“The personal papers and documents I am donating to the archives of Swansea University also contain a large collection of letters dating from the 1960s and 1970s which, I believe, will cast a laser beam of light upon the resurgence of Welsh writing in the English language during those years.

The actual story of that era is there in the words of the writers themselves, warts and all, in the clear light of another and later day.

The collection therefore represents that exciting era when Welsh writers in Wales and London began to publish and broadcast a considerable amount of new work, the Welsh Writers’ Guild was founded in London, Poetry Wales began printing the work of new and veteran writers in Wales, Christopher Davies was publishing the books of new poets, and in 1967 I edited “Welsh Voices”, the first new anthology of Welsh poetry in English for thirty years.

I have donated literary items for many decades to the National Library of Wales, but I believe this large collection should find its true home at Swansea University because of the expansion of research there and the now broader spectrum of the existing archives. Lastly, I consider this to be an historic occasion and the donation will prove to be of great value to the scholars and researchers of the years to come.”

Read the Swansea University media release here.