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Peter: I have to refer you to my book on the Gorsedd. I became a member in l999 at the National Eisteddfod in Llangefni, Ynys Mon (Anglesey) because of my work for Welsh Americans and Wales, especially for my organizing a Welsh society in Delaware (of which i am president), lecturing on Wales, writing about Wales, conducting Cymanfaoedd Ganu (plural) and so on. I had to be recommended as are all members of the Gorsedd by those with influence in Welsh cultural affairs.
AmeriCymru: We note further that you are a director of the NWAF ( National Welsh American Foundation ). What is the history of the NWAF and what is its role today?
Peter: Since its foundation in 1980 the NWAF has spent close on 150,000 in support of Welsh-American activities including scholarships and grants to organisations and individuals. GRANTS: Grants of some 75,000 have been made to support Welsh language training in Wales and the United States; to support Welsh-American activities such as restorations, nursery schools, museums, the Welsh National Cymanfa Ganu Association and the National Eisteddfod of Wales; to individuals engaged in special studies; and the support of cultural events presenting Welsh choirs and entertainers. Our main goal is to support Welsh America by providing scholarships for Americans to go to Wales to study the language and culture, and for Welsh students to come here in exchange. We give financial support when we can to Welsh American organizations and events. We have a quarterly The Eagle and the Dragon (which I edit) for all members.
AmeriCymru: Peter, you have consistently championed the cause of "Welshness" and the Welsh language throughout your career. I think all Americymru members would want to thank you for that. How do you see the future of the Welsh language. Rumours of its death in 1962 ( I refer of course to the famous Saunders Lewis speech of that year ) were thankfully premature. What are your predictions for the future of yr hen iaith?
Peter: I see the future of the Welsh language as precarious, but I believe the happenings of the last 20 years or more will ensure its future as a minority language. Wales will be bilingual, of that I'm pretty sure. Saunders Lewis speech galvanized the youth into action. I was in Wales at the time and was told that I was hearing the kicks of a dying language. Since then, it has rebounded.
AmeriCymru: Many people would argue that Wales has experienced a massive increase in terms of self-confidence since the devolution vote? Would you agree?
Peter: The acquisition of self confidence has accompanied the resurgence ot the language, but there must be a million or more "non-Welsh" living in Wales with no interest in its culture, its traditions, its language, or its politics, being thoroughly "British" (ie, English) in their outlook. Wales sporting success is as much as anything to inspire self confidence in those that do honor their history. For half a century, it has been "the gallant few" that have kept alive the traditions, and an even smaller few that has safeguarded the language by pressing for its use in nursery schools and in the workplace.
AmeriCymru: Regrettably many people in Wales do not have a knowledge of Welsh. Is it possible or desirable in your view to develop a distinct Anglo-Welsh cultural identity?.Can there be different "cultures" within the same language group?
Peter: There is already an Anglo-Welsh cultural identity. It was forged in the coal mining valleys of South East Wales in the 19th century. A million immigrants could not be absorbed into the language community, but because many came to the valleys from the agricultural Welsh-speaking areas, the language did not die out. A kind of mongrelization took place. On my first visit to South Wales I was amazed at the Welshness of the people in their attitude, but was also amazed that they didn't know the Welsh language, There was a kind of Wenglish spoken, strong Welsh accent and dialect, but mostly in the English language. But this is the area of the fastest growth today (well, it had to be didn't it?). Thank rugby football etc for some of this.
AmeriCymru: You have written a number of books a bout Wales. Do you have any plans to write more?
Peter: I have written quite a few books. As I approach my 75th birthday I think i should slow down. My alphabetical guide was a work of love, but endured years of toil etc. I have completed my Britain: the Rise and Fall of an Empire , in which I have covered the devolution movements in Scotland and Wales and the independence of Ireland.
AmeriCymru: Any other message for the members and readers of Americymru?
Peter: Messages are to keep at it. Never give up, despite obstacles. Our Welsh culture is worth learning about, worth saving, and worth working for.
Some of the best young Welsh writers will be performing their work in Washington DC in March 2009, alongside local writers, as part of a week-long celebration of contemporary Welsh literature in the US capital.
Wales Meets Washington is part of the wider Wales Smithsonian Cymru 2009 programme of activities and events, which includes Wales as a guest nation at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in June 2009.
As a taster to the festival, Academi, the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Authors, with support from the Welsh Assembly Government, has organised a series of literary activities around Washington DC.
