A brand-new digital platform to showcase e-books from Wales has been launched by the Books Council of Wales.
ffolio.wales will be the first-ever bilingual platform to focus on selling e-books from Wales to the wider world.
The not-for-profit site launches with more than 800 fiction and non-fiction titles for children and adults, as well as educational books for children in both Welsh and English.
More than 500 of the Welsh-language books on the website are available as e-books for the first time ever, and this figure will continue to increase.
Independent bookshops in Wales will benefit from every purchase, with a percentage of each sale going directly to help support these small businesses which are so important to our high street and our communities.
Chief Executive of the Books Council of Wales, Helgard Krause, said: “In launching ffolio, we are providing a not-for-profit digital platform with a unique offering – a platform hosted in Wales, where almost every single e-book stems from a Wales-based publisher. The service will help keep jobs in the publishing industry in Wales, as well as support independent bookshops which make such an important contribution to our communities and which will receive a commission on every sale.
“As a national charity dedicated to supporting publishing and promoting reading, we have a duty to ensure that readers of all ages and interests can choose books from Wales in a range of formats. ffolio affirms and widens that choice, and we are grateful to Welsh Government for funding this significant development.”
The development of ffolio is part of a two-year investment programme awarded in March 2020 by the Welsh Government through Creative Wales to enable the Books Council to upgrade its digital systems and introduce a new integrated IT system for the sale, supply and distribution of books.
Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Lord Elis-Thomas, said: “ffolio is an exciting new platform which will showcase the wealth of creative talent, make the work of Welsh authors more accessible and also benefit the publishing sector and our Welsh bookshops. It’s very important that people have access to books in the format of their choice – especially in the current circumstances.”
The website includes a wide selection of e-books suitable for young children which will support their reading for pleasure and help develop literacy skills.
Thanks to the co-operation of publishers in Wales, more e-books will also be available to schools through the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) and can be used to support lessons.
For further information or queries, please email the Books Council at ffolio@books.wales.
Independent booksellers across Wales continue to take orders online, over the phone or click-and-collect.
If you just want to curl up with a good book, our booksellers have got a fabulous selection of titles to choose from. They also offer a unique personal service and great advice on what to buy.
We’ve listed below the contact details for independent bookshops across Wales or you can click on our interactive map to find your local bookshop:
Griffin Books, Penarth – www.griffinbooksonline.co.uk / info@griffinbooks.co.uk / 02020 706455 / Facebook: Griffin Books / Instagram @griffinbooksUK / Twitter @griffinbooksUK Click and collect available for prepaid orders from 9.00am-5.00pm, Monday to Saturday and also postal orders fulfilled as normal. You can order in advance via their online shop, email or phone – they cannot make new sales at the door.
The Books Council of Wales is delighted to support a story writing competition for Welsh primary school pupils organised by BBC Radio Cymru.
As part of World Book Day 2021 events, the station’s morning presenter Aled Hughes is calling on children to write a Welsh-language story of up to 500 words on the theme of “Y Llwybr Hud” (‘The Magic Path”).
There are three categories for different ages, namely:
Foundation Phase, 5-7 years
Key stage 2a, 7-9 years
Key stage 2b, ages 9-11
Aled Hughes will announce the names of the winning entries on his programme in the week leading up to World Book Day on 4 March 2021, with the winners each receiving a bundle of books from the Books Council.
Helen Jones, Head of Children’s Books and Reading Promotion at the Books Council, said: “World Book Day is a landmark event in our annual calendar and we are delighted to support this competition being organised by BBC Radio Cymru. They say everyone of us has a story buried inside them so this is a great opportunity to develop writing talent among the young.”
Author Llio Maddocks will be judging the entries and choosing the three best stories.
To enter, schools need to send their pupils’ stories to BBC Radio Cymru by the deadline of 25 January 2021 along with a completed copy of the entry form available on the Radio Cymru website.
The address for sending the stories is:
Sgwennu Stori Aled Hughes
BBC Radio Cymru
Bryn Meirion
Bangor
LL57 2BY
The pupil’s pseudonym, age category and school name must be clearly marked at the top of each story, and the school will need to keep a list of the names that match the pseudonyms.
Further details including terms and conditions can be found on the BBC Radio Cymru website or you can contact the Aled Hughes programme aled@bbc.co.uk.
The Books Council of Wales is delighted to announce that Huw Aaron is the author of the new £1 Welsh-language book being published for World Book Day 2021.
In his own distinctive style, the talented cartoonist and illustrator from Cardiff is creating Ha Ha Cnec for children young and old to enjoy on the next World Book Day, 4 March 2021.
As the title suggests, the volume will be packed with jokes and cartoons along with some of Huw’s unique characters.
To celebrate the announcement of the title, the Books Council has organised a special competition to find 150 characters from Welsh children’s books and television programmes which Huw has hidden in a busy poster.
Competition Time The ‘Ble yn y byd, Boc?’ (‘Where in the world, Boc’) competition is open to schools and individuals of all ages, and there are some great prizes to be won.
