2019-20)

• Are You Ready for Wales Readathon 2020? – Thoughts Become Words
• Book gluttony – Lizzie Ross
• Dewithon 2019 – Brona’s Books
• DHQ: Wales Dewithon19 – Thoughts Become Words
•  February 2019, In My Notebook – Buried In Print
• February has Come and Gone …. – Beyond Eden Rock
•  In like a lion – Calmgrove
• Reading about Wales – Calmgrove
• State of the TBR – March 2019 #readingirelandmonth #dewithon19 – Adventures in reading, running and working from home
•  Two more March events! – Howling Frog Books
•  Wales Readathon 2019 – Thoughts Become Words
• Wales Readathon | 2019 – the [blank] garden
• Wales Readathon – #Dewithon19 – Relevant Obscurity
• Wales Readathon Announcement – Calmgrove

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:Features, Wales Readathon

Tags: #dewithon19, Anglo-Welsh Writing, Books, Cymraeg, Dafydd Johnston, Dewithon, Novels, Wales, Wales Readathon, Wales Readathon 2019, Welsh Literature, Welsh Noir, Welsh Novelists, Welsh Poets, Welsh Writers, Welsh Writing