Tom Anderson, Catrin Dafydd, Fflur Dafydd, Eurig Salisbury and Owen Sheers will perform and discuss their work. Venues include Busboys and Poets, Marymount University Campus Caf and The Writers Center in Bethesda. Workshops and discussions will be held at George Washington University, American University and the British School of Washington. The writers will combine poetry, prose and music and there will also be an opportunity to hear some of the work read in Welsh as well as English. They will be joined by DC writers Rose Solari, Adele Steiner, Fred Joiner and Kyle G Dargan.
Academi Chief Executive Peter Finch says: The links between Wales and the U.S. have a long history. Academi is delighted to have a role in creating new connections today. Following in the footsteps of Dylan Thomas, five young Welsh writers will cross the Atlantic for a week of workshops, readings, exchange and debate. What better time to glance at the state of these two nations and their literatures. The inheritors of Dylan Thomas have a lot to live up to but, being Welsh, theyll do it with ease.
For a full timetable and to download a brochure:
www.academi.org/washington-meets-wales/
For further details, contact Academi on:
(00 44) 29 2047 2266 post@academi.org
Academi, Chief Executive: Peter Finch, Mount Stuart Square, Mount Stuart Street, Cardiff CF10 5FQ, Wales, UK
Academi
The Academi is the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Authors, and represents literature in all the languages of Wales. The Academi runs events, competitions, conferences, international exchanges, events for schools, lectures and festivals. Academi is also responsible for the National Poet of Wales project and the Encyclopaedia of Wales. The Academi works with the support of the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government. Academi is the recipient of an Arts Council of Wales Beacon Company Award 2008 - 2010.
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is an annual, cultural festival run by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, a research and educational unit of the Smithsonian Institution. Wales is a guest nation in 2009. The Festival takes place outdoors on what is known as the National Mall in Washington DC, an area of open parkland that is flanked by Capitol Hill, the Washington Monument and many of the Smithsonians national museums. In summer 2009 the Festival will run from 24 28 June and 1 5 July. The Festival offers a significant opportunity from which to raise the profile and awareness of Wales with a largely U.S. audience. Over one hundred individual practitioners, performers and presenters from Wales will participate in the Festival. For further information visit: www.wales.com/smithsonian
The Writers
Tom Anderson
Tom Anderson was led into a writing career through journeys taken as a surfer. He studied at the University of Glamorgan, south Wales and was the recipient of an Academi writers bursary for 2007 for his next book, a travelogue set in the USA. His book Riding the Magic Carpet: A Surfers Odyssey to Find the Perfect Wave (Summersdale Publishers Ltd) was published in 2006.
Catrin Dafydd
Bilingual author, dramatist, poet, political campaigner, performer and musician. She won the 2005 Literature Medal at the Urdd Eisteddfod, Cardiff and has won 2nd and 3rd places in the Crown, Chair and Drama Prize competitions 11 times in five years. Catrin won an Academi bursary in 2004 to work on her first novel, entitled Pili Pala (Gomer, 2006). Her first novel in English, Random Deaths and Custard (Gomer, 2007), has been shortlisted for the Books to be talked about 2009 award by the World Book Day team.
Fflur Dafydd
Novelist and singer-songwriter Fflur Dafydd is a graduate of the University of East Anglias Creative Writing MA course. Fflur has a PhD on the poetry of R.S. Thomas and currently lectures in Creative Writing at Swansea University, south Wales. Fflur was awarded the Prose Medal at the National Eisteddfod in 2006. She is the author of two Welsh language novels and one English novel, Twenty Thousand Saints (Alcemi, 2008).
Eurig Salisbury
Eurig Salisbury is currently a Research Fellow on the poetry of Gutor Glyn at the Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth and is an expert on the ancient, but still popular, Welsh verse form cynghanedd. He won the Chair at the National Urdd Eisteddfod in 2006, and has come second in the Chair competition at the National Eisteddfod of Wales on three consecutive occasions. His first collection of poems in Welsh is Llyfr Glas Eurig (Barddas, 2008).
Owen Sheers
Poet, author and playwright Owen Sheers was the winner of an Eric Gregory Award and the 1999 Vogue Young Writers Award. His first collection of poetry, The Blue Book (Seren, 2000) was short-listed for the Wales Book of the Year and the Forward Prize Best 1st Collection 2001. His debut prose work The Dust Diaries (Faber 2004) won the Wales Book of the Year 2005. His first novel, Resistance (Faber, 2008) has been translated into nine languages. Owen was a 2007 Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library. He currently divides his time between New York and Wales.
For a full timetable and to download a brochure:
www.academi.org/washington-meets-wales/
For further details, contact Academi on:
(00 44) 29 2047 2266 post@academi.org www.academi.org
Academi, Chief Executive: Peter Finch, Mount Stuart Square, Mount Stuart Street, Cardiff CF10 5FQ, Wales, UK
Academi is the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Authors. Academi is funded by the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government.
Happy St David's Day - Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus to all our members and readers. We would also like to thank everyone who has contributed to the growth of this site over the last 10 months and that means all of you. We will be adding some exciting new features in the near future which will assist us in making the site more entertaining and moreinformative and also in putting Wales and contemporary Welsh culture firmly on the map in the USA and elsewhere worldwide.
Meanwhile David Western wants our help. Go to this url to read the original appeal and see the latest pics of the Portland Eisteddfod Lovespoon:- http://americymru.ning.com/profiles/blogs/from-david-westerns-lovespoon#
"I have been calling him "Dafydd the Dragon" as I've been working on the spoon, but I but have now decided that because Dafydd is my name, he should be called something else.
So I've decided to throw a little competition to name him and it's open to anyone who wishes to offer a good alternative. Sorry, that there are no grand prizes for this, only the glory of having the name you suggest become the dragon's name for the duration of the carving and hopefully beyond when the lucky winner takes him home! In two weeks I'll get Gaabi and Ceri to pick the winner and we'll have an official naming! That will also be my incentive to get him done! Now you may be wondering why I say it is a he when it could conceivably be a she...and there is no valid reason that I could defend in a court of law for that...I've just had the feeling he is, a he!! So there you go, if you can think of a good name for him and are inclined to send it to us; give it a shot!"
Soooooo....if you have any ideas for a new name for "Dafydd the Dragon" either post them here or on the original blogpost and we'll announce the winner in a few weeks time.
I have finally reached the crowning section of the Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon and will now enjoy some time bringing the guardian dragon to life. I have 'ummed and ahhed' about how I am going to tackle this little chap and have decided to carve him 'in the round' (fully 3 dimensional). The walnut I am using is of a sufficient thickness to handle it, so I think that it is the way to go.
I have been calling him "Dafydd the Dragon" as I've been working on the spoon, but I but have now decided that because Dafydd is my name, he should be called something else.
So I've decided to throw a little competition to name him and it's open to anyone who wishes to offer a good alternative. Sorry, that there are no grand prizes for this, only the glory of having the name you suggest become the dragon's name for the duration of the carving and hopefully beyond when the lucky winner takes him home! In two weeks I'll get Gaabi and Ceri to pick the winner and we'll have an official naming! That will also be my incentive to get him done! Now you may be wondering why I say it is a he when it could conceivably be a she...and there is no valid reason that I could defend in a court of law for that...I've just had the feeling he is, a he!! So there you go, if you can think of a good name for him and are inclined to send it to us; give it a shot!
I'm going to break up the carving into 3 sections for the blog. I'll round out his body and shape the back scales first, then I will move on to the head and finally, I'll shape out the wings. This week is the body.
I've decided that I want to really exaggerate the scales along his back when I carve him, so I've excavated fairly deeply in those sections. I'm hoping that will help cast a nice shadow when he hangs on the wall and will generate a feeling of movement.
Once the scales have taken shape, I will start rounding the body, legs and tail sections. My plan is to leave him 'from the knife' (that is with the cut marks clearly visible in the form of facetting) rather than to smooth him down too much. I think that leaving him facetted will make for a more vibrant and lively carving, especially when viewed from a few feet away. It will also echo the idea of a scaley skin rather than looking too smooth and featureless.
Here's how he looks so far. I have roughed out the flow of his tail and put a nice tip on it, shaped the scales and rounded the front half of the body, started shaping the leg and have ramped the chest down so that the knotwork which will become his tongue can pass over.
Next week I'll shape the neck and head and will clean up the tongue knot. I also have an idea for the eye which will either be a complete success or a total calamitous disaster...stay tuned!
In the meantime, the Left Coast Eisteddfod welcomes any and all donations! . Please consider gifting this exciting cultural event! Every dollar you donate entitles you to a ticket in the draw for this very lovespoon!
