Literature Wales has announced that a lively new festival celebrating the very best of literature will be held at Dinefwr Park and Castle in west Wales in 2012.
The Dinefwr Literature Festival is a collaboration between Literature Wales, the National Trust, and the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David (as lead partner in the Coracle programme).
The Arts Council of Wales has generously awarded £65,000 to this new project from its Festivals Fund.
The bilingual festival, which will be the first of its kind, takes place from Friday 29 June to Sunday 1 July 2012. It will feature an eclectic mix of literature, music, comedy, cinema and children’s activities – doing for literature what the Green Man Festival has done for music. High quality literature events will be programmed alongside other art forms in the beautiful and inspiring surroundings of Dinefwr Park and Castle.
The impressive line-up will include multi-award-winning novelists, local storytellers, performance poets, children’s authors, singer-songwriters, script-writers plus a whole host of fringe acts guaranteed to appeal to children and adults alike. The festival site will have a dedicated camping field to set up a temporary home from home for the weekend. The site will also be brimming with outdoor entertainment, a variety of stalls, excellent local food and much, much more.
Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire has a long and prestigious association with Welsh literature. It was the seat of the medieval Princes of Deheubarth and is steeped in culture. This area of Carmarthenshire is known for the part it has played in the promotion and celebration of Welsh culture throughout the centuries.
Justin Albert, Director of the National Trust in Wales, said: “This is an incredibly exciting project and partnership for the National Trust to be involved in. Everyone loves good stories, poetry and music and Wales has such a rich and fantastic tradition in these areas. Dinefwr is rightly seen as one of the cradles of Welsh culture, so holding the festival at this site will surely play a massive part in further invigorating pride in Welsh literary and musical achievement. We congratulate Literature Wales and the other project partners in successfully bringing this bid together and laying the groundwork for what we are confident will be an amazing festival and celebration of Welsh culture.”
Dominic Williams, Coracle Development Officer, says: “The professional development of any creative community, including that of creative writers, is the driving force behind the Coracle programme. Arts festivals are the showcases that often convert those communities into industries. This local and international festival will have a hugely positive impact upon the region by attracting lovers of culture to this Welsh home of literature.”
Lleucu Siencyn, Chief Executive of Literature Wales, says: “Literature Wales’ vision is to take literature to all corners of Wales to as wide an audience as possible. This new festival allows us to do that. Working in partnership with the National Trust and Coracle will enable us to be more ambitious in our programming than ever before. 2012 will be a great year for literature.”
Watch out for more information and future announcements about the festival, including the launch of a new festival website in the New Year.
In the meantime, visit the project partners’ websites: Literature Wales www.literaturewales.org, National Trust www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dinefwr, Coracle www.coracle.eu.com
The festival is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg 4a programme.
