Lest anyone thinks that the Left Coast Organising Committee is in any way demoralised after the recent bruising (but somewhat exhilarating) Chase Community Giving contest we would like to assure you all that this is far from being the case. A spokesman for the committee spoke to Welsh Icons earlier today:-
“Basically we are working to promote Wales and Welsh culture on a number of fronts simultaneously. Sure, the result of the Chase contest was a disappointment especially when you consider how narrow a margin we lost by (Ed: they failed to win a $20,000 dollar grant by a mere 32 votes) but we just want to thank everyone who supported us and move on. We’ll give that another go next year or maybe later this year.
Right now we want to concentrate on the exciting news that we got just a few days ago. We have released a statement which explains the whole deal in more detail but essentially what we have is a major presentation/panel discussion at the US Northwest’s premier literary festival. The working title for this event is “Welsh Identity in Literature from Dylan Thomas to Dr Who“. The title was suggested by Chris Keil, one of our visiting authors who we will be extremely pleased to welcome back to the Eisteddfod in 2010 for his second year.
The festival attracts around 15000 visitors annually and in addition to the panel discussion we will be running a booth at which we will be promoting Welsh authors and publishers. This is a great opportunity to raise the profile of Welsh culture and in particular Anglo-Welsh literature on the West Coast. We are appealing to any Welsh publishers who wish to be associated with this effort or assist us in any way to get in touch with us via our email address at [email protected].
There are other events at this years Eisteddfod but we are keeping Saturday daytime clear because we want all our people at Wordstock to help make this event the huge success we all know its going to be. Unfortunately ,for many people in the US knowledge of Welsh and Anglo-Welsh literature begins and ends with Dylan Thomas. We believe that’s because, as a nation, Wales has failed in the past, to seize the promotional opportunities that come its way. We aim to change all that and introduce our American cousins to the wealth of literary talent Wales has to offer. Why not give us a hand? Attend; help out by publicizing the event; contact us to arrange sale or return deals, merchandizing….whatever springs to mind. This is a great ‘shop-window’ opportunity and we aim to make the most of it
I should add that you could also help out by ordering a signed copy of Peter Griffith’s ‘Tongue-Tied’ all proceeds form which go to support the Eisteddfod or donating for a chance to win the Portland Lovespoon.”
Statement From The Left Coast Organising Committee
We are extremely pleased to announce that Welsh and Welsh-American authors at this year’s Left Coast Eisteddfod have been invited to appear and speak at the Portland, Oregon Wordstock festival.
Welsh authors Niall Griffiths, Chris Keil and Peter Griffiths and Welsh-speaking American author Harrison Solow have been invited to present a panel discussion at Wordstock tentatively titled, “Welsh Identity in Literature Dylan Thomas to Dr. Who: ” Wordstock is the Pacific Northwest’s largest literary festival and features local authors and publishers, as well as authors from around the world. It is the Northwest’s equivalent to the Hay-on-Wye festival in Wales and will be held this year at the Oregon Convention Center ( see picture below ) and other sites around the city.
This will be the second year at the Left Coast Eisteddfod for Niall Griffiths and Chris Keil. Niall Griffiths is the author of seven novels and a number of works of non-fiction, He is currently working on a new title in the Seren ‘New Stories From the Mabinogion’ series. Chris Keil is the author of The French Thing and Liminal and is a lecturer at Trinity, St. David’s. Chris is currently working on his third novel due to be published later this year. Peter Griffiths’ is the author of Tongue Tied, now in its fourth printing with Y Lolfa and very popular with Welsh-American audiences. Harrison Solow is a multiple award winning writer, university professor, former Writer in Residence at the University of Wales. She was awarded the prestigious Pushcart Prize for Literature in 2008 for her non-fiction work, Bendithion, about Wales, Welshness and Timothy Evans. Her latest book, Felicity and Barbara Pym, published by Cinnamon Press, launches this month in Cardiff and London.
Left Coast Eisteddfod events are scheduled from Monday, October 4, 2010 through Saturday, October 9, 2010. Wordstock runs from Thursday, October 7, through Saturday, October 10. Watch the Left Coast Eisteddfod’s site for more information.
