As a poet, bookseller and joint organiser of Gŵyl Lyfrau Aberaeron Book Festival, books are my life and livelihood.
I was an early reader and quickly moved on from The Cow Who Fell in the Canal to Paddington, The Borrowers and Roald Dahl. Lately my adventures have been with blue books, floating pumpkins and clockwork crows.
In the shop, I am regularly asked for recommendations and am never short of an opinion, fuelled both by my own reading and what youngsters are keen to tell me.
Wales has a wealth of imaginative writers, publishers committed to a diversity of literature, and a government keen to put books in children’s hands. Add the phenomenon of social media and the result is more youngsters at our shelves with a clear idea of the sort of book they want. I’m looking forward to bringing those views to the judging panel.
