Editing Welsh literature in English (section)

==1960s and after==
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While the second half of the twentieth century saw the serious decline of Welsh heavy industry, along with serious unemployment and the hardship and suffering that came with it, it also saw significant cultural gains with regard to a separate Welsh identity within the British Isles, starting with the appointing of a [[Secretary of State for Wales]] in 1964, and the establishment of a [[Welsh Office]] in Cardiff the following year. With these developments came an [[Arts Council for Wales]]. For the Welsh-speaking minority there was the [[Welsh Language Act 1967|Welsh Language Act of 1967]], and – from the 1970s – the establishment of more schools using Welsh as their primary means of instruction (see [[education in Wales]]). A Welsh-language TV channel was set up in 1982. The culmination of this trend was the creation of a [[National Assembly for Wales]] in 1999. The defeat of the first [[Welsh devolution]] referendum in 1979 had been a grave disappointment to [[Welsh nationalists]].

The expansion in the publication of Anglo-Welsh writers in Wales in journal and book form was important for the further development of Welsh writing in English. This included ''The Welsh Review'' (1939–1948), and  ''Dock Leaves'' which later became ''[[The Anglo-Welsh Review]]'' (1949–1987) and continues (from 1988) as the ''New Welsh Review''. In 1967 another important Anglo-Welsh journal, ''Poetry Wales'', was founded by [[Meic Stephens]], assisted by Harri Webb. Shortly thereafter, in 1970, ''[[Planet (magazine)|Planet]]'' was launched by Ned Thomas and subsequently edited by the poet and essayist [[John Barnie]]. In the early 1990s came the yearly ''Welsh Writing in English: A Yearbook of Critical Essays'' edited by M. Wynn Thomas & Tony Brown.

Amongst book publishers, the University of Wales Press, founded in 1922, has been influential. Poetry Wales became involved with publishing, firstly as Poetry Wales Press, and then, since 1985, as Seren Books. [[Y Lolfa]], founded in the 1960s as a Welsh-language publishing house, later began producing English-language books on subjects of Welsh interest. [[Gomer Press]], based in [[Llandysul]], Carmarthenshire, is another supporter of Welsh writing in English. It was established in 1892 and claims to be '"the largest publishing house in Wales". A more recent addition to Welsh publishing in English is Honno Press, which specialises in women writers.

===Fiction===

The problems of post-industrial South Wales of the 1960s and 1970s is the subject for novelists such as [[Alun Richards]] (1929–2004) and [[Ron Berry]] (1920–97). Both use humour in their bitter description of the spiritual decay of the [[South Wales Valleys]], where the heavy industries of iron and steel and coal have disappeared, to be replaced by high-technology industrial parks. Similar themes are expressed in the novels of a younger generation, as in [[Christopher Meredith]]'s (born 1954) ''Shifts'' (1988), which deals with the closing of a steel mill, and [[Duncan Bush]]'s (born 1946) grim portrait of urban isolation ''Glass Shot'' (1991).<ref>''Pocket Guide'' p. 135.</ref> The body of Meredith's fiction, as well as his poetry, ranges much more widely, including historical fiction and bleak comedy.

Another important novelist of the post-Second-World-War era was [[Raymond Williams]] (1921–88). Born near [[Abergavenny]], Williams continued the earlier tradition of writing from a left-wing perspective on the Welsh industrial scene in his trilogy ''[[Border Country (novel)|Border Country]]'' (1960), ''[[Second Generation (Williams novel)|Second Generation]]'' (1964), and ''[[The Fight for Manod]]'' (1979). He also enjoyed a reputation as a cultural historian. He was an influential figure within the [[New Left]] and in wider circles. His writings on politics, the mass media, and literature are a significant contribution to the [[Marxist]] critique of culture and the arts. His work laid the foundations for the field of cultural studies and the cultural materialist approach.

The subject matter of the Cardiff-born [[Booker Prize]]-winner [[Bernice Rubens]] (1928–2004) is quite different.<ref>''The Elected Member'' won the prize in 1970.</ref> She was a member of Cardiff's small Jewish community; and associated themes were a central concern of much of her writing, including ''Brothers'' (1983), where parallels with her own ancestry are obvious: it follows four generations of a family which flees Russia for South Wales. As only a couple of her 25 novels have a Welsh setting she does not fit the narrower definitions of Welsh writing in English.

