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Grand Poetry Slam: Wales announces new National Poet

Photo: Owain Llŷr

Following their recent rugby Grand Slam victory, the Welsh are experiencing a surge in national pride. As the feelgood factor spreads across Wales, areas outside the rugby field are expected to benefit from this recent win. It couldn’t be a better time to be Welsh. Nefyn-born pop singer Duffy stormed the charts, the successes of Torchwood and Dr Who is making Cardiff the premier destination for aliens across the Universe – and now the new National Poet of Wales has just been announced, giving the established, and very British, Poet Laureate a run for his money.

Gillian Clarke will succeed Professor Gwyn Thomas as National Poet of Wales. Born in Cardiff and now living in Talgarreg, west Wales, Gillian is a poet, playwright, editor and translator. A set-text poet for GCSE and A-level English, she is well-known to students and teachers throughout the UK.

Fellow curriculum poet, Carol Ann Duffy, was very pleased to hear the news of the new appointment:

“Gillian Clarke is one of the most widely respected and deeply loved poets in the world”, she says, “and her appointment upholds Wales’s long and glorious tradition of being represented by only the best in poetry.”

Gillian Clarke, delighted with accepting the post, says:

“I suppose the title ‘National Poet for Wales’ is like the conch shell in Lord of the Flies. If you happen to be holding it, you may speak. The trick must be to carry it carefully, not to drop it, and, while holding it, to speak with tact, passion, truth, persuasion. I see the role as ambassadorial, within and outside Wales. I hope it will open doors. I interpret the Academi’s chosen model for the role of National Poet as being one of cumulative development, one poet’s work building on another’s, with careful attention paid to the bilingual nature of Wales”

The post of National Poet of Wales was established in 2005 by Academi, the Literature Promotion Agency for Wales, with Arts Council of Wales Lottery funding. Gwyneth Lewis was the first incumbent, followed by Professor Gwyn Thomas in 2006.

Peter Finch, Academi Chief Executive said:

“The role of National Poet for Wales requires an ability to communicate, to write well and often, and to have a regular route into that magic that makes verse work.  As a previous Capital Poet for Cardiff and one our best-selling exports Gillian is simply the best person I can think of for the job.”

Professor Dai Smith, Chair of the Arts Council of Wales, says:

“The Arts Council of Wales is proud to sponsor this distinguished writer as our third National Poet".

Gillian Clarke is the author of several volumes of poetry and many broadcast plays. A collection of prose writing, At the Source, is published next month by Carcanet, followed by a new collection of poetry, A Recipe for Water, later in the year.

In April, Gillian was officially welcomed to the new post in a series of two hand-over events: at Moreia Chapel in Llanystumdwy in association with Tŷ Newydd Writers’ Centre, and at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, in association with the National Museums and Galleries of Wales.

For further information, interviews and images, contact Academi:

029 2047 2266 / post@academi.org
www.academi.org

Further notes:

Gillian Clarke
Born in Cardiff and now lives in Ceredigion, Gillian is a poet, playwright, editor, translator and President of Tŷ Newydd Writers Centre. She is a freelance tutor of creative writing and her poetry is studied by students throughout Britain. She has travelled extensively giving poetry readings and lectures, and her work has been translated into ten languages. Her publications include the forthcoming titles At the Source (Carcanet) and A Recipe for Water (Carcanet), as well as Collected Poems (Carcanet), Five Fields (Carcanet) and Making Beds for the Dead (Carcanet).

National Poet of Wales
The post of National Poet of Wales was established in May 2005 by Academi – the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Writers. The post is supported by the Arts Council of Wales’ Lottery fund. Gwyneth Lewis was the first National Poet for Wales in 2005, followed by Professor Gwyn Thomas in 2006. Gillian Clarke is the third poet to take up the post. Professor Dai Smith, Chair of the Arts Council of Wales, says: "Gillian Clarke has honed her considerable artistic practice to create, over the years, a body of poetry which deals with the inner essentials of universal human needs and the outer specifics of a distinctive Wales, her take on Wales, which cradles them.The Arts Council of Wales is proud to sponsor this distinguished writer as our third National Poet".

Forthcoming title
At the Source: Prose Writings by Gillian Clarke
Published May 2008, Paperback, £12.95, ISBN: 978 185754 9867
 
’Source’ is the connecting image in Gillian Clarke’s evocative prose collection, which fuses poetry, memoir and nature writing to subtle effect. From descriptions of lambing and hay making to ruminations on agriculture and ecological destruction, At the Source is a book about living on, with and for the land, and looking out at the world from that particular place.

’Her work is personal and archetypal, built out of language as concrete as it is musical’
Times Literary Supplement

Academi, Chief Executive: Peter Finch, Mount Stuart House, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff CF10 5FQ

Academi is supported by the Welsh Assembly Government and the Arts Council of Wales.
Academi works in partnership with Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre