TV Matters and Culture Coming Out of the Closet

A blog post over at The Kenyon Review on the power of television in bringing literature to the people, picking up on the sales hike for poets featured on the Beeb's recent poetry season. Myself, I've been fairly astonished at the number of friends and acquaintances, unlikely suspects many, who've tuned into, and actually (whisper it, now) enjoyed, the season. Could it be that Britain is secretly home to many thousands of people whose interests actually extend beyond Kerry Katona's lipo?

The season was, on the whole, stylishly executed. A few misfires, sure – the Donne programme had rather a little too much of Fiona Shaw, and an Eliot documentary, sanitised as it was, managed to make one of the most self-contradictory and complex figures in twentieth-century literature seem quite squarely dull – but some expert negotiation of the difficulties of balancing accessibility with intelligence elsewhere.

I hope the season's success will prompt the BBC to start regularly developing more of the programming that once marked them out as a gold standard of arts broadcasting in the world, rather than be simply regarded as an exception, a curio.

Let's have contemporary writers and other artists talking about the tradition. Let's have contemporary writers and other artists talking about the now, while we're at it. Can someone rescue Monitor from the archives and press play? Can someone develop a Monitor fit for the twenty-first century?

Wales at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, DC

Welsh heritage and culture is to headline at one of America's top arts festivals this summer.

Wales Book of the Year 2009: Winner

Many congratulations to Deborah Kay Davies on winning the Wales Book of the Year 2009 for her debut collection of short stories Grace, Tamar and Laszlo the Beautiful published by Parthian. The collection is truly remarkable and a deserved winner.

A Poet's Guide to Britain: Lynette Roberts

The fifth in a series of six documentaries presented by Owen Sheers explores the life and work of Lynette Roberts. If you missed the programme, you can catch up. Click here to view again on iplayer.

Wales Book of the Year 2009: The Shortlist

Belatedly (I've returned from a wonderful time at Hay), the shortlist for the English language Wales Book of the Year has been announced and is as follows:

Deborah Kay Davies - Grace, Tamar and Lazlo the Beautiful (Parthian)
Gee Williams - Blood etc. (Parthian)
Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch - Not In These Shoes (Picador)

The winner will be announced on Monday 15 June 2009, 7.00 pm at the St David’s Hotel and Spa, Cardiff. More details on the prize, as well as details on how to book your ticket for the awards ceremony, can be found by visiting Academi

Make Hay - two free tickets

I've got two tickets to give away for New Welsh Review's event at Hay this Sunday 24th May at 4pm, when I'll be in conversation with Fflur Dafydd and Nam Le. First two blog readers to email their name and postal address to editor[AT]newwelshreview[dot]com before this Thursday (midday) will each win a ticket.

New Welsh Review - Issue 84

New Welsh Review 84 – the 21st Anniversary Issue – is out now.

This issue's contributors include Owen Sheers, Anne Stevenson, Kitty Sewell, Rachel Trezise, Richard Gwyn, Christopher Meredith, Tim Lebbon, Richard Lewis Davies, Meirion Jordan, Joe Dunthorne, Carrie Etter and Damian Walford Davies. The issue also includes an exclusive final interview with one of the twentieth century's greatest photojournalists, Philip Jones Griffiths. Subscribe now or buy individual issues of Wales's finest literary magazine. Visit www.newwelshreview.com

Plus: don't forget to join us at Hay on Sunday 24th May, as I chat to leading young authors Nam Le (author of The Boat and winner of the 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize) and Fflur Dafydd (author of Twenty Thousand Saints). Visit the Guardian Hay Festival website to book your ticket.