There’s lots of wonderful fiction for young people coming out of Wales these days, in both the Welsh language and in English – a prime example being the searing Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros, winner of the 2023 Yoto Carnegie Prize, and originally published in Welsh. 

Going back a few decades, there’s a wealth of excellent books for young people either set in Wales or written by Welsh, or Wales-based, authors. That’s why I’m delighted that Firefly Press are launching a new series called Firefly Classics from Wales, bringing back into print some of the best of these. And I’m particularly pleased that the first two titles in the series are the heart-stoppingly magical novel The Candleman by Catherine Fisher, which Firefly are aiming at readers aged 9-12, and my very own Georgie, which was my first book for young adults, published a full twenty five years ago. 

Although I’m Irish, born and bred, I brought my children up in Wales. I lived twenty five years there and hold its language, its culture, its coastline and mountain magnificence close to my heart. The dramatic landscape of Wales and its great storehouse of myth have proven superb inspiration for so many classic novels for young people. There’s Susan Cooper’s amazing The Dark is Rising series, particularly The Grey King, set in the hills above Aberdyfi, where I lived for many years and where I wrote Georgie, looking out over the Irish Sea. I remember, on my days off, exploring those hills, trying to locate the exact places the book referred to. Where was the haunt of the Grey King? Where was the magic harp hidden? It was truly exciting, as it is for young readers, to find a book that so resonates with your own self, your own imagination, your own landscape. It makes you realize that you too might have a story that’s worth telling.      

There’s Jenny Nimmo's The Snow Spider, an oh-so-beautiful book and one I remember reading, and re-reading, to my own children…  Alan Garner’s The Owl Service, a true classic I absolutely loved in my younger days, and still do... Kevin Crossley-Holland’s magnificent The Seeing Stone, the first of his compelling Arthur trilogy.  

There’s the American writer Nancy Bond’s A String in the Harp, a book that entranced me years ago, and which it would be truly exciting to see back in print here. After living only one year in Wales she wrote a storming time-slip of Welsh mythology, and won a Newbury Honour Award for it to boot. 

And I’m so proud, now, that Georgie, a story drawing on my experience of working with children with additional needs in Wales, but also drawing on some of the toughest aspects of my own childhood, is considered a classic of Welsh writing.  I’m immensely pleased to have it re-published, especially in this new series, and to have Georgie’s voice heard once more - for there are many Georgies out there still, and they all need our understanding, care and kindness.   

But yes, there are so many brilliant Welsh books, and so many brilliant Welsh writers. Think Philip Pullman’s The Broken Bridge, Catherine Johnson’s The Last Welsh Summer, Pauline Fisk’s Children of Plynlimon trilogy.  Think, among others, of Nicola Davies, Sophie Anderson, Eloise Williams, Jackie Morris, Claire Fayers, Horatio Clare… Think Roald Dahl… And, of course, the superb Catherine Fisher. Yes, so many books that it would be wonderful to re-visit and, if they’re out of print, bring back into circulation for a new generation of readers. 

Because it’s essential for the children of Wales to be able to see themselves, their land, their voice, in book form. And equally important for young people beyond Wales to be introduced to some of the best writing from this small but culturally-so-rich country. Let’s breathe new life into the Classics of Wales. And let’s inspire new classics, from the readers of today and the writers of tomorrow. 

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