Jun 16, 2021
Professor Thomas holds the Emyr Humphreys Chair of Welsh Writing in English at Swansea University, and is the former Director and founder of CREW.
He is a specialist in American poetry and in the two literatures of modern Wales. He has held visiting professorships at Harvard and at Tubingen, was Chairman of the Welsh Arts Council’s Literature Committee for five years and Chairman of the University of Wales Press, and acted as Chairman of the Welsh Academy of writers, Yr Academi Gymreig, becoming a Fellow of the Academy in 2000.
He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1995, received the highest honour of the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2000 and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol in 2012. He is a founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, and its former Vice-President.
Jun 16, 2021
Originally from Anglesey, Rona Aldrich has lived in the Vale of Clwyd for 40 years. With a Masters degree in Librarianship and Information Studies from Aberystwyth University, her aim during her career was to ensure easy access to information and culture of all kinds for everyone in society. Prior to retiring she was Chief Officer with Conwy County Council.
After a period of self-employment, she now sits on the Welsh Committee of the National Lottery Community Fund and is Vice-chair of the Books Council of Wales. Over the years, she has held a number of jobs locally and nationally including for the Welsh Government and has represented Wales at a UK level. In February 2021, she was appointed a member of the Welsh Language Commissioner’s Advisory Panel.
Jun 16, 2021
Chris Macey is a Service Accountant for Ceredigion County Council and the Honorary Treasurer for the Books Council of Wales. He joined the Welsh Books Council as it was then in October 2015.
Jun 16, 2021
Professor Aaron is a Welsh educator, literary researcher and writer. Until her retirement in December 2013, she was Professor of English at the University of Glamorgan in south Wales. She then became an associate member of the Centre for the Study of Media and Culture in Small Nations at the University of South Wales. Professor Aaron is known for her research and publications on Welsh literature and the writings of Welsh women.
Since the early 1990s, Aaron has published a number of essays and books, and edited works for Honno Press, which specializes in the writings of Welsh women. In 1999 she edited Honno’s anthology of short stories entitled, A View Across the Valley: Short Stories from Women in Wales 1850–1950.
Jun 16, 2021
Rajvi Glasbrook Griffiths has worked in the teaching profession in Wales since 2009 and is Headteacher of High Cross Primary School in Newport. She has been the Director of Literature Caerleon since 2014 and Director of the Caerleon Gateway Project since 2016, as well as an advisory board member for Planet magazine. Mrs Glasbrook Griffiths is also a member of the Welsh Government’s Race Equality Action Plan Committee and its working Group on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Communities, Contributions and Cynefin in the New Curriculum.
‘I feel privileged to take on the role of a trustee for Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. It is a charity and organisation that deeply reflects my driving commitment to promoting and supporting literacy, literature and the Welsh language. Education and reducing the literacy deprivation gap is a big part of my work, as is the celebration of Welsh writing both within and beyond Wales. I aim to serve the board with utmost integrity and ethical purpose.’
