In February 2019, I set up the Writers of Wales, A to Z database.
There used to be one on the Literature Wales website, but they got rid of it. Lots of writers, poets and artists complained about this, so I thought I’d just start my own.
The website aimed to highlight many of the great Welsh writers in the country, both past and present. I created A-Z listings of as many Welsh (or Welsh-connected) writers as I could find from throughout history, and also added all the new, modern authors out there as well. I included Brythonic historians, best-selling TV celebrities, sports stars, celebrated crime writers, politicians, priests and poets. Lots of the new breed of ‘indie’ writers also got in touch over the six years that I ran the site. At last count, I think I had listed over 230 writers with over a 100 more to add.
Eventually, probably shamed into it by my own effort, Literature Wales finally did their own version.
With two versions of a directory, albeit quite different ones, I decided there was no point continuing, especially as mine cost me money, time and effort while Literature Wales gets about £5 million a year of taxpayers’ money to promote Welsh writers and Welsh literature.
I still have the domain name (for a while anyway) – www.welshwriters.co.uk – so if anyone wants to buy it, let me know.