The winner of the schools’ category will receive a bundle of books worth £150, with a second prize of a bundle of books worth £75.
The top prize in the individual category will be an original piece of Huw Aaron’s artwork and a bundle of books worth £50, with a second prize of a bundle of books worth £25.
Huw Aaron said: “I am delighted to be part of the celebrations for World Book Day 2021. For the competition, I’ve drawn a picture of a very special party where all the guests are characters from Welsh children’s books or television programmes – some new, some from my childhood, and some which are very old by now! There are 150 to find – but you may need the help of mum and dad (and maybe Mam-gu or Taid!). Pob lwc!”
You can enter the competition by going to www.mellten.com before the closing date of 31 January 2021. The winners will be announced on World Book Day 4 March 2021.
Copies of Ha Ha Cnec (Llyfrau Broga) will be available to buy for £1 from 25 February 2021 or exchanged for the £1 National Book Token given to each child to mark World Book Day.
Stori Cymru – Iaith a Gwaith (‘The Story of Wales – Language and Work’), written by Archdruid Myrddin ap Dafydd and published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, will also be available again in 2021 for £1. It tells the story of Wales and the work of its people through story, image and song.
Accessible versions of the books, including braille, large print and audio versions, will be available thanks to the support of the RNIB. They will also be available as e-books.
Angharad Sinclair, the Welsh Books Council’s Promotion of Reading Campaigns Manager, said: “World Book Day aims to ensure that every child has the opportunity to have their own book and to help them enjoy the experience of reading for pleasure, with all the benefits that brings. We are therefore delighted that Huw Aaron has agreed to create a new book which, alongside Myrddin ap Dafydd’s book, will ensure there’s a good choice of Welsh-language children books available for £1 or for free on World Book Day 2021. “
The poster behind the competition appears in the new book Ble mae Boc? Ar goll yn y chwedlau (‘Where’s Boc? Lost in the legends’) by Huw Aaron, published by Y Lolfa in November 2020 and selected as the Books Council’s Book of the Month for December 2020.
World Book Day In Wales, the World Book Day campaign is coordinated by the Books Council of Wales and supported by the Welsh Government and Waterstones.
Each year, in collaboration with a host of publishers and booksellers, World Book Day organizes a list of specific titles for £1 each for children and young people, and the mission of World Book Day is to encourage them to enjoy books and reading by for them to have their own book. The Books Council of Wales works with World Book Day to ensure a choice of £1 Welsh-language titles. Information on the English £1 books for 2021 can be found online www.worldbookday.com/books and further details about World Book Day 2021 celebrations in Wales will be announced in the New Year.
On 20 November 2020, Wales lost one of its great literary figures following the death of Jan Morris at the age of 94.
A journalist, novelist, travel writer and historian, she wrote more than 40 books during her lifetime, including Pax Britannica (Faber, 1968, 1973, 1978), a trilogy on the history of the British Empire; The Matter of Wales: Epic Views of a Small Country (Oxford University Press, 1984) and Conundrum (Faber & Faber, 2002), a memoir recording her transition from man to woman, from James to Jan Morris.
She was born in England in 1926 but her father was from Wales and she moved here in the 1980s, settling down with her family in Llanystumdwy on the Llŷn Peninsula.
Jan Morris was an Honorary President of the Friends of the Books Council of Wales and here, our Chair, Professor M Wynn Thomas, our Chief Executive, Helgard Krause, and Ion Thomas, Chair of the Friends of the Books Council, pay tribute to the talented writer who made Wales her home.
“During her remarkable lifetime, Jan Morris wrote enough books to supply the entire UK publishing industry. A world-famous chronicler of countries and places, and a peerless traveller of the globe, she nevertheless remained firmly anchored emotionally in the Wales she so loved and with which she totally identified. With her passing, Wales loses another of its very greatest writers and the Books Council of Wales one of its staunchest supporters” – Professor M Wynn Thomas.
“Jan Morris was a pioneer in every sense of the word. She was an unrivalled wordsmith and an eloquent chronicler of the life, culture and landscape of Wales. She will be sorely missed but leaves a rich legacy in her many books, essays and reportage” – Helgard Krause
“If anyone deserved to be called a ‘Friend’ then it was Jan Morris. After all, friendship and kindness were the traits she put above all others. Through her words, she became a friend to so many people and so many places. She was an Honorary President of the Friends of the Books Council, and her contribution to our literature and her support for the language, our culture and our identity as well as our humanism will remain. Thank you, Jan, for guiding us with a smile and a keenness of mind to the peaks of the literary world” – Ion Thomas.
Rydym yn defnyddio cwcis ar ein gwefan i roi'r profiad mwyaf perthnasol drwy gofio eich dewisiadau a'ch ymweliadau. Drwy glicio "Derbyn Oll", rydych yn cytuno i'r defnydd o holl gwcis. Fodd bynnag, gallwch weld "Gosodiadau Cwcis" i roi dewis fwy reoledig.
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