Writers, performers and storytellers from across Wales will come together in Llandeilo this April for the Carmarthenshire town’s seventh annual Gŵyl Lên Llandeilo Lit Fest. Kate Humble, Owen Sheers, Dafydd Iwan, and John Devereux will lead this year’s programme of storytelling through fiction, discussion and performance.
Authors include National Eisteddfod Prose Medal winners, Meleri Wyn James and Sioned Erin Hughes, and Wales Book of the Year category winner Lesley Parr. Celebrated writers Julian Dutton, Sophie Buchaillard, Eloise Williams, Sian Northey, Myfanwy Alexandra, Alun Ffred and Bethan Gwanas are also presenting.
The festival will open with broadcaster Kate Humble exploring what it means to feel at home, including reflections from her Wye Valley smallholding, presented in her latest book “Where the Hearth Is.” Other highlights include S4C’s Prynhawn Da cook Nerys Howell, who will give a live cookery demonstration with recipes from her book “Cywain”; and Welsh rugby legend, John Devereux, who will share tales from the touchline with biographer Andy Howell.
The 2024 festival also serves as a platform for discussion about the civic issues that matter to people locally and nationally. The lineup includes writers spanning the spectrum of Welsh politics and culture, presenting in both English and Welsh.
Christoph Fischer, Gŵyl Lên Llandeilo Lit Fest founder and co-chair, explains: “Bringing people together from diverse communities to share ideas through the art of storytelling is an age-old tradition. So, as well as featuring roving storytellers and some of our nation’s most celebrated and up-and-coming novelists and poets, this year’s festival looks at pivotal moments in recent Welsh history and their impact on society. We’ll be discussing issues surrounding Welsh national identity, like language and protest, and considering what the future looks like for Wales.
“Over a third of this year’s programme is presented in Welsh, with simultaneous translations available for much of it. We’re passionate about storytelling in Llandeilo, and we aspire to put on a literature festival that speaks to people right across our communities and beyond.”
Along with “Yma o Hyd” lyricist and nationalist Dafydd Iwan, the lineup includes Adam Price AM, former leader of Plaid Cymru, who will discuss recent Welsh politics, culture and sport with journalist Ben Wildsmith. Wales Green Party Leader Andrew Slaughter will consider possible futures for Wales in the face of environmental uncertainty, while historian Dr Wyn Thomas draws parallels between the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley and controversial plans for pylons along the River Tywi.
They’re joined on the programme by “Woman’s Wales?” editor Dr Emma Schofield, journalist Gwenfair Griffith, rivers activist Angela Jones, and stories from Cymdeithas yr Iaith campaigners. A panel of writers from typically under-represented backgrounds will discuss what Wales and Welshness means to them in a panel hosted by Inclusive Journalism Cymru.
Marking the 40th anniversary of the South Wales Valley’s Miners’ strike, award-winning journalist Amanda Powell and press photographer Richard Williams will revisit key events of the strike with poet, novelist and playwright Owen Sheers, as captured in Powell’s and Williams’ recently published book “Coal and Community.”
Owen Sheers will also present his new children’s book “Drew, Moo and Bunny Too” and discuss his experiences writing in the genre for the first time.
Along with Sheers, children’s authors from across Wales will feature in the festival’s first programme dedicated to children’s literature. “Kids Fest at the Lit Fest” will include creative workshops on writing and illustration, craft and drama performances, as well as an outreach programme to local schools in the days leading up to the weekend.
Taking place in Llandeilo’s recently refurbished Yr Hen Farchnad, the Kids Fest is headlined by “The Pirates” series author and illustrator Jonny Duddle, with Children’s Laureate for Wales Alex Wharton and Bardd Plant Cymru Nia Morais. The programme features well-known children’s writers presenting in Welsh and English – Eloise Williams, Lesley Parr, Atinuke, Meleri Wyn James, Alun Davies, Carys Haf Glyn and Claire Fayers.
Kate Glanville, novelist and co-chair of the Gŵyl Lên Llandeilo Lit Fest, says: “This is the first time we’ve had a dedicated young people’s programme at the festival, and it promises to be an action-packed weekend for children of all ages. There will be lots of workshops for children and parents to enjoy, Mabinogion-themed stories, and poems and artwork on display from our activities with schools.”
Workshops across the three-day weekend include clay model making and stop-frame animation led by Academy Award winners Aardman Animations, paper sculpture, book binding and children’s illustration and poetry.
Festivities are due to go on into the nights across Llandeilo with an evening of performance storytelling in Welsh and English hosted by Cyfarwydd Ceri Phillips, a musical tour of the nation with duo Fiddlebox, and traditional folk tales and music with harpist Sioned Webb.
Gŵyl Lên Llandeilo Lit Fest is supported by the Heart of Wales Line Community Grant Scheme, the Literature Wales’ Inspiring Communities Fund, Llandeilo Town Council and sponsored by many Llandeilo businesses.
It takes place across Llandeilo from Friday 26 to Sunday 28 April 2024.
Tickets are now on sale from the website www.llandeilolitfest.org
Includes a dedicated children’s programme with the Children’s Laureate for Wales.
