Introduction from the Academi
The Academi's Encyclopaedia of Wales and Gwyddoniadur Cymru yr Academi Gymreig project began ten years ago when the country's Society for Writers morphed into the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and began its task of taking writers and writing to the four corners of Wales. The Welsh Academy was uniquely placed to manage the mammoth task of containing the wealth of the nation in one volume. Academi, after all, represents all of Wales's authors and has since its inception sought to make Wales's literary output go further, to be inclusive, to uphold standards and to preserve and celebrate our multi-faceted identity. That a one-volume master work which concisely encompassed our entire culture did not exist was a clear tripping point on Wales's road to self awareness. Academi set about providing one.
With significant financial support from Arts Council of Wales through The National Lottery, without whom great work would never have got beyond the design stage, the book (or books – there are two: one in Welsh and one in English, with only slight textual differences between them) had the benefit of appointing our leading historian, John Davies, as general editor. Appointed with him were Nigel Jenkins and Menna Baines (later joined by Peredur I. Lynch) to see the work through. The writers of Wales from all specialities were then commissioned to provide the text. Sounds easy. It wasn't.
The proposed three-year project soon turned into a longer operation. With hindsight it is easy to see why: the matter of Wales is no haiku, more an epic. Volume needed to be encompassed, specialisms needed to be honed, disparate writing styles smoothed, translations made accurate, pictures researched, photographs found, maps drawn and facts found. And all the while the world kept on turning and new things came into being which demanded that entries on them be composed.
The editors worked long and hard and the results of their labours can be seen in the books themselves. Here you can read about everything in Wales that matters: from David Lloyd George to south Wales coal mining, from the Black Book of Carmarthen to the difference between gogs and hwntws, and from Welsh rarebit to the Welsh Academy.
Support for the project has been extensive. The Universities at Swansea and Bangor offered editorial offices, the BBC its pictures, National Museum of Wales its promotional facilities, the Welsh Development Agency help with information technology and Academi itself gave huge amounts of panel, committee and officer time. The real dedicates were, of course, the editors. All worked well beyond their paid-for hours, all were meticulous in their fact checking, their textual aligning and their background research. Innovation led and all four proved equal. Buy the book and enjoy it.
The first and last great book of Wales. No home should be without one.
Academi Chief Executive: Peter Finch
Author, poet and literary entrepreneur. For many years he ran Oriel, Arts Council of Wales's bookshop in Cardiff. He is the author of many books, including Food, How to Publish Yourself and Real Cardiff.
