Wales Book of the Year Wales Book of the Year The Wales Book of the Year is a Welsh literary award given annually to the best Welsh and English language works in the fields of fiction and literary criticism by Welsh or Welsh interest authors. Established in 1992, the awards are currently administered by Literature Wales, and supported by the Arts Council of Wales, Welsh Government and the Welsh Books Council. The longlist of ten works in each language is published in April and the shortlist of three works in each language at the Hay Festival in May. The winners are announced in June or
History of the Welsh language from 36% in 1931 to 26% in 1961, out of a population of about 2.5 million. Meirionnydd, Anglesey, Carmarthen, and Caernarfon averaged a 75% concentration of Welsh speakers, but the most significant decrease was in the counties of Glamorgan, Flint, and Pembroke. Lewis' intent was to motivate Plaid Cymru to take more direct action to promote the language; however it led to the formation of "Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg" (the Welsh Language Society) later that year at a Plaid Cymru summer school held in Pontardawe in Glamorgan. With concern for the Welsh language mounting in the 1960s, the Welsh Language