===Poetry===
While the Welsh writing in English scene tended to be dominated by fiction in the 1930s, in the latter part of the twentieth century poetry flourished. A landmark event was the 1967 publication of Bryn Griffith's anthology ''Welsh Voices'', which, in Tony Conran's words, was "the most lively and exciting selection of contemporary Anglo-Welsh poetry ever to have appeared".<ref>"''Poetry Wales'' and the Second Flowering" in ''Welsh Writing in English'', ed. M. Wynn Thomas.</ref>
[[Tony Conran]] (born 1931) is an important figure in this so-called second flowering as critic, poet, and translator of Welsh poetry. His ''Penguin Book of Welsh Verse'' (1967) has been especially helpful in bridging the gap between the Welsh and English speaking. In his own poetry he makes use of Welsh tradition: for example, his elegy for Welsh soldiers killed in the Falklands War is modelled on Aneirin's ''Y [[Gododdin]]''.<ref>''Pocket Guide''.</ref> Swansea poet [[Harri Webb]]'s (1920–1994) verse, including ''The Green Desert'' (1969), is marked in its themes by a radical and uncompromising commitment to Welsh nationalist politics. Another important poet of the late twentieth century is [[Tony Curtis (Welsh poet)|Tony Curtis]] (born 1946) from Carmarthen: he is the author of several collections, most recently ''War Voices'' (1995), ''The Arches'' (1998), and ''Heaven's Gate'' (2001). John Tripp (1927–86), a convinced Welsh nationalist, was ironically aware of the fact that, while born in Wales, he had worked outside the Principality until his early forties.
[[Robert Minhinnick]], born in 1952, is a notable writer from the second half of the twentieth century. He has been the winner of a Society of Authors Eric Gregory Award, and has twice won the Forward Prize for best individual poem, while his collections of essays have twice won the Wales Book of the Year Award. Minhinnick edited ''Poetry Wales'' magazine from 1997 to 2008. His first novel, ''Sea Holly'' (2007) was shortlisted for the 2008 Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize.

Welsh writing in English tended from the beginning to be dominated by men, but the period after World War II produced some distinguished Welsh women poets, including [[Ruth Bidgood]] (born 1922), [[Gillian Clarke]] (born 1937), and [[Sheenagh Pugh]] (born 1950). Pugh was born in Birmingham, but lived for many years in Cardiff and taught creative writing at the [[University of Glamorgan]] until retiring in 2008. Her collection ''Stonelight'' (1999) won the Wales Book of the Year Award in 2000. She has twice won the Cardiff International Poetry Competition. She has also published novels. She now lives in [[Shetland]].

Although Ruth Bidgood was born near [[Neath]] in 1922, her first collection ''The Given Time'' appeared only in 1972. Gillian Clarke is a poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator from Welsh. She was born in Cardiff and raised there, in Penarth, and in Pembrokeshire. Both her parents were native Welsh speakers, yet she was brought up speaking English and learnt Welsh only as an adult. In the mid-1980s she moved to rural [[Ceredigion]], West Wales. She became the third National Poet for Wales in 2008.

Amongst other poets of the second half of the twentieth century, the names of [[Roland Mathias]] (1915–2007), [[Leslie Norris]] (1921–2006), [[John Ormond]] (1923–1990), [[Dannie Abse]] (born 1923), [[Raymond Garlick]] (born 1926), [[Peter Finch (poet)|Peter Finch]] (born 1947), Tony Curtis (b. 1946), Nigel Jenkins (b. 1949), Mike Jenkins (b. 1953), Paul Henry (b. 1959), Christopher Meredith and [[Paul Groves (poet)|Paul Groves]] (born 1947) have a significant place. With regard to the current situation of Welsh poetry in English, Ian Gregson suggests that "much of the most exciting poetry in Britain is being written in Wales". He singles out [[Oliver Reynolds]] (born 1957), [[Gwyneth Lewis]] (born 1959) – who also write in Welsh – and [[Stephen Knight (poet)|Stephen Knight]] (born 1960) as having fulfilled "their early promise".<ref>''The New Poetry in Wales''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007, p. 1.</ref>