Three Swansea University writers shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2017

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Leading the field in Welsh literature once again, three authors from Swansea University’s College of Arts and Humanities feature in the shortlist for the Wales Book of the Year Awards 2017.

Historian Dr Catherine Fletcher has been shortlisted in the English Creative Non-fiction Award for her book, The Black Prince of Florence (The Bodley Head).

Professor Alan Llwyd’s highly-acclaimed biography, Gwenallt (Y Lolfa), has been shortlisted for the Welsh-language Creative Non-Fiction Award, and Welsh PhD student Aneirin Karadog has been shortlisted for the Welsh-language Poetry Award for his collection, Bylchau (Cyhoeddiadau Barddas).

Dr Fletcher said: "I’m absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted for the Literature Wales award. I had a great time writing the book and I’m really pleased that more people will now discover the story of Alessandro de’ Medici”.

This year’s English language judging panel is: award-winning author Tyler Keevil; senior lecturer Dimitra Fimi and the Costa Poetry Prize winner Jonathan Edwards.

Wales Book of the Year 2017

Jonathan Edwards said: “This shortlist offers a real celebration of just how exciting, vibrant and diverse literature in Wales currently is. There are books here for everyone: poetry collections which are novelistic in their scope and ambition, novels whose innovations in language might be traditionally expected of poetry. There are biographies which don't so much show you a life as let you amble round in a world, reference books which can put six centuries on your coffee table. To be part of the announcement of this list is to be proud to be Welsh; the country which moved these writers to such astonishing achievement”.

The Welsh language judging panel for Wales Book of the Year 2017 features: critic and reviewer, Catrin Beard; author and poet, Mari George; and Eirian James, owner of the award-winning independent bookshop, Palas Print in Caernarfon.

Lleucu Siencyn, chief executive of Literature Wales, said: “It’s one of the literary highlights of the year, and we at Literature Wales have been filled with excitement for the release of this years’ Short List. With the announcement taking place during Libraries Week, we hope that readers will head to their local library to seek out these wonderful titles to enjoy the wealth and variety of modern Welsh literature. Readers will travel from the shadow of slate mountains to 60’s London; they’ll be lost at sea; they’ll experience the pain of radiation therapy; will learn about the history of Welsh art, and journey through themes of loss, myth and memory”.

The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at a ceremony held in Tramshed, Cardiff, on Monday 13 November, where a total prize fund of £12,000 is up for grabs. Each category winner will receive a prize of £1,000, and the main award winners in each language will receive an additional £3,000. Each winner will also receive a specially commissioned trophy created by the artist Angharad Pearce Jones. Tickets for the Award Ceremony are £6 and can be purchased online from Tramshed.

At the Award Ceremony both the People’s Choice Award and Gwobr Barn y Bobl (the Welsh-language people’s prize) will also be presented to the reading public’s favourite title from the Short List.

Visit the Wales Arts Review website to vote for your favourite English-language title, or Golwg 360 for your favourite Welsh title.  

To view the full list of this year’s shortlisted authors, click here.